A homeless woman receives fruit and lunch money from a 9-year-old girl as she walks to school each day in "Merry Christmas, Roberta," The Actors' Group's new play premiering tonight at the Yellow Brick Studio. Metaphorically, the down-and-out character resembles TAG, Honolulu's teeniest theater group. It is eking out a modest livelihood in a quaint performing space but now faces possible homelessness.

"Our clock is ticking," said Eric Nemoto, president of TAG, noting that there isn't yet a specific buyer of the on-the-market Kaka'ako property that houses the Yellow Brick Studio. He added, "We don't have a feeling that we'll be out in the streets next month."

Nemoto, who portrays the father of the girl in the play, wrote the script with Jon Brekke.

The play originally was conceived as an indie film to spotlight the plight of Hawai'i's homeless population and the microcosm that is Chinatown, where the story is set. After two false starts — once with the authors willing to relocate the setting to a Latino community in Los Angeles just to get a script produced, and a second effort with the original Island locale — "Roberta" is making its debut as a stage work.

"Roberta" is based on a real homeless person, said Brekke, who took a needy gent named Robert for a meal at the then-Wendy's at Hotel Street and Nu'uanu Avenue in Chinatown. For theatrical purposes, the homeless person's gender was switched "because I think people have a little more compassion toward a woman that is homeless," Brekke said.

Nemoto said, "I think it's ironic that ('Roberta') kind of symbolizes us, this rag-tag group ... struggling to find a home." He added, "Over the years, we've become more established, and the search for a slightly larger space now is a creation of our own circumstances and success."

Nemoto said, "Roberta is a good person with a big heart; she just doesn't have a permanent home." He continued, "She's alone; she needs somebody to be her family."

While the father is displeased with his daughter's behavior, he realizes that an invitation to a family Thanksgiving dinner could reveal why the woman is what she is.

The cast includes Laurie Tanoura as Roberta and Amber Hazelwood as Lynette Amino, the child who helps provide her with food and funds. Nemoto is Lynette's father, Alvin Amino, and Ona Belmont is mom Noreen.

"Seasonably, I don't think we've done anything like this — an original holiday piece," Brekke said of the timing of the play and its message of good will and helping the less fortunate. TAG customarily stages established dramas and comedies and has particularly good success with Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson's works on the black experience.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.

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