Yukie Shiroma, the creative force behind Monkey Waterfall Dance Theater, is back with "Shrines to Paradise." This weekend, she stages a free performance of the multimedia work about the vagaries of tourism.

The site-specific "Shrines" is set in Honolulu Hale's cavernous courtyard, using spaces such as the staircases, and will explore Hawai'i's stereotypical icons, from hula dancers to tour guides, Shiroma says.

"I was born in Hawai'i and raised on the Mainland, and when I came back to the Islands in 1980 after being away for 20 years, I was so surprised at the contrast between Waikiki and the rest of us," Shiroma said. "I really felt that the way (Hawai'i was) marketed was very different from the way we really are."

Shiroma, who likes to "look at the masks and to unveil what's behind them," attempts to peel back, peek under and go beyond Hawai'i's facade in "Shrines."

"Hawai'i still is linked to pineapples, and we don't even grow them for export anymore," she said. "While I was away at school, Mainland people used to ask if I wore Western clothes and lived on the beach. Some of these stereotypes have not vanished," she said.

"At Kennedy airport not long ago, I was asked to (show) my passport when an agent saw I was from Hawai'i. This sort of thing still happens ... so shocking."

She points to another familiar Hawai'i scene: "You go to San Souci Beach or Point Panic, and there's a Japanese wedding going on," she said.

"Shrines" taps some of these elements, with an ongoing wedding in the production.

"This is a show where we encourage people to move around during the performance," Shiroma said. "What you hear, or see, depends on where you stand or sit."

The City Hall courtyard will have a small stage, with seats for the audience, but something happens in nearly every nook, on the main stage and on side stages and the staircase. And audience members will be greeted with a lei by a "tour guide."

"Our sets are inspired by the old circus side shows," Shiroma said. Michael Harada has designed nine panels that depict the commercialized Hawai'i — hula girls, coconut trees — in the motif of the old circus posters.

"There will be things going on at the same time — scenes from a play, poetry, hapa-haole hula, authentic hula by a halau," Shiroma said.

Bring your camera — Shiroma includes cut-outs where folks can put their heads for a snapshot.

"The hardest part was trying to scale it down to suit the site," she said of the multitextured performances.

While the show is not crude or profane, it is recommended for adults, not children, she said.

The current show is a continuation of a 1994 venture with the same title that played on the lawn of the Hawai'i State Library, when real homeless people ventured upon the scene. Shiroma's 2005 production, "Club Monkey" at the Hawaiian Hut, also tackled tourism issues.

"While we want to make a point of the richness of Hawai'i outside of Waikiki, we are not trying to moralize," Shiroma said. "We're just juxtaposing facets."

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.