Earle Ernst Lab Theatre’s current production “Appalachia Hawaii” explores cultural differences and family values, as teenage pregnancy brings together a local Pearl City family and a military family with Appalachian roots living in Hawai'i Kai.

The play, presented by the University of Hawaiçi-Mänoa’s Department of Theatre and Dance, was written as UH graduate student Terri Large Madden’s thesis and is loosely based on Madden’s own experiences when her family moved to Hawaiçi in the 1970s.
Actresses Jo Pruden and Jodie A. Yamada anchor the cast as grandmothers with the ability to speak beyond the grave. Together, they weave together stories of the De Souza and Stanley families as they tell their unseen granddaughter the story of her birth.
Showtimes are 8 tonight and 2 p.m. tomorrow. Tickets are $15 general; $14 for seniors, military and UH faculty and staff; $12 for students and $5 for UH-Mänoa students with validated ID. For more information, call the Kennedy Theatre box office at 956-7655.