Of all the Hawaiian myths and folklore, the legend of Kaulula’au is not the most well-known. Not even close. And yet, it’s an important and exciting part of Hawaiian culture, especially in the telling of Maui and Lana’i history. Kaulula’au was a real man and notable Maui chief, born to a woman resurrected from the dead and then banished to the ghost-ridden island of Lana’i for mischievous behavior. Talk about drama!
The tale of Kaulula’au was adapted from a story by W.N. Pualewa, translated into script by Keali’iwahine Hokoana and made into an extraordinary one-man act featuring Moses Goods, III, who performs no less than nine characters in the story.
Goods is an accomplished actor last seen in Kumu Kahua Theater’s Gone Feeshing at the McCoy Studio Theater in 2004. Recently, I spoke with him about his experience preserving Hawai’i’s ancient art form of storytelling.