FRIDAY
>> ‘Science Fair’ screens at Honolulu Museum of Art
Every year, top science and engineering high school students from around the world compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, winnowing about 7 million competitors in preliminary rounds, to about 1,700 finalists.
“Science Fair,” a documentary by former contestant Christina Constantini and co-director Darren Foster, provides an inside look at the 2017 fair, held in Los Angeles. The film, which won audience favorite awards at the Sundance Film Festival and South by Southwest, profiles nine contestants, revealing not only their extraordinary intelligence and ambition but their heartwarming personal triumphs.
One competitor, Kashfia Rahman, one of the few Muslim-Americans in her South Dakota highschool, convinces the football coach to be her sponsor. Another almost failed algebra but has programmed a computer to rap.
The film, presented by the Hawaii Academy of Science, screens today and tomorrow, but today’s 7 p.m. presentation will be particularly interesting, if not a bit intimidating. Four Hawaii high schoolers will speak on the presentations they gave at this year’s ISEF in Pittsburgh.
Cindy Tsou, a Mililani High senior, will talk about “Enhancing Algal Bioremediation in Wastewater Using the Surface Plasmon Resonance of Silver Metal Nanoparticles as an Optical Nanofilter.”
Samuel Cadotte, a Kalaheo High Schoolsenior, will discuss “Using SONAR [Sound Navigation and Ranging), LIDAR [Light Detection and Ranging], and Computer Vision to Assist the Visually-Impaired.”
Kaitlynn and Benjamin Weiss, Kalaheo High School 9th and 12 graders, will discuss “Improving Facial Expression Recognition in Parkinson’s Disease Using Meditation.”
FRIDAY-DEC. 9
>> ‘June is the First Fall’ debuts at Kumu Kahua Theatre
As in many traditional cultures, homosexuality is not a topic that is easily broached in Chinese and Chinese-American culture. “June is the First Fall,” a play debuting this week at Kumu Kahua Theatre, weaves its way through a tangled set of circumstances to address the issue.
The drama has a “lot of complicated threads and emotions,” said Lurana O’Malley, a University of Hawaii-Manoa theater professor who is directing the play.
In the play, Don, a gay man born in China but raised in Hawaii returns to Manoa after living in NewYork City, where he’s just undergone a breakup. His coming out already caused some division within the family, and now tensions are heightened even further — because his sister is engaged to his first crush.
Don’s return provides the focal point for a series of flashbacks from his past and vignettes relating to the broader history of Chinese in America. A key figure is Afong Moy, who in 1834 became a curiosity as the first Chinese woman to immigrate to America.
“They had her sing, and she used chopsticks, and then talked about her astonishingly small feet,” O’Malley said.
The play, which stars Kumu Kahua newcomer Adam Brading as Don, was written by by Yilong Liu, who got his masters in theater at UH-Manoa and received high praise for his play “Joker,” which Kumu Kahua staged in 2015.
Liu has been working in New York and recently was invited to China.
“His career is really taking off,” O’Malley said.
SATURDAY-SUNDAY
>> Bruno Mars rocks Aloha Stadium
Hawaii’s home-grown pop megastar Bruno Mars returns to give three concerts at Aloha Stadium, with the final performance set for Sunday .
By all accounts, this “24k Magic Tour,” named for this third and latest album, has lived up to its name, with Mars and his band the Hooligans hitting the high notes from previous albums “Unorthodox Jukebox” and “Doo-Wops & Hooligans.” The show features a huge stage, allowing Mars different platforms to strut his stuff and give as many fans as possible a good view.
Common Kings and The Green will open both of this weekend’s shows.
A limited number of additional tickets for both nights were released by the concert production team earlier this week. Those seats, along with limited resale tickets, may still be avaialble online via Ticketmaster.
WEDNESDAY
>> Hoku Award-winner Stef Mariani plays her first show at Blue Note
The year 2018 is a year of firsts for Hawaii-resident recording artist Stef Mariani.
She won her first Na Hoku Hanohano Award, for Alternative Album of the Year” in May. And on Wednesday, Mariani plays her first show at the Blue Note Waikiki.
“I’m very excited,” Mariani said, describing her plan to present a “storyteller, singer-songwriter show,” backed by a trio and with powerhouse guitarist/singer-songwriter Keith Batlin of the Guidance Band as her opening guest.
She’ll share songs from her Hoku-winning album, “Stay Gold.” The title song has become a musical affirmation for many people — here and in other parts of the world — with its call to remain a caring person despite the harshness of daily life.
Mariani will also preview the sound of her next big project with her song “Butterflies,” which she recently released as a download-only single.
The song, which she wrote and recorded with New Yorker Lonnie Mark, adds two more “firsts” to the list.
“It’s my first duet, and my first co-write,” Mariani noted.
Hawaii’s Dave Tucciarone, a multiple Hoku and Grammy winner, co-engineered the song, and highly respected musician Casey Olsen contributed Hawaian steel guitar.
“Its amazing to be surrounded by such talent and be supported like that,” she said.
Find “Butterflies” at Amazon.com, on iTunes and on Mariani’s website staygoldhawaii.com.
