ROSS:
IT'S ALL ABOUT RAISING AWARENESS
AND BRINGING TO LIGHT THE STORY
OF
ONE LADY - WHO WAS SHIPPED OFF
TO
KALAUPAPA - THE HANSEN'S DISEASE
SITE - ON MOLOKAI...
SHIPMENT DAY - IS A PLAY THAT
WILL BE
OPENING UP THIS WEEK AT THE
MANOA
VALLEY THEATER...
JOINING US THIS MORNING - IS
LORENZO DESTAFANO - THE
PLAYWRIGHT AND DIRECTOR...
AS WELL AS DOCTOR KALANI BRADY -
FROM THE JOHN A BURNS - SCHOOL
OF
MEDICINE AND A LONGTIME
PHYSICIAN
OF PATIENTS AT KALAUPAPA..
Lorenzo DeStefano / Playwright
and Director ROSS:
1Q: LORENZO - CAN YOU TELL US
ABOUT SHIPMENT DAY AND THE MAIN
CHARACTER - THAT'S ACTUALLY YOUR
COUSIN?
Lorenzo DeStefano / Playwright
and Director Having known Olivia
for 17 years and learned so
much from her about strength and
survival of
the individual in the face of
institutional
oppression, it seemed a natural
step to share her story in a
theatrical context. We are
experiencing similar profiling
going on now
with issues surrounding
minorities, the disabled,
immigrants. It seems a good time
to remind people, as Olivia did,
that we are dealing with
individual human beings here,
not faceless
masses. As Olivia often said. "I
am not my condition. Call me by
my name. Call me Olivia". ROSS:
2Q: WAS OLIVIA BITTER ABOUT
BEING TREATED THIS WAY??? AND
DID SHE
EVER REGRET NOT COMING BACK TO
OAHU WHEN SHE WAS GIVEN THE
CHOICE? LORENZO DESTEFANO
Lorenzo DeStefano / Playwright
and Director
Olivia often expressed her anger
at the way
she'd been "railroaded" in those
early days in
Kalihi Hospital. She expressed
these
sentiments to me as well as
quite prominently in
her memoir, "My Life of
Exile In Kalaupapa." She
actually did move to
Honolulu for time when life in
Kalaupapa
became too oppressive. This was
after the 1969
repeal of the "Separation Laws."
She and other residents of
Kalaupapa travelled
widely and began to feel less
ostracized, though
the stigma of their condition
remained. ROSS:
3Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK PEOPLE
WOULD BE MOST SURPRISED TO LEARN
ABOUT THE LIVES OF THE HANSEN'S
PATIENTS ON MOLOKAI? Lorenzo
DeStefano / Playwright and
Director People would be
surprised to learn, as I
did, that these are not
"afflicted" people. These
are everyday citizens whose
taken away by the forces of fear
and
ignorance. The people I met and
grew to love
and admire in Kalaupapa each had
their own distinct
personalities, just like people
in any neighborhood. Some
were more friendly than others.
Some more
open to talk about their lives.
Others more
protective. What they all seem
to have shared,
even at times of disunity, is
their special
connection to this place where
their lives
intersected and where part of
Hawaii's history was formed and
still plays out to this day.
ROSS:
4Q: HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE HOW
HANSEN'S DISEASE PATIENTS HAVE
BEEN
TREATED THROUGHOUT HISTORY?
Dr. Kalani Brady / John A. Burns
School of Medicine A: He will go
into detail about his
experiences working with the
thousands of patients
who are now down to ten patients
and how things have changed
throughout the years.
ROSS:
Q: IS IT TRUE THAT NEARLY 8,000
PEOPLE
KHON
KICKS OFF ON THURSDAY NIGHT AT
7:30 AT THE MANOA VALLEY
THEATER... AND IT RUNS THRU
NOVEMBER 25TH.. TICKETS START AT
22 BUCKS.. FOR MORE INFORMATION
- JUST LOG ONTO OUR WEBSITE AT
KHON- 2-DOT-COM...
KRISTINE: