Daughter's play salutes Hawaii sports 'General'
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
| |||
| |||
The daughter of noted sportscaster Les Keiter has written a play about her father, "They Call My Dad the General," and will appear in the one-woman multimedia show in a two-day, three-performance run Sunday and Sept. 24 at La Pietra-Hawai'i School for Girls, on the slopes of Diamond Head. A fourth show will be staged Sept. 30 at 'Iolani School.
Cindy Keiter Reilly's CKR Productions will present the play, which also features additional material by director Padraic Lillis, to depict the life of her famous and trusted broadcast voice in radio and television, recalling some of his pioneering work defining boxing matches and recreating baseball games alone in a studio with only game statistics and a microphone and minimal sound effects.
The youngest of five Keiter children, Cindy is returning home after three decades to offer a hilarious and moving tribute to her father's distinguished career, but also bring perspective to her family life and how they coped through losses. She is a graduate of La Pietra-Hawai'i School for Girls and of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
Les Keiter, author of "Fifty Years Behind the Microphone," was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown in 1998. His career spanned six decades and for years he was sports anchor at KHON-2.
The production will utilize archival footage and photos of sports and broadcast legends such as boxers Muhammad Ali, Floyd Patterson and sportscaster Howard Cosell.
Curtain time is 4 and 7 p.m. Sunday and 4 p.m. Sept. 24. The 'Iolani performance will be at 3 p.m.
Tickets are $14, with proceeds benefitting La Pietra-Hawai'i School for Girls. Call 924-7515.
The 'Iolani performance is free, thanks to the sponsorship of the Tam and Young Visual and Performing Arts Chair of 'Iolani. Call 943-2244.
Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.