Mid-Pacific presenting drama about Mother Marianne Cope

By Lisa Benoit | Hawaii Catholic Herald

Mid-Pacific School of the Arts will perform “The Touch,” a play based on the life of Mother Marianne Cope, a Sister of St. Francis of Syracuse, New York, on Nov. 4-6, 12-13 and 18-20 in the MPSA Recital Hall in the Kawaiahao Fine Arts Building.

Written by former Mid-Pacific Institute faculty member Brian Burgess Clark, the play fictitiously recounts Mother Marianne’s decision in 1883 to come to Hawaii, with several St. Francis Sisters in her community, to care for Hansen’s Disease patients.

Prior to going to Kalaupapa where she continued the work of Blessed Damien, Mother Marianne established Maui’s first hospital, Malulani, and founded the Kapiolani Home on Oahu for healthy female children of leprosy patients.

Now a candidate for sainthood, she died in Kalaupapa in 1918 and is buried there. The Sisters of St. Francis still work in Kalaupapa today.

Linda Johnson, executive director of the Mid Pacific School of the Arts and director of the Theater Department for 12 years, said that “The Touch” was first performed at Mid Pacific School of the Arts in 1993. She chose the play again because “it’s a local play that is well-written, with many female roles.”

“When you are doing theater with young people, it’s difficult to find well-written material that is appropriate for a high school setting,” Johnson said.

“When we think about Hansen’s disease, we instantly think of Father Damien, but Mother Marianne and her sisters made an incredible contribution also,” Johnson continued. “Many people are not aware of what she has done. To have a strong female role model is important for young people. Just the sacrifices that they made is very hard for us to imagine. It’s really a privilege”

Mariah Joseph, a senior at the school who has performed in approximately 10 school plays, will play Mother Marianne.

“I feel very lucky,” Joseph said. “Mother Marianne was strong and intelligent and she gave her whole life to this cause. She looked death in the face every day. The whole experience has humbled me and made me a lot more compassionate and grateful for my life and health.”

Johnson said that to prepare the students for the play, she took cast members to see the premiere of “Molokai: The Story of Father Damien” which premiered Sept. 23 at the Hawaii Theater in Honolulu.

“I asked them to do reflections on the movie and it really hit them what the Sisters were dealing with,” Johnson said. “They wrote things like ‘I hope I can give this character justice because they deserve the justice.’”

“For me, theater for sheer entertainment is fine, but then there is theater meant to move the audience and in going through and to make a difference in their own lives. And that’s the kind of play this is.”

According to Johnson, Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts is the only accredited school in Hawaii to belong to the national network of performing arts.

Show times are 3:45 p.m. for Thursday performances and 7:30 p.m. for Friday and Saturday performances. Adult admission is $5; seniors and students $3. For reservations call 973-5071.