Lee Cataluna's Flowers of Hawai'i brings together four of her most resonant plays, each centered on the complicated, humorous, and sometimes painful dynamics of family life in Hawai'i. From inheritance fights to cancelled garage parties, from awkward livestreams to legacies built on shaky ground, these stories explore the tensions, sentiments, and unspoken histories that keep families linked, whether they like it or not.
Known for her vivid, carefully drawn characters and keen ear in capturing the nuances of local language, Cataluna writes about families who fight, forgive, and fail each other in ways that feel all too familiar. Whether dealing with the fallout of addiction or arguing over a china set her characters navigate relationships shaped by duty and hard-won affection.
In the title play, Flowers of Hawai'i, a fractured family gathers after a funeral, only to find that grief unearths old secrets. Told through a series of two-person scenes, the play unfolds without a single protagonist—the family itself takes center stage. It's a portrait that will resonate with anyone who's ever had to show up for people they can't quite stand but still somehow love.
Aloha Attire plays with digital form, centering on a livestream unpacking session that leads into deeper questions of estrangement, gender, and performance. Written during the pandemic, the play reflects the characters' disconnection while also allowing for moments of unexpected intimacy.
The Great Kaua'i Train Robbery moves into historical fiction, reimagining a little-known incident from Hawai'i's territorial era. Rooted in research and family lore, the play tells the story of a man whose care for others becomes both his undoing and his redemption. It's a striking look at working-class life in an often overlooked era.
The final play, Uncle's Regularly Scheduled Garage Party Is Cancelled Tonight, blurs the line between actor and audience, memory and myth. Taking place in real time in a family garage, it's part gathering, part performance, and part unspoken history. It's a celebration of storytelling in its most local form: funny, tender, and quietly profound.
Lee Cataluna is one of Hawai'i's most prolific and beloved playwrights. With this collection, her work is more accessible than ever.
Lee Cataluna was born on Maui to a Part-Hawaiian father and a Portuguese mother. She has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from University of California, Riverside. After college in California, she came home to Hawai'i to start a career in journalism.
Her work for theater includes commissions from La Jolla Playhouse (What the Stars See at Night); Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ipu); Arena Stage (Emma Riot); and San Francisco Playhouse (Sons of Maui). Her script Funeral Attire won the Von Marie Atchley Excellence in Playwriting Award from Native Voices at the Autry. Her play Heart Strings received a ReImagine: New Plays in TYA (Theatre for Young Audiences) grant and was developed at Atlantic Theater Company, New York City. Her play Home of the Brave is produced in schools around the country.
Her books include Folks You Meet in Longs and Three Years on Doreen's Sofa, both published by Bamboo Ridge Press, and Ordinary 'Ohana, published by Bess Press. She also has a piece published in the Dramatic Publishing anthology I Have a Story: Plays from an Extraordinary Year.
"These four collected plays illustrate some of the power of the body of Lee Cataluna's work from their commonalities: authentic language, strong memorable characters, effective plots, and strong narrative. They also illustrate Cataluna's talents and innovative imagination navigating across different presentational forms and theatrical genres." — John H.Y. Wat, actor, director, and theatre educator
