IPA’s first full-length musical wasn’t just a production — it was a program’s coming-of-age story
About fifteen minutes from the end of the Saturday matinee of Mamma Mia!, the power to The Leeward Theatre went out completely.
The lights died mid-song. The music cut. Somewhere in the wings, a few dozen elementary schoolers — Island Pacific Academy’s youngest performers, costumed and ready for their finale entrance — went still in the dark.
What happened next said everything about who these students are.
A Long Time Coming
To understand what unfolded that afternoon, you have to start years earlier — in a multipurpose room on IPA’s campus, on a small stage, where a theater program was quietly building something.
Theater director Brandi Dul had a vision from the beginning. “It had been a goal of mine since I started that at least every five years, we would go to an actual theater,” she said. “It always seemed a little sad to me that there were students who were so involved and invested, learning entire-level theater skills, doing this amazing research and development, behind the scenes and onstage, and many of them had never stepped onto an actual theater.”
Getting there wasn’t easy. Years of outreach, meetings, and attempted partnerships yielded little. The Leeward Theatre’s renovations kept the door closed longer still. Then, post-COVID, post-renovation, with IPA already building a relationship through graduation ceremonies, the school finally got its foot in the door. That first production – Shrek, Jr. – was a revelation. “It was such a fun, awesome experience,” Dul recalled. The finances balanced, the students rose to the occasion, and something else became clear: the Leeward stage didn’t just fit IPA, it elevated the program in ways that were hard to put back in a box.
Two productions at The Leeward Theatre later, Dul felt ready for the biggest leap yet.
“The shows had been progressing in a way that I felt comfortable taking the step this year,” she said. “Many of our performers were younger and had already learned so much that it felt like a natural step for that specific group.” Among the shows she considered, Mamma Mia! kept rising to the top. “It just had so many different opportunities for different students to shine.”
IPA was going to do its first full-length musical.
Building Something Real
What makes an IPA production different from most school shows isn’t the venue or the production value — it’s who’s actually running things.
With roughly 200 students involved across Elementary and Secondary, the program operates through an interlocking system of student crew heads, each responsible for managing their own team, backward-planning a rehearsal schedule, tracking a budget, solving problems, and communicating across departments — all with a level of independence that would surprise most adults. “They learn how to manage a team, how to be a strong leader, how to communicate, how to mess up and continue going,” Dul said. “Every year they build on their capacity until they’re seniors, and then they usually wrap things up as some sort of legacy to give to the next generation.”
Stage manager Kyler Koga ’28 has grown up inside that system. He’s been doing stage management since 6th grade. Mamma Mia! marked his 12th show in the role. “When I first started out, I was in sixth grade and everyone else in the crew was already in high school,” he recalled. “I’d mainly fill out some paperwork or do small side jobs. I wasn’t really involved in the big part of stage management like actually running the show, making sure everything runs smoothly, communicating with all the crews.”
That changed in 8th grade, when the students above him moved on. Suddenly, Kyler and his fellow stage managers McKenzie Godish ‘28 and Valentina Burns ‘28 were the ones in charge. By the time Mamma Mia! came around, they had developed their own model — sharing head responsibilities across all three, working it out among themselves. “They all started in middle school,” Dul noted. “Their path has been set for a while. They’ve really been watching and learning.”
For Mamma Mia!, the behind-the-scenes story was as ambitious as what happened onstage. The team reached out to the broader IPA community for set builders early in the process, hosting a Zoom meeting where Dul presented three concepts — a simple version, a medium version, and a dream version. The community’s response floored her. “Half of the parents didn’t even have students working on the production,” she said. “They just came out to help.” A parent offered warehouse space to build. Many IPA theater alumni came to give back to the program. Jonah Bobilin ‘17, who works professionally in lighting on Broadway, was brought in for lighting design. Shania Bravo ‘18, an architecture graduate, contributed to set design. Madison Murakami ‘24 and Amelie Kitakis ‘24 served as choreographers, and Kiana Vasilash ‘24 led the coordination of the Elementary student performers.
At that initial set meeting, the parents looked at the three options and, almost immediately, pointed to the most ambitious one. Before long, they were building a two-story structure — a Greek island village complete with a working balcony and grand staircase — in a warehouse off-campus.
