Join us for KIPUKA: Anti-Bullying Project

KIPUKA: Anti-Bullying Project

The Alliance for Drama Education’s T-Shirt Theatre proudly announces the launch of KIPUKA Anti-Bullying Project, a live performance and video series created to address issues of bullying, cyber-bullying, and teen suicide. KIPUKA is a shared message to Hawai‘i youth about finding and creating safe places where “life can begin again,” away from any form of bullying. T-Shirt Theatre received funding from the Gift Foundation of Hawaii to focus on helping other teens find their “KIPUKA.”

What is KIPUKA? Imagine a fiery volcano filled with hot magma, flowing down a lush hillside, incinerating everything in its path. Lava burns at 2000 degrees Fahrenheit, hot enough to melt rock. And yet, an isolated knoll, a ridge or a cleft is surprisingly untouched. A small patch of earth, saved from nature’s inferno. That oasis in a lava field, where life can begin again, is called “KIPUKA.” When youth are scorched by the effects bullying or feel close to suicidal meltdown, the lifeline is often their connection with loved ones, a friend, or a group within reach that has their back. As T-Shirt Theatre searched for a way to approach the heat of bullying, cyber-bullying and teen suicide, KIPUKA, an “island of life” emerged as the theme – explored by our youth company of thirty-three Farrington High School students.