A new era in Hawaii theater begins Friday when the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s production of “Rent” opens on the mainstage at Kennedy Theatre.
It’s the first time in 14 years that the UH-Manoa Department of Theatre and Dance has presented a mainstage production of a major Broadway musical. It is also the directorial debut of Hawaii born-and-raised Joshua “Baba” Tavares, a 2024 UH-Manoa graduate with a Master of Fine Arts degree in western acting and hana keaka, Hawaiian language theater.
“It’s my debut as a director, and my first time really directing a big musical, but the big thing is giving these students the opportunity to do something like this,” Tavares said. The UH-Manoa theater program has been known for decades for meticulously staged traditional East Asian and Indonesian plays performed in English, with the student actors, musicians and stage crews trained by visiting masters of those art forms. In recent years it has also made unique contributions to Hawaii theater with its hana keaka program.
“There’s been amazing other opportunities at the university (for students) to grow as artists (in other types of theater), but as somebody who is a thespian in musical theater, an American musical theater fan, It’s cool to give this opportunity to the students,” he said. “And for myself to have this opportunity, coming in fresh as the newest assistant professor of acting, taking over the head of acting department, stepping into that role, and being able to wrap up this first academic year in this new position with this show — I feel that the stars kind of aligned for me. I feel very grateful.”
Tavares was born on the Big Island, attended Kamehameha Schools’ Kapalama campus as a boarder, and then earned a Bachelor of Arts in performing arts at UH Hilo in 2012. From there he went to drama school in New York and spent the next few years “auditioning, living, surviving, working.” And then he was cast as Angel, the charismatic young drag queen character in “Rent,” and joined the 20th Anniversary National Tour.
“That was really cool, because I got to work with the original Broadway creative team. We toured around the states, and came to Hawaii in 2019 and we performed at the Blaisdell. That was really a career highlight for me.”
The COVID pandemic cut the tour short in 2020. Tavares returned to Hawaii expecting to be back on the road in a few weeks — or return to New York, “hit the streets,” and “build off the momentum” that had been generated by “Rent.” It didn’t happen. The pandemic shutdown dragged on, and Tavares decided to go for a postgraduate degree at UH-Manoa. Three years later he had earned his MFA; he wrote a hana keaka play, “Glitter in the Pa‘akai,” almost entirely in Hawaiian, as his MFA thesis production while earning his degree.
“Returning to school was kind of melding those two worlds together for my professional experiences, and then also reconnecting to my cultural roots here. And then, I got the (teaching) position … They allowed me to choose (the musical), and it was an easy choice for me. Luckily, the rights all fell into place and we were able to make it happen.”
Tavares says the story of impoverished young artists struggling to survive and create art in a crumbling building in a crumbling neighborhood in New York is as relevant in 2025 as it was when “Rent” opened on Broadway in 1996.
“‘Rent’ was anchored around the AIDS/HIV epidemic, and how that was wiping out people, and how that changed the trajectory of so many people’s lives in the ’80s and ’90s, and the idea of life and death and just how precious time is. Now we’re coming off the heels of COVID-19 and the global pandemic, and that’s really affected the world in a huge way,” Tavares said. “And then there’s the idea of gentrification and homelessness and substance abuse. Things I feel have never really gone away. In Hawaii specifically, people who grew up here, who are from here, get priced out of it because of gentrification and people coming in to build fancy resorts and fancy condos. That’s the thing that happens in the play. It’s titled ‘Rent’ because they can’t pay their rent.”
‘Rent’
Presented by the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
>> Where: Kennedy Theatre mainstage.
>> When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday*; continues at 7:30 p.m. March 7-8 and at 2 p.m. March 9
>> Tickets: $25; $22 (UH faculty/staff, military, senior), $15 (non-UHM student/youth) and $8 (UHM student with valid UHM ID).
>> Info: hawaiiathletics.evenue.net/events/KT2 Opens in a new tab or 808-956-7655.
>> Note: “Rent” contains mature themes including substance abuse, strong language, sexuality, and self-harm, and is not recommended for children.
* March 1 show sold out.
