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Ohana Arts Presents

Our Stories Our Ohana

An Evening of Musical Theater and Storytelling

Blue Note Hawaii, Honolulu, HI
Our Stories Our Ohana

    Ohana Arts Presents
    Our Stories, Our Ohana
    An Evening of Musical Theater and Storytelling

    An evening of musical theater, paying tribute to the artists who teach, mentor, and help cultivate local youth talent, featuring performances by Broadway stars and local celebrities who have dedicated their lives to giving back. The cabaret style program will bring the audience into a living room atmosphere in which these artists with busy, successful careers from Hawaii and the contiguous states will reveal their journeys towards the balance between life and the stage.  Performers will include Ohana Arts faculty, alumni, and students, as well as celebrated local performers including Rocky Brown, Kristian Lei, Ryan Souza, and many others. 

    Proceeds from this performance will help Ohana Arts continue providing programming and training essential to the lives of youth in Hawaii who garner important life skills through the performing arts, and who build confidence through the love and acceptance of their theater family.

    About Ohana Arts
    Currently in its 12th season, Ohana Arts provides high caliber training for youth ages 6-18 with a mission to cultivate peace through the universal language of the arts.  Its Youth Theatre Company Arm commissions, produces, and tours original works telling stories from the youth perspective focused on themes of diversity.  The organization serves youth from all districts of Oahu. To date, Ohana Arts has produced over 30 shows, and has developed a large family audience comprised of parents, students, alumni, and others in the community.  Its flagship original musical, “Peace On Your Wings,” based on the story of 12 year old Hiroshima atomic bomb victim Sadako Sasaki and her thousand paper cranes, premiered on Oahu, and subsequently toured the neighbor islands, Los Angeles, New York, and Northern California, and is scheduled for a run in Hiroshima in August 2023.  Both local and mainland based teaching artists with successful careers in the industry are invited to join the faculty of instructors, directors, music directors, and choreographers for the Ohana Arts summer program and Youth Theatre Company.  

    Tickets $35-$45

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    CLUB POLICIES

    • Seating is First Come, First Served
    • $10 Food or Beverage Minimum Per Person 
    • Full Bar & Full Dinner Menu Available
    • No refunds or exchange. Please make sure you purchase tickets for the correct date and time. Mahalo!

    Click here to view seating chart full screen.

    • Ohana Arts

    • Jenni Barber

      Jenni Barber has appeared on Broadway in the original companies of THE NANCE, THE PERFORMERS; the recent revivals of ALL MY SONS and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE; as well as ANNIE, THE 25th ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, and in WICKED as G(a)linda. Off-Broadway, Regional and International credits include the Signature Theatre revival of BY THE WAY MEET VERA STARK, FROM UP HERE at Manhattan Theatre Club, PAINT YOUR WAGON and A NEW BRAIN at NYCC Encores!, AS YOU LIKE IT & THE TEMPEST for Sam Mendes’ The Bridge Project, and SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE at the Huntington Theatre, winning the 2017 Elliot Norton Theatre Award for portraying Dot/Marie. She can be heard on the Encores! cast recordings of PAINT YOUR WAGON and A NEW BRAIN, as well as the 2017 Broadway cast recording of SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE. Television credits include “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” "Master of None," “Elementary,” “Smash,” “Law & Order: SVU, “ “The 68th Annual Tony Awards (‘For Good’ Wicked 10th Anniversary Glinda)”, “Live from Lincoln Center (The Nance)”, and as Lisa Heffenbacher in the Emmy Award-winning, Sesame Workshop produced “The Electric Company.” Jenni has recorded many audiobook titles for Simon & Schuster including tween favorite, The Dork Diaries Series. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Musical Theatre Department, a freelance director & choreographer, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California’s School of Dramatic Arts, a certified lactation counselor, and a proud mama to four year old daughter Arden.

    • Jason DeBord

      Jason DeBord is an Associate Professor in the Department of Musical Theater at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, where he helped design the first-of-its-kind minor in Musical Theatre Composition. Broadway credits include Once – The Musical, Shrek, Rock of Ages, Legally Blonde, All Shook Up and many others. His playing is featured prominently in the 2009 Sony Pictures Classics release Every Little Step, and he has played on multiple recordings for stage, film and television. Regionally, Jason has worked on new musical theater productions at the Old Globe Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, A.C.T., the Alliance Theater, and the 5th Avenue Theater. He served as music director for the Trentino Music Festival  musical theatre program in Mezzano, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy from 2016-2019.

