Actor Opens Academy For Stage-struck
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Kristi Kashimoto
From the time Kristi Kashimoto watched the Sound of Music on television as a child and saw Evita at Diamond Head Theatre as a teenager, she knew the stage was for her.
The Mililani High graduate fulfilled that dream on Broadway and in Europe, and is now back home to teach and inspire youngsters through Applause! Performing Academy in Wahiawa.
“Since we started putting banners up we’ve been getting calls,” she said.“I can teach the children how to audition for local community theater and for New York theater. I want to keep them afloat so they aren’t struggling as much as I did when I auditioned.”
Her academy partners in the venture, Adam and Shannon Fried, approached her about opening a school so they could have a place for their child to learn, and now Sydney Fried has become one of Kashimoto’s first students.
The academy, which held a soft opening in February, has eight teachers including two of Kashimoto’s sisters, Kimi and Kayla. Classes for students age 3 and up include dance, voice, modeling, poise, musical theater auditioning techniques, and acting for stage and film.
Kashimoto choreographed numbers with her three younger sisters and performed them for her parents to help her land a lead role in Alice in Wonderland on Broadway. (She was the Queen of Hearts.)
“I was called back at every audition,” she said.“I had to learn by experience and observation what to do, what to wear, how long to sing, what kind of hairdo I should have.”
With her experience in New York and on tour from 2001 to 2004, the Broadway pro hopes to encourage and share her knowledge with aspiring local keiki. Most recently she’s been cast in Oahu community theater productions, and she directed The Wizard of Oz for the Oahu Arts Center, staged last October at Mililani Mauka Community Park.
Applause! is located at 614 Kilani Ave. and is open from 4 to 8 p.m. Monday to Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
For more information, call 622-1272.
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