Abstract
My Independent Study serves as a model that demonstrates the ways in which a theatre artist can confront and combat clichés of Hawai’i and its native culture through a devised performance. This artistic endeavor calls for the theatre artist to clearly identify and present Hawai’ian cultural stereotypes, then strategically determine how to meaningfully dismantle them on stage. I conducted extensive sociocultural and historical research on appropriate topics concerning Hawai’i and its neglected history including: its initial contact with the West, its 1898 annexation by the United States, its 1959 admission to U.S. statehood, and its development as a tourist industry which has fostered these cultural stereotypes and deemed the islands as the ultimate paradise. I crafted a performance titled, If You Look to the Right which took audience members on a theatrical through the islands, with each “stop” revealing a narrative exposing the authentic Hawai’i–a damaged, resistant, and undoubtedly hopeful Hawai’i.
Advisor
Noriega, Jimmy
Department
Theatre and Dance
Recommended Citation
Meredith, Vincent, "Deconstructing Aloha: Confronting and Combatting Clichés of Hawai'i and its Native Culture through a Devised Performance" (2018). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 8246.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/8246
Disciplines
Theatre and Performance Studies
Keywords
Hawai'i, Clichés, Stereotypes, Waikiki Beach
Publication Date
2018
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2018 Vincent Meredith