Damien

Born in Belgium in 1840, Father Damien came to Hawai‘i in 1864 and was ordained at Our Lady of Peace Cathedral. In 1873, he chose to serve the urgent needs of people who, having contracted leprosy, had been forcibly isolated on a remote peninsula on the island of Moloka‘i. He remained among those who were afflicted with leprosy and died in 1889, at the age of forty-nine, having contracted the disease himself. He was canonized by the Catholic Church in 2009.

Damien, by Aldyth Morris, was first produced by the University of Hawai‘i Department of Drama and Theatre and starred Terence Knapp. It opened at Kennedy Theatre, on the University of Hawai‘i–Mānoa campus, in June 1976. In May 1977, Hawai‘i Public Television began taping the play, with Knapp again in the role of Father Damien. The original stage script was retained and restaged for television by Executive Producer/Director Nino J. Martin.

The televised version of Damien aired in Hawai‘i in September 1977 and was broadcast nationally on PBS stations in January 1978. The production received the Peabody Award, Christopher Awards for author and director, a Corporation for Public Broadcasting Honorable Mention for Drama, the National Association of Educational Broadcasters Award for Art Directing, and an Ohio State University Award. The play continues to be performed nationally.

The chant that opens Damien was originally written in Hawaiian and is the last known composition of Ka-‘ehu, a chanter and hula master who contracted leprosy and died at Kalaupapa.

Setting/Set

The play is a monologue spoken by Father Damien as his body is being taken from Moloka‘i to Louvain, Belgium, in 1936.

Downstage right to left is an open space for the actor when he is speaking to the audience. Stage right, an old rocking chair and low table suggest Father Damien’s living quarters at the Leper Settlement. Upstage center, a bank of flickering votive lights is set behind a large black box that could be either an altar or a coffin; this designates the cathedral area. Midstage center is a neutral area with a smaller black box on which the actor may lean, sit, or rest his foot. Stage left, an open area representing the offices of the Board of Health opens directly onto a runway thrust deep into the audience. The runway serves as the landing place at the Leper Settlement. High overhead, dominating the stage, is a huge crucifix.

Act One

The curtain is always up. As the house lights go down, the offstage sound of a Hawaiian chant is heard. As the chant comes to an end, the stage lights dim almost to darkness, then the voice of Father Damien is heard before he is seen.

song of the chanter ka - ‘ehu What will become of Hawai‘i? What will leprosy do to our land— disease of the despised, dreaded alike by white or brown or darker-skinned?

Strange when a man’s neighbors become less than acquaintances. Seeing me they drew away. They moved to sit elsewhere, whispering, and a friend pointed a finger: “He is a leper.”

I bowed my head. I knew it was true. In my heart I hugged my shame.

Word reached the medical authorities. The doctors sent the military to fetch us. We were caught like chickens, like cattle herded along roadway and country lane. Then they paraded us before the Board of Health but there was no health in that board for such as we. Examining doctors eyed us, squinted this way and that. More fingers pointed Diamond Head way: “You go to Kala-wao!”

Again the militia took over. Soldiers escorted us to the wharf for farewell. Prisoners, we were marched aboard, victims of leprosy, branded for exile. Abandoned, cut off from family and dear ones, we were left alone with our grief, with our love. Rain of tears streamed from leper eyes. Leper cheeks glistened with raindrops in the sun. Never again would we look upon this land of ours, this lovely harbor town.

Quickly the sails were hoisted. Ropes dangled from the foremast, tails of wild animals writhing...