"Dream Big: Nanakuli At The Fringe" Documentary Premieres in November

The PBS Hawaii documentary, "Dream Big: Nanakuli At The Fringe," will premiere on November 10 at 9:00 pm on PBS Hawaii.  The documentary focuses on the Nanakuli High and Intermediate School Performing Arts Center and their journey to London, Scotland, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

In August of 2011, 18 students and alumni from the Nanakuli Performing Arts Center traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland to perform at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There, they discovered a world outside of Nanakuli...one filled with other high school students and professionals who share their love for performing arts. At the same time, they reinforced the strong family bonds between themselves that had already been established on the west side of Oahu. In "Dream Big: Nanakuli At The Fringe," PBS Hawaii tells the story of this journey from Nanakuli to Scotland and back...and how a small Performing Arts company shapes the lives of the students and alumni of Nanakuli Performing Arts Center.

Storyteller/director of "Dream Big: Nanakuli At The Fringe," Roy Kimura, said, "I am proud and humbled to be the writer/director of "Dream Big: Nanakuli At The Fringe." PBS Hawaii has given me an extraordinary opportunity to learn life's lessons from a group of passionate, dedicated young adults. Over 14 days, the students and alumni of Nanakuli Performing Arts Center (NPAC) represented Nanakuli, Hawaii, and the United States as they travelled in London, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland. Throughout the trip, they shared the aloha spirit with fellow high school performers, the residents of the United Kingdom, and everyone who came in contact with them. And they showed the world that Nanakuli represents pride, respect, and family."     

The Fringe Festival is the largest and most prestigious arts festival in the world. Over a thousand performing companies attend, and the whole city becomes a stage. The NPAC performed for the American High School Theatre Festival held at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.  There were over 2000 high schools nominated to perform for the American High School Theatre Festival from across the country and only 62 schools selected to perform.

"We are excited to re-live our Fringe experience and to share with the state what the NPAC program means to us through the documentary," said Samuel Hedin, cast member.  

Thoughts from NPAC Member: Alice Lapinig-Montira

I'm homesick! I miss London and Scotland. 


I finally woke up from this dream and realize that that chapter of my life is done and that I can take the memories I created and hopefully share it with others. I'm going back to the past where I've changed within two weeks. The two weeks I've been with the Nanakuli performing arts center also known as NPAC, getting up real early, going through airports, security, customs, plane rides, bus rides and a train just to get to our destination has been nothing but busy and feeling the energy as excitement ran down my body. 


Even then when we got to our destination that the feeling of excitement had never left my soul because there was no time to waste. I had to live every moment every chance I had and just enjoy that I'm on the trip living a blessing that I never thought could happen to me. 


It's wonderful how things in life works. I could see my unrealistic dream becoming more of a reality to me each moment I spent on the journey with NPAC. The more and more time I spent with them living this dream together experiencing this opportunity we all shared had made my perspective on things change including in myself. 


One is believing that dreams do come true when you work hard for it and that anything is possible with faith. The NPAC did work hard for 14 months doing performances, fundraisers, rehearsals, and any possibilities we could think of that will help us get one step closer of being prepared for London and especially Scotland and our performance at the fringe. 


However being able to perform at the worlds largest festival have never crossed my mind that it was real until the first show we did.