Waele i ke Ala: “Navigating New Ground”

Navigating New Ground: Legacies Who Shaped Modern Hawaii brings to life four historical figures who shaped modern Hawaiʻi through their remarkable journeys – across oceans, through institutions, and between cultures. This special performance is ahead of the Hawaiian Mission Children’s Society 174th Annual Meeting on Saturday, April 25, 2026, and connects the Society’s 2026 theme of navigation.

Tickets are $45, and includes a bento dinner box (select type during ticketing): Book online now!

This is a kupuna accessible program. The paved sidewalk takes guest straight back to the chairs on the lawn in front of the outdoor stage in back. The team puts lanterns alongside the sidewalk for visibility.

The evening features four first-person performances by talented actors portraying figures whose lives exemplify different forms of navigation:

• Stuart Featheran as Manuia

  A royal court navigator who journeyed to London and moved fluidly between Hawaiian royalty and Western commercial interests, embodying the art of cultural navigation.

• Adam LeFebvre as William F. Pogue

  The builder of the Hana Highway, who literally created pathways enabling others’ journeys across Maui’s rugged landscape.

• Albert Ueligitone as John Henry Wise

  The first Native Hawaiian to play American college football, who traveled to Oberlin College for religious education and later became a pioneering Hawaiian language teacher at Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaiʻi, navigating the preservation of Hawaiian language through the turbulent era of overthrow and annexation.

• Eden Lee Murray as Edna Allyn

  The pioneering librarian who built Hawaiʻi’s unique statewide library system, creating pathways to knowledge for communities across all the Hawaiian islands.