Gridiron 2006: Raw and Untreated
Oct. 20-21 at Diamond Head Theatre
ACT I
Gridiron, Gridiron!
Jodi Leong, Cathy Foy, Ben. Gutierrez, Catherine Toth, Lisa Kubota, Keoki Kerr, Ensemble
Tiny Stem Cells
Bill Sage IV
Hot Stuff
Moani Wright-Van Alst, Cathy Cruz, Catherine Toth, Lisa Kubota, Suzanne Sasaki
A heartbeat away
Following photos by Bruce Asato
Where's the coppers?
This Land's Not Your Land
Vicki Viotti, Kyle Funasaki, Jocelyn Cua Racoma, Keoki Kerr, Billy Sage V, Christine Strobel, Ensemble
Aren't Cha Glad
Dan Cooke, Anna Gomes, Catherine Toth, Christine Strobel, Cathy Cruz
This!/When Govs Cry
Dan Cooke, Justin Cruz, Ben. Gutierrez, Billy Sage V
No caption material available
The following were shot by Bruce Asato
Campaign Thong Song
B.J. Reyes, Cathy Cruz, Anna Gomes, Lisa Kubota, Christine Strobel, Catherine Toth
Iwase
Keoki Kerr
Oh, What a Terrible Morning
Billy Sage V
Up Your Asphalt
Cathy Foy, Jodi Leong
Stuck on the Freeway
Ben. Gutierrez, Jocelyn Cua Racoma, Bill Sage IV, Billy Sage V, Suzanne Sasaki
Please up your asphalt
A salute to military cranes
Gasoline
Keoki Kerr, Colette Fox, Suzanne Sasaki, Christine Strobel, Catherine Toth, Cathy Cruz
Keep Your Hands to Yourself
Bill Sage IV, Denby Fawcett, Cathy Foy, Anna Gomes, Christina Julian, Lisa Kubota, Jodi Leong, Vicki Viotti, Moani Wright-Van Alst
Photos by Bruce Asato
Michelle Wie
Ben. Gutierrez, Jocelyn Cua Racoma, Bill Sage IV, Billy Sage V
Hi, I'm Michelle Rodriguez!
Kyle Funasaki, Chad Lovell
We're Mi-chellin'
Rain
Suzanne Sasaki, Ensemble
Photos by Bruce Asato
ACT II
Ala Wai
Cathy Foy
Tainted Flood
Christine Strobel
Let it Flow
Ensemble
DaVowel Code
Colette Fox, Chad Blair, Loren Moreno, Mahlon Moore
Love Cage
Justin Cruz, Jocelyn Cua Racoma
On Hold with Telcom
Cathy Foy, Jodi Leong
Don Quijote
Bill Sage IV, Billy Sage V
Photos by Bruce Asato
Gridiron Pledge Drive
Howard Dicus, Mahlon Moore
Rail Will Be Alright
Jocelyn Cua Racoma, Ben. Gutierrez, Colette Fox, B.J. Reyes, Suzanne Sasaki, Christine Strobel, Chad Lovell, Vicki Viotti
Spelling Bee
Robbie Dingeman, John Heckathorn, Garett Kamemoto, Louise Kim McCoy, Christine Strobel, Vicki Viotti
You Frickah!
Bill Sage IV, Ben. Gutierrez, Chad Lovell, Billy Sage V, Justin Cruz, Kyle Funasaki, Chad Blair
Somewhere Over the Ocean
Keoki Kerr, Lisa Kubota
Anything Yuo Can Do
Jodi Leong, Bill Sage IV
Watada
Catherine Toth, Ensemble
Stan Yeh!
Bill Sage IV, Billy Sage V, Ben. Gutierrez, B.J. Reyes
Photos by Bruce Asato
Musical Director: Roslyn
Catracchia
Director: Andrew Meader
Choreographers: John Rampage, Ahnya Chang, Anna Gomes and Jodi
Leong
Technical Director: Theresa
Riedman
Artistic Director: Keoki Kerr
Our creative team
Theresa Riedman, Keoki Kerr, Robbie Dingeman and Andrew Meader
THE CAST*
The Honolulu Advertiser, Honolulu
Star Bulletin, Downtown Planet, MidWeek, PacRim Marketing,
Pacific Business News, PMP Publishing, KGMB-9, KHNL-8, KHON-2,
KITV-4, Talk Story Magazine and more.
Chad Blair
Heidi Chang
Dan Cooke
Cathy S. Cruz
Justin Cruz
Jocelyn Cua Racoma
Lisa Dee
Howard Dicus
Robbie Dingeman
Paul Drewes
Denby Fawcett
Colette Fox
Cathy Foy
Kyle Funasaki
Anna Gomes
Ben. Gutierrez
John Heckathorn
Bob Jones
Stephanie Kendrick
Keoki Kerr
Craig T. Kojima
Lisa Kubota
Jodi Leong
Chad Kanui Lovell
Louise Kim McCoy
Loren Moreno
Dan Nakaso
Mericia Palma-Fuller
Gordon Y.K. Pang
B.J. Reyes
Mahealani Richardson
Bill Sage
Billy Sage V
Suzanne Sasaki
Ola Souza
Christine Strobel
Minna Sugimoto
Catherine Toth
Emily Viglielmo
Vicki Viotti
GRIDIRON ARTISTIC TEAM
We have assembled another strong artistic team this year.
