The PKO (Protect Kaho`olawe Ohana) had set up, in the 1980's, a number of accesses to that island to restore the habitat and aquafers and, at the same time, educate visitor/volunteers about this special place. My name was submitted through a couple of sponsors and I took the opportunity to visit it. Upon return to Maui, I was encouraged by my Hawaiian colleagues to write about the experience. The result was my first effort - "Still Born - Na Mele o Kaho`olawe."

Most of the early plays were responses to requests by friends that I should write a play about some event or character from Hawaiian history. Some of them, among others, included the children of the Royal School ("Children of the Turning Tide"), Kamehameha the Great ("Only the Morning Star Knows") and Tandy Mackenzie ("Tandy!"). Thirteen plays later, I feel like I've only scratched the surface of the hundreds of stories that are associated with Hawai`i Nei.

My time and effort of re-creations soon made me realize that I was only one of a handful of playwrights specifically dedicated to dramas about Hawai`i. It soon became apparent that it was my destiny to do my part in the telling of Hawaii's stories.  Playwriting in the form of historical fiction, gave me the opportunity to flesh-out the people, events and issues of our `aina, particularily, Maui, my home.  It is no wonder then that when I turned to a new format - the short story - (my latest effort) I would focus on seven short stories about the Valley Isle.

- Wayne Moniz