The History Of The Actors’ Group (TAG)
1995-1996
Compiling the history of any organization can be a great challenge, particularly when the core group is small and rather than chronicle events, had spent their energy towards merely keeping alive. So is the case with TAG. As it evolved from a creative curmudgeon to become one of Hawaii's finest community theaters, all TAG could do was focus on its next production, for it had little time for anything else. Hence, this history has been cobbled together utilizing the recollection of participants at the time, dog-eared old files containing memorabilia and other forms of information, photos, newspaper articles, and recovered video footage that is often way past its prime if not damaged. Nonetheless, these have been the sources to create the history of TAG - The Actors' Group, told in a series of posts chronicling time periods unique to its development. |
The Neighborhood – TAG’s First Complete Play
TAG goes back to weekly acting sessions as Winston Barge takes time to decide the group’s next play. The group stop their sessions when Winston Barge decides on “The Neighborhood,” an extension of one of the storylines developed in “Dances,” with half of the original group continuing (Kinghorn, Nemoto, Kai, Mauck, Kaneshiro) and two new members joining up, talented Renee Mullen (see photo below left), who would later become Renee Brown and relocate with her husband, Michael, to Japan, where she focused on filmmaking, and the previously mentioned William Hughes. Of those that would leave, Leilani Langhoff (see photo below middle for a photo taken years later) moves to Guam with her family and her absence is dearly felt. As with all of Winston Barge’s plays, the group basically starts out with just a notion, and proceeds to develop the ensuing script and the play with each rehearsal. “The Neighborhood” varies from “Dance” in the sense that it is the first true “full story” play, in other words, an entire story told with central characters that make up a single storyline that runs through the entire play (whereas “Dances” was a series of separate short scenes, some of which ties back to one another). “The Neighborhood” opened on July 29th and played through August 26th, playing on Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday nights at 8:00 pm in the old Yellow Brick Studio on Keawe Street, for a total of 13 shows.
The Postcard For “The Neighborhood”
Can We Keep It?
Of particular note, one that would come to be remembered for years, “The Neighborhood” features an accidental development that is eventually incorporated into the play. On preview night, before just a couple of attendees, Leigh Ann Kinghorn, playing a character whose marital frustrations cause her to push her wheel-chair bound husband, played by Eric Nemoto (see photo below right), across the stage in a fit of anger, pushes way too hard. Nemoto, anticipating that he will be pushed off the stage, locks the chair’s wheels, but the momentum makes the chair fall over backwards and he with it to the stage floor. Of course, this presents a problem for the play to continue. His character is weak and crippled. How is he able to get back into the chair for the next scene? Fortunately, Shannon Mauck, playing a nurse who is scheduled for a scene with Nemoto after Kinghorn’s character has left, is advised off stage by Kinghorn of the catastrophe (while Nemoto remains prostrate on the stage praying that Mauck will do what he eventually in fact does). Mauck shrugs (“No problem”), comes on stage, and in a few short moves, pulls Nemoto back on the chair and the play continues. Winston Barge, totally impressed by the group’s ability to solve its challenges on the fly, asks the group (particularly Nemoto, who averted getting seriously injured), “Can we keep it?” The group, realizing he is serious, decides to keep the scene, and Kinghorn, Nemoto, and Mauck rehearse the wheelchair accident until they have it down solid. “The Neighborhood” opens with audiences particularly enjoying its most riveting scene that began totally as an accident.

The Cast Of “The Neighborhood” Included Renee Mullen, Leilani Langhoff, And Eric Nemoto
These first plays are a reflection of Dave Winston Barge’s vision, talent, and persistence. So confident is he in the process, that after determining each performer’s schedule, committing to a play date, and determining the general theme and title of the play, Winston Barge has flyers printed up which he then advises everyone to post around town announcing this new TAG play without a single word of the ensuing script being penned as yet. Winston Barge’s process has TAG plays created by actors participating in improvisational exercises, being assigned a character, writing dialogue as these characters which eventually he organizes into a script, which is then used by all to rehearse. TAG plays follow a usual six week rehearsal schedule and always open as planned. These plays are certainly original, often Avant-garde, and some would say very surreal. The audiences, however, are very small, and often there are more actors on stage than there are people in the seats. Still, these plays are transformational for TAG, helping to start its journey towards being a quality community theatre.
Letters To Cleo – TAG’s First Media Exposure
The Playbill For “Letters To Cleo”
The next production conceived by Dave is “Letters To Cleo,” a concept inspired by his knowledge Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Cast in the show are, at the time, TAG’s regulars – Mane, Eric Nemoto, Lena Kaneshiro, Shannon Mauck, Leigh Ann Kinghorn, Dorothy Stamp, and Freddy Stamp (Dorothy’s brother). The ensemble gains TAG its first bit of notoriety as it is featured in a special television report (arranged by Lena Kaneshiro) on the local station, KHNL, and is referred to as “The theatre where you can literally reach out and almost touch the actors.”
Lena Kaneshiro Arranges The First Ever Media Coverage Of TAG
It’s a mystery as to when exactly “Letters To Cleo” played. Long after its run, all that is left are just the playbill and one photo (both of which appear on this page). There are dialogue that was group written that is dated January 1996, which suggests that rehearsals were begun in that month. And so if rehearsals began in January of 1996, then it is very likely that “Cleo” ran for February and March of 1996, but how many performances and exactly when is not known. So alas, other than the most basic of information that is supplied here, everything else has been lost to time. Hence, the exact details of this production remains like the play itself – a mystery.
Dorothy Stamp & Eric Nemoto Rehearse “Cleo” On The Small Yellow Brick Studio Stage
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