Dul was intentional about keeping students at the center of the build. “There’s so much to do to create magic that there was enough to organize that you could use helping hands from the students — there was plenty for the students to do and plenty for the adults to do — with a select group of students, older students who had been properly trained with tools, who had the experience to go and then do some of those raw, higher level projects.”
“The community that came together to create the set, the scenes, and shape the voices is truly what made the show,” reflected Lowell Chappell ’26, who played Sam. “The phrase ‘it takes a village’ is something that cannot be understated.”
When the cast arrived at Leeward for move-in day, the transformation was striking. “We actually slowly saw the set being built,” Kyler said, “and I was like, oh my gosh — we have a balcony and stairs, there’s two stories — wow.” Lowell described the moment it all clicked, “It wasn’t until I got to see the stage at Leeward, filled with chattering theatre kids, pondering tech directors, and such a vast and colorful set that the moment truly set in with me.”
The Cast That Rose to the Moment
Onstage, something equally significant was happening.
This year, Dul made a deliberate change to the vocal preparation process, bringing in vocal coach Gavin Vinta, known as Mr. Gavin, for two weeks of open sign-up sessions before auditions began. Anyone could participate, and the investment paid off immediately. “Those auditions were like ten times stronger than anything ever before,” Dul said.
For Lowell, who came to the production as a theater student who had primarily worked behind the scenes, the opportunity changed what he thought was possible for himself. “It was my first time putting myself out there singing in front of such a large audience,” he said. “I have never been much of a singer, but I really wanted to try out. It’s my senior year, and I didn’t want to leave high school with any regrets.” With support from Dul and Vinta, he found his footing. “Mr. Gavin gave me the confidence in my singing that I needed to perform my best in front of a full audience at Leeward. I am very proud of my performance and the work I put in to get there, but I am even more proud and grateful for those who guided me along the way.”
That story — a student pushing past a defined self-image, discovering something new — repeated itself across the cast. Braxtyn Montalbo ’26, who played Donna, spoke about a different kind of growth. “I have always struggled with confidence in myself when it comes to acting and being front and center,” she said. “This show helped me to find that confidence and bring it onstage with me — something I have always wanted to do but struggled with in past shows.”
For her, what made the production feel truly special was the relationships already woven into it. “Many of my fellow leads were people I already had such good relationships with,” she said. “Me, Leianna [Babas], and Caitlyn [Bedford] were already such amazing friends, and the opportunity to perform together and show that friendship through our characters was so special.” She traces the moment she felt it most to rehearsals for “Chiquitita” — a song about friends caring for one another. “It just really reminded me how similar the three of us were to our characters.”
Mila Dul ’26, who played Sophie and has been part of the IPA theater program since kindergarten, carried the weight of the moment differently. For her, Mamma Mia! was a final chapter. “It meant so much to me to see how much our theatre program has evolved over time,” she said. “I’m grateful to be a part of a musical that big — it taught me so much and was so much fun to be a part of.”
None of it happened in isolation. Behind every rehearsal and breakthrough moment was a team of dedicated faculty. Secondary humanities teacher Sabine Yamamura worked across every aspect of the production behind the scenes, while Elementary music teacher Ruthe Babas guided the performers through their music and singing. “Working alongside Sabine and Ruthe is such a joy,” Dul said. “Their focus is always on the students, and it’s clear they want nothing but the best for them. They have a special gift for challenging students and inspiring them to reach their full potential.”
When the Lights Went Out
Saturday’s matinee was moving toward its finale. The audience was deep into the joy of the show. Backstage, cast members were gathered in vocal groups, energized, waiting for their cue.
Then, mid-song, everything went dark.
“For a second I thought just the lights onstage went out,” Kyler recalled. “And then when everything went out, I realized — OK, what just happened.” He waited ten seconds. The power didn’t come back. His first move: find every cast member nearby, tell them to sit down, stay calm, don’t move so no one trips in the dark.
In the wings, a group of elementary students waited silently. Nobody screamed. Nobody cried. “I was actually really proud of them,” Kyler said.
The cast evacuated. Outside, while staff worked to assess the situation, the students did what theater kids do — they sang. Songs from the show, keeping spirits up, morale intact.
