ROLLING THE R'S, a play by R. Zamora Linmark directed by Reiko Ho

Rolling the Rs, by acclaimed playwright and author R. Zamora Linmark, is a play set in Kalihi in the disco years of the late '70s, when high school students hung posters of Scott Baio and Shaun Cassidy on the walls, read Teen Beat magazine, and listened to Peaches and Herb on cassette tapes. Edgar Ramirez, a Kalihi teenager "who looks like a Filipino John Travolta," is gay and faces down the taunts from his peers. Edgar and his friends Katrina and Vicente along with their classmates, dream, explore their sexuality, and struggle to define their ethnic identities in a non-linear, surrealistic, sometimes brutal story punctuated by the authoritarian voice of schoolteacher, Mrs. Takemoto, and the judgmental gossiping of Philippine-born friends Mrs. Cayabyab and Mrs. Arayat.

Presented by Kailua Onstage Arts and The Arts at Marks Garage

WARNING: Adult language and situations