    • Lexie Fennell Frare

      Lexie Fennell Frare is a NY based actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, director and educator. She is thrilled to be working as a choreographer for Ohana Arts this summer. She holds a B.F.A in Musical Theater from Emerson College and a M.S.Ed in Theater Education from the City College of New York. Some of Lexie's favorite roles include Demeter in Cats, Logan in Spelling Bee and Gertrude in Seussical.

    • Rachel MacKenzie

      Rachel MacKenzie is a performing artist and teacher who currently serves as a faculty member at the University of Albany where she teaches voice and is an accompanist and music director for the Department of Music and Theater and at NYC where she serves as an accompanist. Rachel is also a voice teacher at NYC Vocal Studio. As a performer Rachel enjoys singing background vocals for some of Broadway’s best voices. Rachel earned her undergrad degrees in Piano, Voice, and Anthropology from UMass Amherst, as well as her Masters and Advanced Certificate in Musical Theater Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy from NYU.

    • Jenny Taira

      Jenny Taira is a composer, pianist, and clarinetist based in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Most recently, she composed, orchestrated, and co-wrote the book for the Ohana Arts original musical, Peace On Your Wings, which recently premiered in New York City.  Peace On Your Wings has been the subject of two mini-documentaries by NHK, and has been featured on Broadway World, Huffington Post, and Playbill.com, amongst others.

      An active performer, she has performed extensively throughout the United States as a clarinetist and collaborative pianist. Recent career highlights include international recital tours throughout North America and Europe, and performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Ravinia Festival, the Philharmonic Hall in Brasov Transylvania, Greenwich Music Festival, and the 92nd Street Y in New York City; and a Lucas Artist Residency at Montalvo Arts Center.  As a clarinetist, she received top prizes in the Hennings-Fischer Foundation Young Artist Competition and Kingsville International Competition, and has performed with the Burbank Philharmonic, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, New Britain Symphony, Hawaii Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Hawaiian Band.

      Jenny is a graduate of Northwestern University and the Yale School of Music.

    • Laurie Rubin

      Singer and author Laurie Rubin has concertized internationally at such venues as Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the White House.  Recent career highlights include duet concerts with world renowned mezzo-soprano  Frederica Von Stade at DePauw University in Indiana and the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, a solo appearance with the LA Chamber Orchestra, and a performance at the International Human Rights Conference in Lucerne Switzerland.  She has performed numerous operatic roles, including the witch/voice in Lisa Bielawa’s episodic TV opera, “Vireo,”  Elle in Poulenc’s one-woman opera, ‘La Voix Humane,” Penelope in Monteverdi’s “The Return of Ulysses,” and the title role in Rossini’s “La Cenerentola.  

      After the publication of her memoir, “Do You Dream in Color?” in 2012, Laurie embarked on a national concert and book tour, weaving stories from her life with relevant musical selections.  She served as lyricist and co-bookwriter for the groundbreaking new musical, “Peace On Your Wings” which has toured Hawaii, Los Angeles, and New York.  Laurie also joined with composer Jennifer Taira to form the pop duo, PureLand, writing and performing original music.  Laurie is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Yale School of Music.

    • Kristian Lei

      Hawai’i-International Song Artist, Producer, Director, Writer, Vocal Coach, Entrepreneur - Kristian Lei - has starred in many roles such as “ Kim" from Miss Saigon, Germany, "Princess Nala and Rafiki" in Disney’s Festival of the Lion King-Hong Kong, "Kei Kimura" of Allegiance, and TiMoune in Philippine Tour of Once on This Island. Kristian released 2 full-length albums entitled “Take My Hand” and “On a Personal Note.” She is also the Founder of Non-Profit Organization Honolulu Broadway Babies and JETH School of Continuing Education and Performing Arts, which are dedicated to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She founded it to honor her younger brother Joshua Earl T. Hegwood, who lives with Cerebral Palsy.

