answers from Lee Cataluna
amlit338
I see I got some of my biographical facts wrong (she's from Maui, did not attend Kamehameha). My bad. But here are her answers to your questions:
> ----------
> From: Susan Schultz
> Sent: Friday, April 14, 2006 9:53 AM
> To: Cataluna, Lee
> Subject: Re: RE: a question
>
> Dear Lee--my students had a lot of questions. I'll list them below. Feel free to answer the ones you want, and leave the rest to our imaginations:
>
> --How did a career in journalism help you as a writer?
>
I get to meet a lot of people, hear their stories, listen to the way the speak and try to figure out what motivates them, what scares them, what makes them do what they do. It is good practice for creating fictional characters.
> --Are your characters based on real people?
>
Some are, but only based on. I make up a lot of stuff and tend to write larger-than-life characters.
> --Do think it appropriate for a government official to speak in pidgin?
>
I think it is critical for a government official to speak the truth. That is what is important. Lies told in pretty words are still lies.
> --Who is your favorite HI politician?
>
Don't have one.
> --Why Hilo?
>
The premise for the play was part of an assignment from my playwriting teacher, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl. She gave us several set-ups to choose from. The one I chose to work with said something like, "The newly elected Mayor of Hilo has a secret from his past. His former associate Derek Pang knows what it is and is turning the screws. The Mayor has to confess to his secretary, Sandra." From that description, I wrote what became the second scene. After that, I just kept adding on. I liked that there is no Mayor of Hilo. I thought that was a funny distinction, so I kept it.
> --Why do you represent Honolulu as "bad"?
>
These characters in the story love Hilo and would see living in any other place as bad.
> --Have you written a play not set in HI?
>
Written but not produced.
> --What is your point in this play?
>
I think it's about any person who has worked for a boss they felt was stupid, lazy, self-serving and mean. It's about the frustration of being powerless to change stuff at work when all you really want is to do a good, honest job.
> --Have you been accused of being a racist?
>
I have been accused of being everything. It's a funny thing being a writer -- people read all kinds of stuff into your work, stuff that often isn't even there. A teacher told me that often writers serve as mirrors to people, and if they look at your work and see something they don't like about themselves reflected back, they end up blaming you and hating you.
> --What school you went?
>
Ka'u Elementary, Wailuku Elementary, Koloa Elementary, Kilauea Elementary, Kapa'a Intermediate, 'Iao Intermediate, Baldwin High, University of the Pacific (BA 1988)
> --Do you prefer to write in standard English or in pidgin?
>
Depends on the topic and the genre.
> --Will you run for mayor?
>
I don't have the desire or aptitude to be a politician.
> And my question is
>
> --What's it like being a woman in the tradition of Rap Reiplinger and Frank de Lima?
>
I don't think I'm anything like them. I'm just a writer. Though I have performed stuff, I am uncomfortable on stage and am very clear that I'm not an actor or entertainer. The fun is in writing stuff for other people, real actors, to play with.
I see I got some of my biographical facts wrong (she's from Maui, did not attend Kamehameha). My bad. But here are her answers to your questions:
| From |  ")'>"Cataluna, Lee" |
| Sent | Friday, April 14, 2006 10:45 am |
| To | ")'>Susan Schultz |
| Subject | RE: RE: a question |
> ----------
> From: Susan Schultz
> Sent: Friday, April 14, 2006 9:53 AM
> To: Cataluna, Lee
> Subject: Re: RE: a question
>
> Dear Lee--my students had a lot of questions. I'll list them below. Feel free to answer the ones you want, and leave the rest to our imaginations:
>
> --How did a career in journalism help you as a writer?
>
I get to meet a lot of people, hear their stories, listen to the way the speak and try to figure out what motivates them, what scares them, what makes them do what they do. It is good practice for creating fictional characters.
> --Are your characters based on real people?
>
Some are, but only based on. I make up a lot of stuff and tend to write larger-than-life characters.
> --Do think it appropriate for a government official to speak in pidgin?
>
I think it is critical for a government official to speak the truth. That is what is important. Lies told in pretty words are still lies.
> --Who is your favorite HI politician?
>
Don't have one.
> --Why Hilo?
>
The premise for the play was part of an assignment from my playwriting teacher, Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl. She gave us several set-ups to choose from. The one I chose to work with said something like, "The newly elected Mayor of Hilo has a secret from his past. His former associate Derek Pang knows what it is and is turning the screws. The Mayor has to confess to his secretary, Sandra." From that description, I wrote what became the second scene. After that, I just kept adding on. I liked that there is no Mayor of Hilo. I thought that was a funny distinction, so I kept it.
> --Why do you represent Honolulu as "bad"?
>
These characters in the story love Hilo and would see living in any other place as bad.
> --Have you written a play not set in HI?
>
Written but not produced.
> --What is your point in this play?
>
I think it's about any person who has worked for a boss they felt was stupid, lazy, self-serving and mean. It's about the frustration of being powerless to change stuff at work when all you really want is to do a good, honest job.
> --Have you been accused of being a racist?
>
I have been accused of being everything. It's a funny thing being a writer -- people read all kinds of stuff into your work, stuff that often isn't even there. A teacher told me that often writers serve as mirrors to people, and if they look at your work and see something they don't like about themselves reflected back, they end up blaming you and hating you.
> --What school you went?
>
Ka'u Elementary, Wailuku Elementary, Koloa Elementary, Kilauea Elementary, Kapa'a Intermediate, 'Iao Intermediate, Baldwin High, University of the Pacific (BA 1988)
> --Do you prefer to write in standard English or in pidgin?
>
Depends on the topic and the genre.
> --Will you run for mayor?
>
I don't have the desire or aptitude to be a politician.
> And my question is
>
> --What's it like being a woman in the tradition of Rap Reiplinger and Frank de Lima?
>
I don't think I'm anything like them. I'm just a writer. Though I have performed stuff, I am uncomfortable on stage and am very clear that I'm not an actor or entertainer. The fun is in writing stuff for other people, real actors, to play with.
posted by Susan at 2:42 PM
5 Comments:
Hmm, you left out my original question. Which was "Dear Miss Cataluna, are you currently working on any other plays?"
This makes me sad. =(
I'm sorry, Sau!
(She probably is, knowing how prolific she is. And you might check out her Bamboo Ridge book, _Folks You Meet at Longs_--not a play, but a book of hysterically funny monologues.)
Folks you meet at longs WAS a play put on at KumuKahua theatre. I saw it there. It was friggin awesome.
FOLKS YOU MEET AT LONGS is a series of monologues, published by Bamboo Ridge Press. Kumu Kahua does a lot of adaptations of novels, and so on. So they likely made the monologues into a play.
Ya, the play was made up of the monologues. The play came out before the book. They all worked well together, and it even had a good way of connecting them with the final monologue.
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