Our new music director is ROSLYN CATRACCHIA, who has been involved in many aspects of the musical and theatrical world in Hawaii for almost 20 years now, mostly writing and recording songs. She’s written the songs and scores for 11 full-length musical productions, including Lisa Matsumoto’s On Dragonfly Wings and The Princess and the Iso Peanut, and Ala Moana Center’s Santa’s Light Parade, in addition to writing for 30 educational road shows and/or school productions. Roslyn has received three Po’okela awards (most recently for musical directing DHT’s The Wizard Of Oz) and two Hoku nominations for her CDs. Roslyn recently had the immense pleasure of musical directing Into The Woods at Diamond Head Theatre. She is the Director of Worship and Performing Arts at First Presbyterian Church of Honolulu and is the Hawaii Representative of the Songwriters Guild of America. We know that Roslyn’s supportive and upbeat style along with her strong professionalism will make her a fine addition to the Gridiron gang!
Choreographer AHNYA CHANG will stage some chorus and mid-sized numbers and assist John Rampage with large production numbers. She is a frequent performer who has appeared at DHT, MVT, ACT, and LCC in such productions as Cabaret, Beauty and the Beast, The Full Monty, Gypsy, A Little Night Music, The King & I, and The Music Man. She formerly appeared as a backup singer and dancer with Legends in Concert at the Aloha Showroom and danced with Hawaii Ballet Theatre for 12 years, becoming an apprentice and demi-soloist. At Carnegie Mellon University, she served for three years as a director, choreographer, and instructor of the Dancers' Symposium, a forum for student choreography and showcase of contemporary dance forms.
ROBBIE DINGEMAN is doing so much this year it’s impossible to give her one title. So we won’t. She’s the voice of reason, emcee and writing coordinator, Gridiron morale officer, diplomatic officer and chief brownie baker. We're thrilled that she's back to coordinate writing of songs, skits and emcee scripts, recruit and organize emcees and do many things that make her integral to putting on the Gridiron. Robbie has been deeply involved in the show, starting as an audience member in 1999. She joined us as a writer and emcee in 2000, and then she became an emcee coordinator in 2002 and contributed in many other ways to the show over the years. As city government reporter for the Honolulu Advertiser, she often searches for Gridiron topics that turn into great stories. Her previous work as a TV reporter and city sewage spokeswoman make her uniquely qualified for Gridiron management.
KITV producer ANNA GOMES will once again choreograph several numbers for us. Anna has been taking street and jazz classes since the age of 12. She is currently an instructor for the company Dance Central, which runs out of the Central YMCA. She teaches hip-hop to both kids and adults and has performed at numerous venues across the state. If you'd like to get of glimpse of Anna's style and what you may be doing in the Gridiron, her next dance production is on August 18, 19 & 20 at Hawaii Theatre. See her for tickets.
NORMA HIROTA returns as our costume coordinator. Norma will find special costumes for us and also serves as head dresser, coordinating quick costume changes off stage. She is masterful at begging, borrowing and stealing costumes from all over town. She is Diamond Head Theatre’s resident dresser, and has done costumes and makeup for Punahou School productions and others. She’s been the Gridiron’s costume coordinator since 2001. By day, she's a state librarian who handles Arts, Music and Recreation.
Our microphone coordinator is PAULA JORGENSEN. Paula is responsible for keeping track of the dozen-plus wireless microphones we will use in the production. She has worked on the Gridiron since its rebirth in 1998 in a number of capacities. And she is ably assisted by BOB MADISON, another long-time Gridiron volunteer. If you forget to return a microphone, don’t be surprised if Bob or Paula shows up in your dressing room. Their important work is integral to our show, since if people can’t hear the lyrics and the lines, all our hard work is lost!
KEOKI KERR serves as artistic director, coach, talent scout and scary moral compass of the Gridiron show. Officially, he oversees all artistic aspects of the show. Unofficially, that means he scours the community to find talented people who are already way too busy and then cajoles them into volunteering with the Gridiron show, challenging them to do things they’d never planned to, especially not in public. He performed in the first year of the Gridiron’s revival in 1998, and then became the show’s producer from 1999 to 2003. Keoki’s longtime involvement as a performer in local theater and opera productions combined with his wacky skills as a news reporter provide him with a background uniquely suited to parody. Gridiron also keeps him out of an obsessive-compulsive support group. By day, Keoki is an investigative reporter at KITV 4 News, where he occasionally gets on the air, if there’s not a meaningless brush fire or quickly-weakening hurricane to cover.
