Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives and co-sponsor Oʻahu Cemetery Association present Cemetery Pupu Theatre.

Performance includes two drink tickets and a heavy pupu bento. Drinks and pupu begin at 5pm at the cemetery chapel, performances begin promptly at 6pm.

Performance brings history to life with carefully researched and scripted actor portrayals of 5 figures from Hawaiʻi's history, focused on life in Hawaiʻi in and around 1822. Featured this year:

John Papa ʻĪʻī, (1800-1870), portrayed by Joshua Tavares. John Papa ʻĪʻī was kahu aliʻi, statesman, language teacher, scholar, historian, and early Christian convert. He was one of the first Native Hawaiians to learn to read and write from the American Protestant missionaries at the behest of King Kamehameha II. ʻĪʻī was also instrumental in translating books of the Bible alongside Rev. Hiram Bingham. He is buried at Oʻahu Cemetery.

Tauʻā (ca. 1792-1885), portrayed by Albert Ueligitone, was a Tahitian Christian missionary and church deacon from Huahine. He was an important ariʻi that converted to Christianity and became literate under the tutelage of Rev. William Ellis and Rev. John Davies of the London Missionary Society. Tauʻā came to Hawaiʻi with his wife Tauʻāwahine in early 1822. He was in the household of Queen Keōpūlani and was largely responsible for her conversion to Christianity and also assisted Rev. William Richards in his Bible translation work. He is buried in Lahaina, Maui.

Rev. William Ellis (1794-1872), portrayed by Daniel Guajardo, was ordained in 1815 and left for Tahiti with his new wife, Mary Ellis, in 1816 under the auspices of the London Missionary Society. He would serve in Tahiti for 6 years, mostly on the island of Eimeo and Huahine as a minister and printer. He came to Hawaiʻi in 1822 with Rev. Tyerman and Rev. Bennet, as well as several Tahitian Christians. Rev. Ellis would go on to compose the first hymns in Hawaiian as well as being the first of the foreign missionaries to preach in Hawaiian. He is buried in London, England.

Clarissa Richards (1794-1861), portrayed by Emily Wright arrived with the second company of New England Protestant Missionaries in 1823 along with her husband Reverend William Richards. They founded the Lahaina mission station at the request of Queen Keōpūolani. The recently completed hale pili on the Hawaiian Mission Houses Historic Site and Archives site was based on the description in her journals and letters. Her presentation will focus on the hale pili and her life at the Lahaina mission station. She is buried in New Haven, CT.

Elisha Loomis (1799-1836), portrayed by Benjamin Walsh. was the first mission printer and came to Hawaiʻi with the pioneer company of American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) Protestant missionaries in 1820 aboard the ship Thaddeus. At the age of 16, he became an apprentice to a printer. He left his apprenticeship early to become a missionary for the ABCFM in 1819. He was responsible for the first printing in the Hawaiian language on January 7, 1822 letting Aliʻi Nui Keʻeaumoku set some type and make the first pull on the used Ramage printing press. He oversaw the printing office at the Honolulu Mission Station until he and his wife Maria left Hawaiʻi in 1827. Upon his return to New York, he continued to print 3 gospels in Hawaiian to send back to Hawaiʻi. He also served as a missionary at Mackinac Island, Michigan amongst the Ojibway people. He is buried in Rushville, New York.