John Alexander Kneubuhl (July 2, 1920 – February 20, 1992) was an
American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...
n
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
,
playwright
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
and Polynesian historian. He wrote for American television series such as ''
The Fugitive'', ''
Gunsmoke
''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...
'', ''
The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels w ...
'', ''
Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
'', ''
The Invaders
''The Invaders'' is an American science-fiction television series created by Larry Cohen that aired on ABC for two seasons, from 1967 to 1968. Roy Thinnes stars as David Vincent, who after stumbling across evidence of an in-progress invasion ...
'' and ''
Hawaii Five-O
Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to:
* ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series
* ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...
''. The son of a
Samoan mother and an American father, Kneubuhl's multicultural heritage produced a distinctive artistic vision that formed the basis of his most powerful dramatic work.
An accomplished playwright, Kneubuhl "was a bicultural Polynesian who used the medium of theater to explore identity, loneliness and the craft required to bring them to the stage".
Biography
John Alexander Kneubuhl
[ was born in ]Fagatogo
Fagatogo is the downtown area of Pago Pago (the territorial capital of American Samoa).Grabowski, John F. (1992). ''U.S. Territories and Possessions (State Report Series)''. Chelsea House Pub. Page 51. . Located in the low grounds at the foot of M ...
, Pago Pago
Pago Pago ( ; Samoan: )Harris, Ann G. and Esther Tuttle (2004). ''Geology of National Parks''. Kendall Hunt. Page 604. . is the territorial capital of American Samoa. It is in Maoputasi County on Tutuila, which is American Samoa's main island. ...
or the village of Leone, in American Samoa
American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...
.
John Kneubuhl is the uncle of Samoan Hawaiian writer Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl and Lemanatele Mark Kneubuhl who lives in American Samoa.
Childhood to war
Raised in Leone until his early teens,[ Kneubuhl was known as 'Sione Nupo' to his countrymen.][ His mother, Atalina Pritchard from ]Apia
Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...
, was educated in New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, and was a talented pianist, singer and painter. His father Benjamin F. Kneubuhl was a navy surveyor from Iowa who settled in Samoa, and later became a successful businessman.[, "Portrait", in: ''Think of a Garden and Other Plays'', pp. 251–253]
At the age of 13, John Kneubuhl was sent off to enter Punahou School
Punahou School (known as Oahu College until 1934) is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school in Honolulu, Hawaii. More than 3,700 students attend the school from kindergarten through twelfth grade, 12th grade. Protestant missionar ...
, Hawaii. He later studied under Thornton Wilder
Thornton Niven Wilder (April 17, 1897 – December 7, 1975) was an American playwright and novelist. He won three Pulitzer Prizes — for the novel ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' and for the plays ''Our Town'' and ''The Skin of Our Teeth'' — a ...
at Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
.[
He married "Dotsy" (Dorothy Schenk) in 1942,][ and soon after entered the U.S. Navy Japanese Language School at the ]University of Colorado, Boulder
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...
.[ When ]George H. Kerr
George H. Kerr (November 7, 1911 – August 27, 1992), also known in Taiwan as 葛超智 (or 柯喬治), was a United States diplomat during World War II, and in later years he was an author and an academic. His published works and archived pap ...
was tasked to organize the second research unit of intelligence officers in 1944, aimed to gather information for compiling the ''Civil Affairs Handbook'' for Taiwan (Formosa),[ Kneubuhl was one of the officers recruited into this unit.][
]
Career
Returning to Hawaii in the mid-1940s, Kneubuhl won acclaim as a playwright with the Honolulu Community Theater, staging a play spoken in Hawaiian Pidgin
Hawaiian Pidgin (alternately, Hawaiʻi Creole English or HCE, known locally as Pidgin) is an English-based creole language spoken in Hawaiʻi. An estimated 600,000 residents of Hawaii speak Hawaiian Pidgin natively and 400,000 speak it as a seco ...
English (''The City is Haunted'', 1947). Kneubuhl was also part of the theater's 1948 version of Harry Brown's ''A Sound of Hunting'' adapted to include the heroic role played by the 442nd Infantry Regiment of enlisted nisei
is a Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants (who are called ). The are considered the second generation, ...
, received with great fervor by the Japanese-American community.[ He was both screenwriter and director of the film ''Damien'' (1959), a biography of ]Father Damien
Father Damien or Saint Damien of Molokai, SS.CC. or Saint Damien De Veuster ( nl, Pater Damiaan or '; 3 January 1840 – 15 April 1889), born Jozef De Veuster, was a Roman Catholic priest from Belgium and member of the Congregation of the Sacr ...
that was based on his own play.[
He then moved on to Los Angeles to write for television. In 1965, inspired by a magazine article on Michael Dunn, Kneubuhl created the arch-villain Dr. Miguelito Loveless for the series '']The Wild Wild West
''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1969. Two satirical comedy television film sequels w ...
''.[ The character became an immediate hit and Dunn appeared in ten episodes over four seasons. Kneubuhl wrote five of them.
Twenty years later he was back in Samoa, lecturing on Polynesian history and culture and writing plays, including the trilogy ''Think of a Garden: and other plays'' published by ]University of Hawaii Press
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
. The other plays in the published trilogy were ''Mele Kanikau: A Pageant'' and the comedy ''A Play: A Play''.
