UH Hilo performing arts major Hokulani Thomas, living her dream of being a stage manager
With a dream to become a professional stage manager after graduation, Hokulani Thomas is honing her skills through internships and community outreach.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
A performing arts major at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo with a focus on drama is proving to have a natural talent in stage management, a profession her professor describes as “the hardest job there is in theatre.”
Last semester, sophomore Hokulani Thomas was selected as a paid intern, with funding from the Academy of Creative Media, to learn about operating cameras, sound, and lighting for a film written and directed by Justina Mattos, associate professor of drama and chair of the performing arts department. A Walk in the Park was shot on campus and is currently in post-production.
During filming, Thomas worked with sound and the cameras, and interacted with local actors from the Hilo community.
“My tasks during filming were to operate the wide-angle camera, serve as the sound person for the boom mic, and serve as the script supervisor,” says Thomas. “I operated the wide-angle camera, making sure the lighting was good and the actors were in shot and focused. I listened to the sounds the boom mic was making, making sure we were not picking up any unwanted sounds.”
She also closely followed the script, making sure actors did not deviate from their lines, and let the director know where scenes had stopped when she called cut. Outside of filming, Thomas sourced sound effects and drew storyboards.
During the internship, Thomas also worked on another project, creating a trailer for a performing arts class at UH Hilo. She chose to film Instructor of Dance Kea Kapahua’s intermediate hula class.
“I created a short trailer to promote Kea’s hula dance classes offered at UH Hilo,” says Thomas. The trailer was showcased at the UH Hilo Performing Arts Center and performing art department’s spring 2025 End of Semester Showcase, a showcase of different dances and performances from UH Hilo and Hawaiʻi Community College students in performing arts classes.
“Outstanding student with a strong work ethic”
Thomas was born and raised in Hilo. She graduated from Hilo High School in May 2023, and arrived at UH Hilo in the fall of 2023 straight from high school. Her target graduation date is May 2027.
Mattos is highly impressed with the quality of work the nascent stage manager Thomas is already doing.
“Hoku was exemplary as an intern, and is now serving as the stage manager for our fall stage production, Inspecting Carol,” says Mattos, who is directing the play. Thomas is helping the director with rehearsals, keeping everyone on track, recording what they are doing, reading lines, and performing tech duties.
“When it is actually time for the show, I will be calling the show, which entails cueing lights, sound, the curtain, scene changes, and a whole lot of other stuff,” says Thomas.
In addition, as a “side gig,” she is also an employee with the UH Hilo Performing Arts Center, serving in assorted technical capacities for many of the touring shows that come to Hilo.
To top it off, she recently received the UH Hilo Performing Arts Center Scholarship, awarded to performing arts majors with high grade point average. Thomas’s other awards include:
- Performing Arts Department Academic Achievement Award (2024, 2025)
- Performing Arts Center Scholarship (2025)
- Performing Arts Legacy Award: Academic Excellence (2024), which is given to the major with the highest GPA
- Performing Arts Legacy Award: Technical Theatre (2025)
Given all these extraordinary achievements, it’s clear why Mattos describes Thomas as “an outstanding student with a strong work ethic.”
“We are proud of the work she does, not only as a theatre technician and stage manager, but also for her exemplary academic record,” says Mattos.
Community outreach: “Classroom learning into action”
The breadth of Thomas’s work is wide, not limited to the UH Hilo campus. She works with theatre groups around town, such as when requests come in for qualified theatre technicians, notably from the Hilo Community Players (HCP).
“Some of the work I currently do in the community involves helping the Hilo Community Players with their various productions,” she says. She’s worked on HCP’s Shakespeare in the Park production for the past two years. This past year, she stage-managed their adult version of The Winter’s Tale, as well as operated sound and lights. Last year, she did sound for both the adult and “kid-shakes” performances. Throughout the year, she helps HCP with various events and performances at their Keawe theater, “helping with building sets to running tech for their living history performances,” she says.
“The work I do in the community puts my classroom learning into action,” says Thomas. “In my stagecraft and drama classes, I learn a wide range of technical and theater knowledge that I put into practice during my work with HCP. In my stagecraft classes, I only learn the very basics of technical theater, such as the fundamentals of lighting and sound. But doing lights and sound for HCP helps me deepen my knowledge and teaches me real-life problem-solving skills for working with and solving problems involving lights and sound — something theater technicians in the real world encounter.”
Thomas says she’d like to continue doing theater tech after graduation.
“My dream is to become a stage manager for future productions,” she says.
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
