FRIDAY-FEB. 16

>> Modern shadow puppetry tells ancient tale in ‘The Last King of Bali’

This weekend, the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa’s Department of Theatre and Dance presents the folk tale “The Last King of Bali” featuring an emerging style of shadow puppetry — wayang listrik, which means “electric shadows” in Indonesian.

Traditional Indonesian shadow puppetry uses figures of perhaps 2 to 3 feet tall. Wayang listrik uses life-size puppetry, integrating the shadows with live actors and dancers performing on stage.

Performed to live gamelan music, the integration of the live action with the shadow puppetry is “like shooting an entire film in one take,” said director Kirstin Pauka, head of the Asian theater program at UH, in a statement. “There are a thousand moving pieces and you have to get it right, or the illusion is broken.”

Balinese master instructor I Ketut Wirtawan adapted the story for the stage, while artist I Made Moja created the set design and shadow puppets. UH ensemble Gamelan Segara Madu will playoriginal music created for the play, directed by I Made Widana.

The show promises to be spectacular. It’s a 17th-century story about a powerful demon who causes chaos on a small island, leading Balinese king Dalem Dimade to send a minister and his wife to fight off the malevolent spirit in a dramatic, action-filled battle.

“THE LAST KING OF BALI”

>> Where: Kennedy Theatre, UH-Manoa

>> When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday, Feb. 14-15; and 2 p.m. Feb. 16

>> Cost: $8-$25

>> Info: 944-2697, etickethawaii.com

FRIDAY

>> Nature resounds with chamber music group The American Wild Ensemble

The American Wild Ensemble, a group that presents music celebrating the environment, history and culture of America, comes to the islands to perform music by local composers.

The project started at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., after flutist and founder Emlyn Johnson hiked through nearby Letchworth State Park, known as “The Grand Canyon of the East.” She then commissioned 11 works to explore ideas about the environment and humans’ relationship with it.

The group, now consisting of Johnson, clarinetist Ellen Breakfield-Glick, horn player Lauren Becker, violinist Hanna Hurwitz, violist Alexander Pena, viola, and cellist Daniel Ketter, has performed in nontraditional concert venues like caves, forests, lakeshores and mountaintops. In 2018, they released the album “Music in the American Wild,” recorded in seven national parks, to celebrate the centennial of the national park system.

Composition “Covers and Uncovers” by acclaimed composer Tonia Ko, who was raised in Hawaii, appears on their album; it pairs brief percussive bursts with long, extended notes, as if to compare the sound of crickets and birds with wide open panoramas of ocean and prairie.

For its concerts here, the ensemble has commissioned a new work from Ko, as well as works from University of Hawaii composition professor Takuma Itoh, known for composing part of the popular 2018 production “Symphony of the Hawaiian Birds,” retired UH professor Byron Yasui, who composed an ukulele concerto for Jake Shimabukuro in 2015, and Michael-Thomas Foumai, whose 2019 choral symphony “Raise Havaiki” was inspired by the round-the-world voyage of the Hokule‘a.

An additional performance will be held at 3:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at the Lyon Arboretum. Tickets are $25, 808ne.ws/musicatarboretum.

THE AMERICAN WILD ENSEMBLE

>> Where: Orvis Auditorium, University of Hawaii-Manoa

>> When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

>> Cost: Free

>> Info: 808ne.ws/­americanwild

SATURDAY

>> Hawaii Kai fair supports wetlands preservation

Celebrate World Wetlands Day with an educational fair at the Keawawa Wetlands in Hawaii Kai.

“It will definitely be very family friendly,” said Valerie Moore, spokeswoman for event organizer Livable Hawaii Kai Hui. “There will be games for keiki … volunteer programs, so people can do some planting on the wetlands — we use indigenous plants that are appropriate for the wetlands — and some weeding as well.”

There will be booths, food and expert guests — both Hawaiian cultural specialists and scientists, including Charles Van Rees, an expert on the ‘Alae ‘ula, an endangered native Hawaiian waterbird.

Known for its distinctive red beak, which Hawaiians associate with the god Pele, the ‘Alae ‘ula nearly went extinct 50 years ago, but with wetlands preservation efforts, about 500 to 1,000 still remain on Oahu and Kauai. “They’re very friendly and they come right up to people, which is really nice for kids,” Moore said.

The site includes a heiau, and the event includes tours and cultural speakers to note the significance of wetlands to the traditional ahupua‘a subdivisions of old Hawaii.

“A large percentage of Oahu was wetlands,” Moore said. “With development and population growth, that has significantly changed, which impacts the ability to manage floodwaters, clean water and everything else.”

World Wetlands Day marks the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on Feb. 2 1971.

WORLD WETLANDS DAY

>> Where: Hawea Heiau Complex & Keawawa Wetland, 6888 Hawaii Kai Drive

>> When: 9:30 a.m. Saturday registration, 10 a.m. opening

>> Cost: Free

>> 864-8081 or fb.com/­livablehawaii kaihui

SATURDAY

>> Fundraiser to defray costs for influential DJ’s service

Come celebrate the life and times — and the beat — of DJ Daniel J, one of Hawaii’s most influential DJ’s, at The Republik on Saturday.

DJ Daniel J, aka Daniel John Ward, introduced electronic dance music to the Hawaii club scene in the 1980s. He died on Jan. 7 at his Kaneohe home at age 55.

DJ Daniel J was a host at radio station KIKI Hot-I-94 when he convinced the station to broadcast a program of club-style dance music, basing it on his experience DJ’ing at clubs since grade school in the San Francisco Bay Area. He came to Hawaii in 1985 and became a resident DJ at the Wave, then Honolulu’s most popular nightclub. He later DJ’d at Anna Banana’s, now Anna O’Brien’s, as well as Hula’s Bar & Lei Stand, and presented Honolulu’s first commercial rave.

Flash & Maleko emcee, with DJs Gspot, James Coles, KSM and more top Hawaii DJs. All proceeds go toward funeral expenses for the Ward family.

LOVE & LIGHT CELEBRATION

Fundraiser for DJ Daniel J

>> Where: The Republik

>> When: 7 p.m. Saturday

>> Cost: $20

>> Info: 941-7469, jointherepublik.com