Kneubuhl died in Pago Pago, American Samoa, on February 20, 1992, the day before the first Samoan reading of his play "Think of a Garden" by his drama and writing group.
Playwright
Kneubuhl's plays explore his Samoan heritage, culture and identity. In 1946, Kneubuhl wrote the play ''The Harp in the Willows'' based on the life of Lorenzo Lyons
Lorenzo Lyons or "''Makua Laiana''" (April 18, 1807 – October 6, 1886) was an early missionary to the Kingdom of Hawaii. He was a songwriter who wrote the lyrics of "''Hawaii Aloha''", which was inducted into the Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame in ...
and ''This City Is Haunted'' (1947). He also wrote ''Mele Kanikau: A Pageant'' and the comedy ''A Play: A Play''.
''Think of a Garden'', the last play Kneubuhl wrote before his death in 1992, has been called the most Samoan of Kneubuhl's plays, it is a candid look at the writer's bicultural upbringing that artfully weaves together family memory, history, and mysticism.
Think of a Garden notes
'' Think of a Garden'' opens in American Samoa in 1929 during the tumultuous colonial era of Samoa's struggle for political independence during the non-violent Mau movement
The Mau was a non-violent movement for Samoan independence from colonial rule during the first half of the 20th century. ''Mau'' means ‘resolute’ or ‘resolved’ in the sense of ‘opinion’, ‘unwavering’, ‘to be decided’, or ...
. The play centres around the Kreber family; a matriarchal Samoan wife Luisa, her American husband Frank, and their only son David. Events unfold to a dramatic climax with the shooting in Apia
Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...
of Samoa's leader, Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III
Tupua Tamasese Lealofi-o-ā'ana III (4 May 1901 – 29 December 1929) was a paramount chief of Samoa, holder of the Tupua Tamasese dynastic title and became the leader of the country's pro-independence Mau movement from early 1928 until his assa ...
, a distant relative of Luisa, by the New Zealand constabulary. The play is partly autobiographical. Kneubuhl's play is a devastating critique of the New Zealand administration's mismanagement of Samoa during these events.[
]
The Samoan view of family, deference for the dead, behavior in times of mourning, even concepts of time - all are deftly etched beside the story of Samoa's early move toward independence. The effect is a story as textured as a fine mat.[, "Portrait", in: ''Think of a Garden and Other Plays'', p. 258]
''Think of a Garden'' premiered at Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
's Watershed Theatre in February 1993. John had died a year earlier, the day before the play's first reading in Pago Pago by his writing and drama group. The Auckland premier was directed by Nathaniel Lees
Nathaniel Lees is a New Zealand theatre actor and director and film actor of Samoan descent, best known for film roles in ''The Matrix Reloaded'', '' The Matrix Revolutions'' and '' The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers'' and for starring in '' Y ...
and produced by Ann Andrews. The cast included Lani Tupu
Lani Tupu (born Auckland, New Zealand), billed variously as Larney Tupu, John Tupu and Lani John Tupu, is a New Zealand-born actor of Samoan and English descent. Also known as Lani Tupu Jr.
Biography
Tupu was born in 1955 to an English mother ...
as The Writer, Jay Laga'aia
Jay Laga'aia (born 10 September 1963) is a New Zealand-Australian actor and singer. He is known internationally for his role as Captain Typho in the films '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' and '' Star Wars: Episode III – Rev ...
as Lilo, Martyn Sanderson
Martyn Sanderson (24 February 1938 – 14 October 2009) was a New Zealand actor, director, producer, writer and poet.
Sanderson was described as one of the founding fathers of modern theatre in New Zealand. In New Zealand he had appearances ...
as the Brother Patrick and John Callen as Frank. It was staged in Taki Rua Theatre, Wellington
Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...
in 1995. At the Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards
The Chapman Tripp Theatre Awards were the main theatre awards in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington, from 1992–2014, and have been succeeded by the Wellington Theatre Awards.
Established in 1992 and sponsored by law firm Chapman Tripp, ...
1995 in Wellington, the 'Oscars' of New Zealand theatre, ''Think of a Garden'' won ''Production of the Year'', ''Director of the Year'', ''Taki Rua Production of the Year'' and ''Female in a Supporting Role'' award to Sima Urale
Sima Urale is a New Zealand filmmaker. Her films explore social and political issues and have been screened worldwide. She is one of the few Polynesian film directors in the world with more than 15 years in the industry. Her accolades include th ...
who played the role of ''Luisa''. The cast included acclaimed New Zealand actor Martyn Sanderson, the director of the film '' Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree'' based on the novel by Samoan writer Albert Wendt.
It was staged in 2018 in the garden of Nathan Homestead in Manurewa
Manurewa is a major suburb in South Auckland, New Zealand. It was part of Manukau City before the creation of the Auckland super city in 2010. It is located south of the Manukau, Manukau City Centre, and southeast of Auckland CBD. The subur ...
directed by Anapela Polata'ivao and featuring Stacey Leilua who saw the premier when she was 11.
Explanatory notes
Filmography
Films
Television
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
*
**
*
External links
Native American Authors site
*
*Hawaii University Press
Pacific Islands Writing book by Michelle Keown at Google Books
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kneubuhl, John
1920 births
1992 deaths
American Samoan male actors
American Samoan artists
American Samoan dramatists and playwrights
American Samoan screenwriters
Historians of Polynesia
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American historians
20th-century screenwriters
United States Navy personnel of World War II