Playwright Jeannie Barroga has written more than 80 plays. Now, she needs help.
Barroga and her husband, Tony Williams, retired in the fall of 2025 and decided to move from California to Hawaiʻi. They tossed or donated belongings and then shipped about 30 boxes to their new home.
In April, Barroga was diagnosed with a rare four-inch malignant tumor which turned out to be the largest one her doctors had seen in a while, she told Aloha State Daily. It is a high risk incurable gastrointestinal stromal tumor, or GIST, a rare malignancy that begins in the digestive system.
On top of the normal monthly costs and rent, there are additional costs for travel to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, plus, a four-figure cancer drug that must be purchased monthly, which she hopes will be covered by a grant.
Cost of living was already 60% of their income and medical bills are another 20%, according to her GoFundMe website. Each trip to Mayo Clinic involves booking round-trip tickets, ground transportation and more for Barroga and her husband — someone is required to attend the medical appointments with her— which costs between $5,000 and $7,000. She was advised there might be three or more trips like this within a year.
So far, GoFundMe has raised $11,000 toward the $40,000 goal.
“It's just really touching to see that response,” she said. “It was mind blowing.”
Sometimes, her husband would be in the other room and see a donation come in and gasp, causing her to run in to see what was wrong, Barroga added.
“It's very humbling,” the playwright added.
Barroga first came to Hawaiʻi more than 30 years ago for a production of her play, “Talk-Story,” at Kumu Kahua Theatre.
While still living in California, she joined the Keakalehua Playreading Hui, which was created by Justina Mattos, chair of the performing arts department at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo. That was during the Covid-19 pandemic.
She is also part of Tree Moss Hawaiʻi, a collective of emerging and established Hawaiʻi playwrights.
Over the years, her plays have appeared on stage not just at Kumu Kahua Theatre, but also UH Hilo.
Recently, she participated in a 24-Hour Play Festival, where she was one of 30 Hawaiʻi-based writers producing 10-minute plays, created within the span of a single day.
Today, a collection of 85 boxes of her papers from between 1966 and 2010 are part of a collection at Stanford University. The collection includes drafts of her plays, notes and journals, as well as administrative files.
Barroga was originally born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but moved to Northern California after college, where she held roles at the Oakland Ensemble Theater and Palo Alto's TheatreWorks. She was also the artistic director at the Asian American Theater Co. and Teatro ng Tanan in San Francisco.
Some of her plays include “Walls,” which focuses on Maya Lin, the Chinese American woman who designed the Vietnam War Memorial, “Buffaloʻed” which puts the spotlight on the Buffalo Soldiers during the Civil War, and “Banyan,” which follows the impact of 9/11 on a Filipina woman.
Several theaters across the nation are also holding events to help fundraise in support her medical journey:
Oct. 9, San Francisco: Bindlestiff Studio will share readings of extracts of her work, with proceeds of the event going to support Barroga.
Oct. 9, Brooklyn: Hi-Arts will share a reading of her play “Buffaloʻd,” with proceeds benefiting the playwright.
Oct. 19, San Francisco: At Bindlestiff Studio, musicians will have a musical benefit called “I Dream of Jeannie,” with proceeds going to support her care.
For more information, go to her GoFundMe page or email: jb_oga@icloud.com.
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
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