Seven-year Gridiron veteran JODI LEONG will serve as choreographer and dance captain, when her beloved television night shift allows. Jodi starred as Diana in Chorus Line at CPAC last summer and has appeared in dozens of shows since she premiered in Nutcracker at age five in a year which she refused to reveal. She looks forward to another Gridiron season when she can reconnect with her friends and colleagues in a venue that isn’t a triple homicide. Besides, now that she’s returned to KITV, she’s found it difficult to escape Keoki’s Gridiron Nazi grip!
Joining us as director this year is ANDREW MEADER, who is currently directing Urinetown, the Musical at Manoa Valley Theatre. He’s familiar with the Gridiron, because he served as an off-stage singer for us in 2003. Andrew directed A.R. Gurney's Love Letters at Paliku Theatre in 2005. For the past two years, he has directed the Murder Mystery Players dinner theatre productions at Dave and Busters. Andrew has also been seen on the MVT stage in Santaland Diaries, I Love You You're Perfect Now Change, and Forever Plaid. He has performed in over 30 productions at other theaters. Andrew also appeared in local commercials and television shows. He spent several summers working at the Tony Award winning Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts and the Adirondack Theatre Festival in Upstate New York. Before moving to Hawaii, Andrew toured with Up With People for two years and served as Dance Captain for one year. Andrew’s comedic skills and his fun-loving attitude make for a perfect Gridiron combination.
Our assistant stage manager is KALE OKAZAKI. Kale has been an enormous help to getting the show on its feet, taking staging notes, organizing scripts and music and keeping track of props and people at stage left. She’s been Gridiron’s ASM since 2002. Kale has been an assistant stage manager for numerous Hawaii Opera Theatre productions at the Blaisdell Center, as well as shows in other venues around town. A classically-trained singer, she sang professionally in Europe in operas and recitals for years before returning home to Hawaii. So it’s nice to see her cheerfully singing along with us, especially when we need help memorizing the words!
JOHN RAMPAGE has once again agreed to choreograph our biggest production numbers. We're so happy he's agreed to help those of us with two left feet look like we know what we're doing! John is artistic director at Diamond Head Theatre, as well as a dance teacher, director and dancer. He has directed and choreographed numerous musicals in Hawaii and has performed professionally as a ballet dancer, singer, dancer and actor on the mainland and across Hawaii. He has been with the Gridiron since we first arrived on the Diamond Head stage in 2000. John survived having Keoki as a dance student twelve years ago, but denies that fact to anyone who asks about it.
THERESA RIEDMAN is the Technical Director and Production Stage Manager. She will oversee all aspects of the show, making sure the staging, lights, sound, props and costumes come together seamlessly. She has experience stage managing everything from the Nutcracker Ballet to Superbrawl to big musicals to concerts. Gridiron vets have enjoyed her guidance and support for the last five years. She specializes in fixing problems before they appear. She joined the Gridiron in 2001 as a stage manager and overall troubleshooter. She has had a busy year, stage managing Cats at Army Community Theater and La Cage Aux Folles at DHT.
JANELLE SANEISHI returns as Props Mistress and general doer of many things Gridiron. She personally created the much-acclaimed clams in last year’s Gridiron, and is hoping not be conned into creating more sea creatures this year. She has served this show since its rebirth in 1998 in many capacities: buying, creating and finding props while also writing songs and skits. She has always wowed us with her ability to create great-looking props with next to no money in the props budget! We truly could not do the show without her, and we're happy to have her back. By day, she’s the spokeswoman for the state agriculture department, where she deals with coqui frogs, illegal snakes and other Gridiron topics on a daily basis.
MINDY WILLERS will serve the Gridiron troupe in the newly-created title of "Girl Friday, Saturday and Sunday." She has more than 12 years of community theatre experience, most of that spent as a principal dresser at DHT, but also performing onstage in several productions both at DHT and MVT. Her most recent assignment was as Assistant Director for Randl Ask in Pageant at MVT, moving backstage as one of the dressers once the show opened. She has a B.A. in Music from UH-Manoa and is pursuing her B.S. in Nursing at HPU while working part-time as the Designated Programs' Project Assistant at the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts. She spent over 11 years in the real estate community, starting as a secretary at Dolman Associates and ending up an Executive Assistant to Mary Worrall.
Our stage manager this year is KAREN WRIGHT, a back stage veteran of many opera, dance and community theater productions. After years of stage managing musicals with large casts of small children she has the experience the Gridiron show was seeking for this year’s production. In her other life she is married to attorney James Wright. They share a home with three Airedale terriers who, like our performers, are all exceedingly cute, clever and well-groomed. Karen is looking forward to training the performers to sit, stay and heel but has given up all hope of getting them to roll-over.
At the Gridiron
Ensemble
Photos by Bruce Asato
