In conjunction with Fat Ulu Productions, an organization dedicated to creating and strengthening communities through the literary arts (it recently produced a series of collaborative poetry performances), Kumu Kahua presents a collection of monologues, scenes and stories written by Hawaii playwrights, poets and storytellers. With the intention of presenting multiple perspectives on the issue of statehood in Hawaii – including political, historical and sociological – in early 2009 Kumu and Fat Ulu invited local writers to create short, personal expressions and reflections on any chosen aspect of statehood. These pieces were first read by the writers or actors to an audience, then revised by the writers and refined and organized by producers at Kumu. The result is a significant, and refreshingly different addition to both the commercial promotion and journalistic reportage that has been celebrating Hawaii's 50th anniversary of statehood.

Statehood for Hawaii was:

a) A tragedy.
b) A disaster.
c) An illegal act.
d) All of the above.

Those answers represent the range of perspectives found in "The Statehood Project," the Kumu Kahua/Fat Ulu Productions collaboration that opens the 2009-2010 season at Kumu Kahua. It consists of short works by 16 playwrights, authors and poets, and a 1974 vintage poem by the late Wayne Westlake.

The Westlake poem, written in response to the 15th anniversary of statehood, is performed several times in the show. The final lines sum up the show's general take on statehood: "It's raining/I feel like crying."