Area Playwrights Win Big In Annual Contest

Kumu Kahua Theatre and UH Manoa’s Theatre and Dance department have selected two playwrights with West Oahu ties as winners of the 2014 Playwriting Contest.

Aiea-born Susan Soon He Stanton won the Hawaii Prize and $600 for her play Seek. The category requires that the play take place in or be related to Hawaii. Stanton previously won in the same category for Whatever Happened to John Boy Kihano? in 2006.

Kemuel DeMoville of Ewa Beach won the Resident Prize and $250 for Deaf in One Ear. The category is exclusive to current Hawaii residents. DeMoville also is a veteran of the contest, having won previously for Cane Fields Burning, which premiered at Kumu Kahua in 2011. He’s currently theater manager at Leeward Community College.

Playwrights submitted their entries under pseudonyms for anonymity and were evaluated by three judges selected by Kumu Kahua.