Inside, the mood was harder to hold. “I was really scared the last show wouldn’t happen,” said Mila. “I was so sad to think about how all the work and effort so many people put into the show might not be seen by the audience that paid a lot to be there.”
Braxtyn felt it too. “I was worried that all this hard work would lead to us not having our closing show. It felt like it was all falling apart.”
But the directors weren’t done. Someone recalled hearing of a production that, when faced with something similar, had taken the show outside. The idea spread quickly. There were people in that audience who had flown in from other countries to see this show. There were students whose parents had only been able to make it to this performance. If it was at all possible to finish, they would finish.
“My mom, Ms. Dul, reminded everyone that the show must go on and we felt that in order to show our true professionalism we could finish in the lobby,” Mila said, “hopefully giving the audience a memorable experience.”
The decision made, the stage managers got to work. In what Kyler estimated was a matter of minutes, a plan was formed, positions were assigned, and the cast lined up. “I’m like, it’s gonna be fine,” he said. “And then everybody sort of just — in that moment, everyone’s just like, OK, let’s just have fun. Not much else we can do.”
What nobody knew backstage was that Lincoln Britto ‘26, a student who had evolved over the years from a quiet presence painting in the background to one of the technical anchors of the production, had quietly gone to his car, retrieved a Bluetooth speaker, and set it up outside. Dul didn’t find out until days later. “When we went out there and the music played, I was like — whoa, where did that music come from?” The discovery moved her. “Thinking of this kid who was kind of quiet, painting something in the background, to the evolution of that quick thinking — that made this thing so magical for so many people.”
With the speaker in place, the cast walked to the front of the theater lobby — students, directors, and volunteers together — and performed the finale on the entry steps, surrounded on all sides by an audience that had followed them out into the afternoon light. The crowd gathered close. There were no blinding stage lights. Every face was visible.
“Being so close to the audience, with no blinding lights blocking out their faces, made the moment so much more intimate,” Lowell said, “and gave every single one of us on stage a memory that we would never forget.”
“We left a lasting impression on that matinee audience,” he added. “A message saying IPA theatre kids don’t quit, and we will do anything to do what we set our minds to.”
The evening’s final performance went on as scheduled.
What It All Adds Up To
In the days after the production, Dul found herself reflecting not on the power outage — which, as she noted, had somehow not become the defining story of the show — but on something quieter and more lasting.
Students who had never taken a theater class came to tell her they’d seen the show and loved it. Alumni filled the seats. Secondary Principal Steve Ross suited up and joined the cast onstage for the final dance number. A colleague from another school remarked that what set IPA apart was that the boys didn’t just hold their own — they were exciting to watch and listen to. And when the final curtain came down, the youngest performers, still in costume, were inconsolable. Which is exactly what it looks like when something means everything to someone.
“The program is a rich and thriving community where students are excited to jump in and join,” Dul said. “They’re inspired to create their very best work, and they’re inspiring the next generation of creators.”
For Kyler, theater has given him something he didn’t expect: a community that doesn’t wait for you to earn your place. “When you join it, it’s not like you’re excluded,” he said. “It’s like — hey, do you want to do this? You enter a community and make friends that, otherwise, I don’t think I would have ever talked to. People outside of my grade.”
Mila, who took her first stage in kindergarten and her last as Sophie in Mamma Mia!, put it simply: “What I will remember most about my experience in IPA theatre is the people. I have met and stayed close to my best friends through the program. It is so special to see the community that comes out of the plays — everyone comes together, and it’s beautiful to watch.”
There’s a phrase for what happened in that theater — and then on those front steps, with music playing from a speaker that appeared out of nowhere, surrounded by an audience that refused to leave without an ending. It’s the same phrase that describes a program built over twenty years, moved from a multipurpose room to a world-class stage, sustained by students who run things themselves and alumni who come back to give what they’ve learned.
The phrase is generosity of spirit. And at Island Pacific Academy, it’s not just a value posted on a wall. It’s what happens when the lights go out.
Island Pacific Academy’s theater program is open to students in grades K–12. For more information about our programs and admissions, visit islandpacificacademy.org.
