Mission Statement

Responsive to cultural needs of the community, the Kahilu Theatre provides a home for the presentation, support, education and promotion of the performing arts.

The History

Opening night, Feb. 6, 1981. An excited and expectant packed house fills the new Kahilu Theatre as the curtain goes up on “Oh Coward!”; a witty musical tribute to the life and work of legendary English playwright Noel Coward, with Theatre owner Richard Smart and Honolulu girl Wisa d’Orso in the lead roles.

The night is a glittering success, as are the next two evenings. It is an auspicious beginning for the Kahilu, though nobody present at the debut could know what would lie ahead for the fledgling theater.

Certainly most in the audience were surprised a theatre of this caliber had been built in what was then a small, quiet cowboy town. Some privately thought it could never succeed in Waimea. The Kahilu Theatre came into being from the generosity of its millionaire benefactor and Parker Ranch owner Richard Smart: like his stewardship of the Ranch, Smart built it with a vision of place where drama, music, dance and all the performing arts could flourish, a place that would truly serve the community.

Now, in the Kahilu Theatre’s 31st year, Richard Smart would be pleased to know that his vision has been realized and the Theatre is today infused with an energy, vitality and leadership that will carry it well into this century.

The Kahilu has thrived in its three decades, evolving artistically, growing gracefully and enriching the Big Island community through presenting more than 450 performances by artists – both big names and small – from all corners of the globe. Dance troupes, play productions, symphony orchestras, chamber quartets, acrobats, jugglers, taiko drummers, jazz bands, ballet dancers, comedians, pianists, guitarists, Hawaiian musicians, opera companies, singers, and performance artists of every description have graced the Kahilu Stage since that February evening in 1981.

All of this came about because of Smart, born in 1913 as the only child of Henry Gaillard Smart and Thelma Parker. Not long after Richard’s birth, both parents passed away, leaving him as the sole heir of the Parker Ranch fortune.

While growing up Richard developed a love for the theater, drama and music and as a young man left the Hawai`i Island and headed for the bright lights of New York City. A naturally gifted singer, dancer and actor, Smart performed for 30 years on Broadway as well as in name cabarets and clubs in the U.S. and abroad.

He was a headliner at the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles, the Monte Carlo in New York and the Lido in Paris and starred opposite top actresses of the era such as Eve Arden, Carol Channing and others. At the same time he was successfully pursuing his stage career, Smart kept in touch with the Parker Ranch.

Smart eventually returned and took on the many responsibilities of ranch operations, but the stage never left his blood. Though officially theatrically retired, he performed in productions in Honolulu and the U.S. Mainland, commuting from the Hawai`i Island. Sometime in the 1970s and with the financial wherewithal to make it possible, Smart decided to build a theater in his hometown.

Smart engaged the well-known architectural firm of Wimberly Allison Tong and Goo of Honolulu with Sid Char doing the actual theater design and as general contractor Murchison Construction. The building began in 1979 and was completed in 1980, at a cost of roughly $1.5 million. The 490 – seat performing arts center was christened the Kahilu Theatre, the word coming from the first part of the Hawaiian middle name of Smart’s mother, Thelma Kahiluonapuaapiilani Parker.

In addition to opening night’s “Oh Coward!”, other performances in the Kahilu’s first season included the Honolulu Symphony, Little Consort of Amsterdam, Hawaiian entertainers Charles L.K. Davis and Nalani Olds, Grease (by a Los Angeles company), Kyogen (a play), and a Kabuki drama.

The Kahilu’s second season saw 11 different artists; most were two or three night shows, so there were 28 performances in all, the most ever on the stage in a single season. Three of the shows were Kahilu Theatre productions: A Christmas Carol, Dames at Sea, and One Step-Two Sing, which again featured Smart and d’Orso. d’Orso, who Smart had helped to study theater arts in New York, says it was a great education just being around Smart and describes him simply as an elegant man.
The energetic and irrepressible Smart – who was 67 years old when the Kahilu opened; put his imprimatur on the Theater in its first 12 years directing or acting in nearly two dozen productions, including: The Man Who Came to Dinner (with Dove), Harvey, Plaza Suite, Tribute, Solid Gold Cadillac, Last of the Red Hot Lovers (with Nanette Fabray), Hay Fever, Cactus Flower, On Golden Pond and others.

In 1992, about halfway through the Theatre’s current thirty years, Smart passed away and the Theater lost its mentor and financial mainstay, although it remained part of Parker Ranch. After a period of discussion and retrenching the theatre became independent from the Ranch in 1994. Then in 2001 the Kahilu Theatre Foundation acquired a 30-year lease to operate the Kahilu, though it is not a beneficiary of the Parker Ranch Trust, which owns the Theatre.

For the 10 years following his death, money from Richard Smart’s legacy helped balance the Theatre’s budget – always a challenge for community theater operations. In 2001, the Kahilu became completely dependent on finding outside funding sources.

Since that time, the Theatre has undergone a major revitalization coordinated by a committed board and dynamic managing director. The artistic programming during the past ten years has been ambitiously revamped to reflect the interests and needs of the community: the season’s shows now reflect a tremendous diversity of international talent, creativity, imagination and performing art.

The Theatre has also reached out to a greatly expanded youth audience, presenting performances for children at the theatre and having its visiting artists tour to area schools. Year round and summer youth programs and opportunities have likewise been greatly augmented.

The Board of Directors, meanwhile, has been able to put the Kahilu on a firm and self-supporting financial footing. Grants, memberships, fundraising events and show sponsorships now bring in over half of the Kahilu’s annual $1 million operating budget, which has doubled in just the past five years.

The Thirty-First year will bring a full season of performing artists to the premier cultural resource of Hawai`i Island. Richard Smart’s legacy continues to endure and flourish in the small rural town of Waimea, where the theatre serves as a center for residents and visitors alike to come to experience other cultures and explore the incredibly rich, diverse, imaginative and exciting realm of artistic expression.

by John Kitchen
Edited by Sherron Rosenberger