Kumu Kahua, the Downtown theater specializing in locally-written or Island-themed plays, turns 38 next season. It will offer a season of five world premieres, plus the remounting of a previous hit show.

The pendulum swings from politics to family mystery, from disco to Hawaiian history.

The lineup:

• "Da Mayah," Aug. 28 through Sept. 28 — A revival of Lee Cataluna's box office-breaking comedic hit, about a fictional Hilo mayor whose campaign motto is "Do What He Sez," which comically explores the exploits of a politico, from office to karaoke bar to washerette.

• "Rolling the Rs," Oct. 30 through Nov. 30 — A play by R. Zamora Linmark, set in the disco era of the 1970s, which examines the world of high schoolers struggling for identity as defined by ethnicity, nationality and sexual orientation, punctuated by the disciplinary voice of a schoolteacher. A world premiere.

• "Mainland Education," Jan. 8 through Feb. 8 — A drama by Scot Izuka, set amid a cultural smorsgabord at the University of Kansas in the early 1980s, dealing with a third-generation Japanese American from Hawai'i, his Taiwanese roomie struggling with English, an assertive girl from the Midwest and her Japanese national roomie, all struggling to define their identities amid cultural and social mores. A world premiere.

• "What Ever Happened to John Boy Kihano?," March 12 through April 11 — A play by Susan Soon He Stanton, winner of the 2006 Kumu Kahua Theatre/University of Hawai'i Theatre Department contest, about the mysterious disappearance of a child and the effects it has on his family. John Kihano and his youngest son go fishing, and the father returns without the son, with the vague explanation that he is staying on the Big Island with Auntie Maile. Police are called, a search ensues, with mounting tension and the dissolution of family loyalties and trust. A world premiere.

• A double bill of "Kalua'iko'olau" and "Waiting for a King," May 14 through June 14 — "Kalua'iko'olau" by Kemuel DeMoville is a Noh play retelling, with stylized and poetic nuances, the true story of Ko'olau the Leper of Kalalau Valley on Kaua'i. Two travelers learn how Ko'olau resisted forces trying to take him and his son to Kalaupapa on Moloka'i. "Waiting for a King," a play by Krystal Ontai, is set in 19th century Hawai'i, amid times when foreigners are inhabiting the Islands and the Hawaiian kingdom is in a transitional state. King Kamehameha is relinquishing his throne to his son Liholiho, high priestess Ka'ahumanu is creating herself a post of kuhina nui, and nephew Kekuaokalani is to become custodian of the war god Kukailimoku; a chorus in the present looks back at the past and into the future, contemplating the fate of the Hawaiians. Two world premieres.

Kumu Kahua showtimes are at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.

The 100-seat theater is located at 46 Merchant St.

Subscriptions: $50 for renewals, $65 for new subscribers. Call 536-4222.

Single tickets: $16. Call 536-4441. Box office hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.