Luana Kawa'a, Hawaiian protocol facilitator for Kamehameha Schools Maui, and Chad Lovell of KS communications, outside the 600-seat Keōpūolani Hale, which serves as the symbolic piko of the schools' Maui campus. - Photo: Lisa Asato

Kamehameha Schools on Maui
opens new venue for the arts

By Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola

At Kamehameha Schools' Maui campus, the class of 2009 will have the distinction of being the first to have its graduation ceremony in the new Keōpūolani Hale, a 600-seat multipurpose facility that also provides a new home for chapel services for faculty and students grades K-12.

Since its Sept. 12 blessing, Keōpūolani Hale has shown its wide potential, hosting the drama club's production of Seussical, the semiannual Native Hawaiian film festival Ho'oluana, and the debut of a photography exhibit portraying pre-contact Hawai'i by Shane Tegarden, called Ho'omana'o I Nā Wā I Huliau. The exhibit was shown to students before being opened to the public that night, reflecting the school's plans to use the facility to educate both students and the community.

“(Kamehameha Schools Trustee) Admiral Kihune, who came for the blessing, put it nicely saying, that with this theater we're able to showcase the talents of our students but also showcase our culture and language on that stage as well,” according to Luana Kawa'a, Hawaiian protocol facilitator for KS Maui.

Keōpūolani Hale blessing ceremonies were held in September. - Photo: Courtesy Kamehameha Schools

Kawa'a said that because the $18.5 million facility is named after Keōpūolani, a chiefess of nī'aupi'o status – the highest rank of an ali'i – the school would be careful to respect her name. “There is a review process before an event is scheduled in Keōpūolani, and that goes back to cultural protocol,” said Kawa'a. “When we do things in that building we want to do things that honor who she was as a Hawaiian chiefess as well as a strong Christian.”

The venue's interior reflects both of those qualities. A solid koa cross hangs on a wall opposite a lei hulu done in Ka Mō'ī style for Keōpūolani, and hand-held kahili honor her children, while two standing kāhili are done in red, symbolizing her sacred status, Kawa'a said. The contemporary pieces were created specifically for the building, with the help of groups like Hālau Kekuaokalā'au'ala'iliahi, which created the featherwork.

Kahu Kalani Wong, who can now hold chapel service in Keōpūolani Hale instead of in the gym, called the new 16,000-sqare-foot facility the “spiritual and cultural center” of the campus. That the hale offers a view facing Keōpūolani's birthplace at Pihana Heiau, or Haleki'i, in Wailuku is “serendipity,” he said.

Luana Kawa'a, Hawaiian protocol facilitator for Kamehameha Schools Maui, and Chad Lovell of KS communications, show off the 600-seat Keōpūolani Hale. - Photo: Lisa Asato

Campus Headmaster Lee Ann DeLima said the completion of the building ends one phase of construction at the Pukalani campus, which serves about 1,100 students in grades K through 12. The building, she said, has the latest technology. “If we wanted to do an assembly across the (three) campuses, we could. If we wanted to have a guest speaker come on via Polycom, we can do that,” she said. “We no longer have to incur expenses of flying people over.”

“This has been a long-anticipated facility,” she added, “where we could gather comfortably in one place and hear the word of God and use a stagelike setting to showcase student talents.”