‘Emma’s Last Dance’

When Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941, starting World War II for the United States, David Penhallow Scott was 7 years old and living on Oahu.

“Our house was shaking. My sister and I thought Diamond Head was erupting,” David says. “When my mother said, ‘The Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor,’ I threw up on my sister’s bare feet and she has never forgiven me.”

Sibling irritation aside, David learned a grave lesson that morning that has stayed with him his whole life and is the basis for his original play, “Emma’s Last Dance,” being performed for the first time ever Sept. 26-28 at the Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center.

“I knew that in an instant, our lives can turn upside down,” he says.

In “Emma’s Last Dance,” eight actors portray life on an Oahu sugar plantation in 1941, their strikingly unconventional family dynamics and the trauma that occurs when war touches their home soil.

The play is the second of a quartet of stories that David, a longtime Kauai resident and fifth generation kamaaina, has penned, the third of which will be performed next February.

Here’s a look at the characters and actors in “Emma’s Last Dance.”

Emma

Emma, who is dying, arrives unexpectedly on the doorstep of Whit and Eudora Whitney with a secret to reveal. A deep, soulful Hawaiian woman, Emma “is the Earth, she is the mana (power) we see all around us,” David says. “She is a catalyst just by being who she is.” During certain scenes, the heartbeat of Emma’s soul will be represented by the beat of a drum.

Claudia Cowden, who portrays Emma, appreciates the power of Emma’s spirituality. “She talks and people listen. I like that kind of profundity,” she says. Although not Hawaiian herself, Claudia is comfortable playing Emma, “because I fit in here better than where I grew up.”

This is Claudia’s first role since playing an Indian in “Annie Get Your Gun” many years ago. She looks forward to doing more acting on Kauai.

Eudora

The wife of a sugar plantation manager, Eudora is somewhat of a party girl, a socialite who is raising two teenage children. Lorraine Marshall, who plays Eudora, appreciates the similarities that she and Eudora share.

“I like to party, though I’m not a drinker like Eudora is,” Lorraine says. “I understand her difficult relationship with her daughter. My daughter and I came through that rough period.”

Lorraine also enjoys the relationship with her play-husband, Whit. “Sometimes the sexiness, sometimes the bossiness,” she says. “Also the closeness and support of each other in raising the kids.”

Lorraine’s stage experience includes a solid foundation in song, dance and musical theater. Now a businesswoman – she invented a hot knife that cuts wax and foam – Lorraine is happy to take a bit of time for her passion of acting.

Carol

Carol, the Hollywood starlet who has returned home to settle scores with her sister, Eudora, and children, can seem like a challenging woman to get along with. But Emily Goldbach who plays Carol, says her character “is not pure evil and not pure drama.

“There’s a very soft side of her, too, which I’m hoping people will see. She’s not all about the money and it’s not all about showing her sister who is boss. She wants love – but she’s looking for it in all the wrong places!”

In real life, Emily couldn’t be more different than the character she plays. Extremely happy, laughing often, she says she met director David Scott in Pilates class, where he offered her the role.

Emily moved to Kauai about a year and a half ago and looks after her father on the westside.

Whit

As plantation manager, Whit has responsibility for a lot of people, machinery and acres of crops. Add the stress of war, and his intensity level increases.

“For most Americans, it is a very foreign feeling to have war on our own ground,” says John Bohling, who plays Whit. “In the second half of this play, we are conveying the uncertainty of the future, what war is really like and how it affects real people and companies.”

For the past 11 years, John has portrayed several parts in the musical theater production of “South Pacific,” was in the Kauai production of “Miss Saigon” and has done some directing and writing. He has lived on Kauai for 28 years.

Paco

As the Mexican man who was once a star in Hollywood, Paco is a happy, friendly guy who has gamely come to Hawaii with his girlfriend, Carol, though he carefully avoids being drawn into her messy family relationships.

Bard Widmer, a Caucasian man who has deftly portrayed other Mexican and Spanish characters on Kauai stages – most notably and comically as one of the Spanish brothers in the female version of “The Odd Couple” – explains Paco this way, complete with Mexican accent:

“Paco has a good time, you know. He does know how to please the ladies. He is a very charming fellow.”

Bard and his wife, Hilda “Tiki” Morales own Tiki Tacos and Holo Holo Paniolo Grill restaurants, both in Kapaa.

Peggy

Teenage years are always challenging, but having somewhere between one and two mothers certainly adds to Peggy’s angst.

Fortunately, Nicole Cowan, who plays Peggy, understands teens in a big way. She is the case manager for the nonprofit organization Big Brothers, Big Sisters. Before moving to Kauai for the job seven months ago, Nicole lived in Hilo on the Big Island.

Lowry

As a teenage boy touched by war, Lowry grows up in a hurry. “In a moment he goes from his teens to becoming a man,” says actor Logan Baptiste, 17, a young man himself. “That’s something I can’t take from experience so I asked my family members stories of what Lowry would be seeing when Pearl Harbor was bombed.”

Logan, born and raised on Kauai, says his grandparents were children on Oahu on Dec. 7, 1941. “They saw the planes and thought it was just pilots practicing. Then my grandpa saw an explosion,” he says. “I try to recall those stories before I go on stage.”

Logan is studying liberal arts at Kauai Community College and plans to pursue acting as a career when he attends college on the Mainland.

Miki

As Eudora and Whit’s former maid on Kauai for decades, Miki took care of them and their kids as if they were her own children and grandchildren. She has come to Oahu to visit them, leaving her husband at home, a decision that turns out to be heartbreaking once the war begins.

Kay Koike, who plays Miki, was only one year old growing up on Kauai when Pearl Harbor was bombed, but she recalls that her seven-year-old brother had to wake their parents three times that morning before they turned on the radio to learn that war had come to Hawaii. Kay says, “I don’t know how you could live in constant fear like people do during war.”

Kay says director David Scott first told her he wanted her for the role of Miki about 10 years ago. She is thrilled that his play and her role in it have both come to fruition.

“Emma’s Last Dance” will be performed at Kauai Community Performing Arts Center for three days only: Sept. 26 and 27 at 7 p.m. and Sept. 28 at 4 p.m. Visit www.womenintheatre.org or call (808) 635-3727 for tickets.