FESTIVAL ’90 : THE FESTIVAL IN BRIEF : Hawaiian Troupe Robbed

Kumu Kahua, the Honolulu-based theater company that concludes its weeklong Open Festival performances tonight at the Inner City Cultural Center, lost $4,000 in cash last weekend, but was able to continue its stay thanks to the aid of the local Hawaiian community.

The theft happened at a car rental agency in Inglewood after the 22-member group arrived at LAX Aug. 31. Company tour manager Sheila Kelly said she had put down her bag containing the troupe’s records and money when she was distracted by “a person in line talking to one of our actors in Italian.” When she turned back to her bag, it was gone.

“This was obviously a setup job by professional thieves,” Kelly said.

Company members who flew here following performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and in Washington, offered to forgo their per diem in order to stay in Los Angeles. But help from members of L.A.’s Hawaii Inter Club Council, in what Kelly called “the Hawaiian family spirit,” enabled Kumu Kahua to break a leg in L.A.

Free Latino Programs

A daylong event of heavily Salvadoran programming featuring music, dance, theater, poetry, mime and visual arts will be held at Olvera Street’s Plaza de Delores Sunday from 1-6 p.m. Organizers of the free event say it fills a void in festival programing that previously listed “no Central American events.”

Called “La Raza en la Calle,” the event grew out of discussions held in mid-August between festival organizers and local Salvadoran artists who were upset with the festival’s selection of right-wing Salvadoran poet David Escobar Galindo for “La Terra Nova 1990: Pacific Poetry Festival.” Leftist poet Alfonso Quijada Urias was later added to the program for balance.