Yesterday, we took a break from rehearsing our annual summer musical to celebrate our 20th Birthday! A party of loyal supporters, board members past and present and some of the cast members met to eat, drink and play board games.
KDEN is a 501(c)3 non-profit Community Theater organization that performs at Kilauea Military Camp’s Kilauea Theater on the edge of Halema’uma’u Crater. “It is pretty miraculous that any non-profit can exist for 20 years let alone a community theater company” says Board President Karl Halemano, “we look forward to 20 more! We could not have made it this far without the overwhelming support of the community, especially during the past 2 years”
“In June 2022, a group of us wanted to re-mount the production of Man of LaMancha so that we could take it on the road to Hilo and Kona,” says Executive Director Suzi Bond. “While at a fair in Keaau I ran into Karen Blue, Peter Charlot, Bill Chikasuye, and Tom McAlexander. I mentioned what we were thinking about doing and told them we needed a board to form a company. They all agreed to be part of this “Impossible Dream”. With funding from philanthropists Anna Blackwell and Nancy Bannick KDEN was born.”
Since its inception, KDEN has produced a summer musical every year and additional programs during the winter months. We have done 27 musicals, 8 non-musicals and a number of evenings of radio plays.