      Since 2000, Kristian Lei has been a Feature Film/TV and Professional Vocal Coach. She had/has the honor being a Vocal Coach to celebrities such as Colby Benson and Crimson Apple, Zac Efron, Aubrey Plaza, Empire of the Sun, TV Production such as Hawai’i 5-0, Devin Teruya from Crossing Rain, Mahina Napoleon from NCIS Hawai'i, Professional Musicians and many rising stars in Hawai’i.  She loves and cares for her students like family from Beginners to Professionals.

      She is also known for her 20 years of Producing and Directing Concerts, Corporate and Special Events Statewide. In 2017, she was honored as one of FOX KHON 2’s top 5 Influential Filipinos in Hawai’i

      Lei is the Founder of several companies such as Kristian Lei Enterprises, LLC, Proud Vocal Mama Performance Method, The Kristian Lei Collection, and Newnorm Entertainment. Kristian is also the Beauty, Fashion, and Fitness Columnist for Hawaii’s FilAm Courier. She loves God, her family and service.

    • Rocky Brown

      Rocky is a singer who began her career in 1987 with a single entitled “Let The Love Begin”, which was recorded in the Philippines.  It became a gold single two weeks after it was released.  She continued on to release her first CD in the Philippines entitled “Only A Dream”, while appearing in various television shows.  Meanwhile, in New York, Rocky quickly gained ground in the entertainment industry, appearing on such television shows as “The Cosby Show”, “All My Children”, and had a recurring role as “Ky” in the daytime program “Another World”.  She was also in the New York University’s production of “Sweet Charity”.   She went on to do her own cabaret acts which gained rave reviews among the theater crowd in Manhattan.  In 1991, she joined the original Broadway Cast of “Miss Saigon". She moved to Hawai’i 1994 and released her first single “Love Song of Kalua” in 1995.  She went on to release her second CD in Hawaii in 1997 entitled “In Character”.

      Since then, she has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut and Neal Blaisdell Concert Hall where she has been featured with the Honolulu Symphony, and has opened for world famous trumpeter Arturo Sandoval.

      Rocky has also performed with Grammy Award-winning vocalist, James Ingram at the Roy Sakuma Ukulele Festival.  She has also been featured with the Matt Catingub Orchestra of Hawaii and with the First Pacific Rim Jazz Festival with world renowned Saxophonist Michael Paulo.  For the last six years she has been teaching voice at Manoa School of Music and the Arts, a career path she calls unexpected, challenging, humbling and also the most rewarding, especially when the students finally make a breakthrough. "It’s a joy to watch it happen right before my eyes.”

    • Ryan Souza

      Ryan Souza is a soul singer in the deepest sense. He connects to the story within every song and takes the listener on an unexpected journey. His musical career began as a pre-teen singing with his mother and Father for different churches around town. Ryan continued to sing as a soloist for many churches throughout Oahu while attending the University of Hawaii majoring in Voice. Ryan completed his BA in Music with emphasis on Voice. He has been a chorus member of Hawaii Opera Theater since 1994 and has had several comprimario roles over the years. Currently Ryan performs in Waikiki for Tihati Productions at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Royal Hawaiian Hotel and on Maui for various shows. Together with his music partner Ruth Shiroma Foster they have done many showcases with the intent of sharing their gifts to inspire others.

    • Martina Bingham

      Soprano Martina Bingham has performed in concerts, operas, musicals, and choral ensembles in Hawaii and the US mainland. She has recently appeared with Hawai’i Opera Theater, the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra, as a faculty soloist with the University of Hawaii, and in concert with the Marine Corps Forces Pacific Band. Martina is a lecturer in voice at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa and is the current President of the Hawaii Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

    • Noah Faumuina

      Noah Faumuina is a Po’okela winner, Nahoku Hanohano nominee, and alumnus of Ohana Arts. Performing with numerous youth performing arts groups and centers, he also has performed and produced with Manoa Valley Theatre. He currently teaches at Kailua Music School as a vocal and instrumental coach. He performs with the Motown revue, A Touch of gold which has been nominated for a Nahoku Hanohano award for R&B album of the year. He is recording a project with Kapena of Buprint studios that he hopes to release late 2022.

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