Meet Our Wonderful Cast

Here are the actresses whose talent and hard work are making The Conversion of Ka'ahumanu possible.

Debby Andres (Pali) is originally from Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. A recent graduate of the University of Hawaii, Manoa, she is currently pursuing her MA in Public Anthropology at American University. This is her third time on stage, having performed in Sol y Sol and Drama Baylan's Rolling the R's last fall, and debuting in the first ever Filipina multilingual adaptation of The Vagina Monologues in Honolulu, produced by the Hawaii Filipina Rural Project and the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse & Legal Hotline in 2006. Debby is a member of the Hawaii State Society and Halau O 'Aulani.

Wilma B. Consul (Hannah) trained at TnT/Teatro ng Tanan (Theater for Everyone) in San Francisco, where she worked with Brava! For Women in the Arts, Asian American Theatre Company, Culture Clash, Latina Theater Lab, Campo Santo and Theater of Yugen/Noh Space. She wrote and performed her one-woman play in the Bay Area, DC, Hawaii and the Philippines. For DC’s Sol y Soul, she directed 365 Days/365 Plays by Suzan Lori Parks and Rolling the R’s by R. Zamora Linmark. She’s part of the Filipina presentation of The Vagina Monologues at the Kennedy Center. A dancer at heart, Wilma performs and teaches at the Hawaiian school Halau O ‘Aulani under Kumu Keith Awai. A journalist by profession, Wilma has produced and reported for National Public Radio and its member stations.





Rebecca Ellis (Lucy Goodale Thurston) is originally from Chicago and received her BFA in acting from Northern Illinois University. She has worked in several area theatres, recently appearing in Rep Stage's A Shayna Maidel which received Outstanding Production of a Play from
BalitmoreBroadwayWorld.com. Rebecca is a company member of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. With CSC she has appeared in The Country Wife, The Tempest, The Comedy of Errors, The Front Page, The Imaginary Invalid, Coriolanus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Dog in the Manger, Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labor's Lost, Measure for Measure, and her portrayal of Celia in As You Like It received an Honorable Mention as Outstanding Supporting Actress from BaltimoreBroadwayWorld.com.

Charity Pomeroy (Sybil Mosely Bingham) recently relocated to DC from Skagway, Alaska, where she was seen dancing the Can-Can as Belle Davenport in The Days of 98 Show (now in its 84th year of production), driving visitors around the tiny city as a costumed conductor on the Skagway Street Car, and walking people through Skagway’s back alleys as Madam Tara McClothesoff from the Red Onion Saloon & Brothel Museum. She holds a BS in Musical Theatre from Weber State University where she performed in Drood, Anyone Can Whistle, The Country Wife, 1940s Radio Hour and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown. Look for Charity at the 2009 Capital Fringe Festival in Bare Breasted Women Swordfighting.

Melonie Leihua (Villanueva) Stewart
(Ka‘ahumanu) has been happily married for over 15 years and has three beautiful children. Leihua was born and raised in Ku'au, Maui. She is of Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, and Puerto Rican decent. Leihua graduated from the Kamehameha Schools, Kapalama Campus in 1991, and while there she studied hula with Holoua Stender. Melonie has also studied theater at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She and her family are students of Halau O 'Aulani in Arlington, VA. Leihua works for Merkle, Inc. in Columbia, MD, and attends Penn State University (online) to pursue a master's degree in Human Resources and Employment Relations.