The Bird of Paradise is a melodramatic American play of 1912 set in Hawaii, the best known work of Richard Walton Tully.
The play has been credited with creating an image of Hawaii as a land where native girls “dance the hula, play ukuleles, live in grass huts, and worship volcano gods”.
Luana, a Hawaiian princess, is in love with a beachcomber who is also a doctor. He dies after saving the people of Hawaii by isolating the bacterium which is the cause of leprosy. Luana then redeems his soul by sacrificing herself to the volcano goddess Pele to save her people again.
The play includes more-or-less authentic Hawaiian music, dancing, and a simulated volcano in the third act.