Dan Froot & Company: Arms Around America

Stories of Guns and their People

BASED ON THE ORAL HISTORIES OF, AND CREATED IN CONSULTATION WITH (in program order):

Wilkins and Kennedy Robles (MIAMI)

Daniel Carlson-Strom (BOZEMAN) 

“Patricia” (MIAMI) 

Leslie McCaddon (LOS ANGELES)

Ryan Cooney (HELENA)

Jessica Huerta (SAN DIEGO)

 

PRODUCED, WRITTEN, AND DIRECTED BY: Dan Froot

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Justin Alston 

Sola Bamis

Natalie Camunas 

Krysta Gonzales

Bobby Gordon

Donna Simone Johnson 

Anthony Rey Perez

Christopher Rivas

Tula B. Strong

 

PERFORMED BY:

ACTORS: Donna Simone Johnson, Anthony Rey Perez, Christopher Rivas, and special guest Christiane Soto (care of New World School of the Arts)

SOUND EFFECTS: Dan Froot

LIGHTING DESIGN: Antony Gutierrez

SOUND DESIGN: Duncan Woodbury

SOUND ENGINEER: Adam Sperry, C.A.S. 

COMPOSER: Julio Montero 

DRAMATURGE: Bobby Gordon

COMPANY LIAISON: Alexandra Meda

SET DESIGN: Marcus Kuiland-Nazario

ORAL HISTORIANS: Jordan Rogers, Tula B. Strong, Jose “Rufio” Vasquez

RECORDED MUSICIANS: Tom Moose, Julian Gomez, Isaac Rodriguez

 

PROGRAM

1. Introduction
2. Rich & Dave
3. Gabriel
4. Patricia
5. June
6. Aaron
7. Tiffany
8. The Kitchen Table

 

Over the course of 2021 and 2022, Dan Froot & Company created six book-length oral histories of families in Southern California, Western Montana, and South Florida. We collaborated with each family to devise the live audio dramas that comprise Arms Around America. Let’s stop NOT talking about gun violence. 

This production contains material of a sensitive nature, including frank discussions of suicide. Please care for yourself and others accordingly.

As guests in this place, Dan Froot & Company honor and offer gratitude to the original caretakers of the land: the Seminole Tribe of Florida, the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, and the Council of the Original Miccosukee Simanolee Nation Aboriginal Peoples 

These performances are dedicated in loving memory to Fred Frumberg. 

 

DAN FROOT & COMPANY

Dan Froot PRODUCER, WRITER, DIRECTOR, LIVE SOUND EFFECTS

Dan Froot’s work has toured internationally since 1983. Awards include a Bessie (New York Dance & Performance Award), a City of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship, and a Foundation for Jewish Culture Playwriting Fellowship. He has collaborated with Dan Hurlin, Yoshiko Chuma, Ping Chong, David Dorfman, Mabou Mines, Ralph Lemon, Cornerstone Theater Company, and Victoria Marks, among others. He was on the faculty of UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance from 2000 to 2024. www.danfroot.com

 

Donna Simone Johnson ACTOR, COLLABORATOR, PERFORMER

Donna Simone Johnson is a two-time NAACP Award-winning actor, director, choreographer, and educator. In addition to her work with Dan Froot & Co. on Pang! and now Arms Around America, she can be seen (and heard) in a wide range of commercials and audiobooks. Some regional theater credits include Power of Sail (The Geffen Playhouse), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (NY Resident Acting Company), and performances at La Mama, The Guthrie, Virginia Stage Company, Portland Center Stage, The Road Theatre Company, and The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, where she is a proud company member. She also serves as Co-Artistic Director of Watts Village Theater Company, which nurtures and produces diaspora-driven work while celebrating the rich history and cultural diversity of South LA. Johnson holds an MA in Dance from NYU and an MFA in Acting from CalArts—and carries with her a deep sense of gratitude.

 

Anthony Rey Perez ACTOR, COLLABORATOR, PERFORMER

Anthony Rey Perez is originally from Miami. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Florida State’s conservatory-style theater program. Over the years in Los Angeles and New York he has worked in various film, television, and commercial projects, appearing Off Broadway as well as significant voice over work, he was just nominated for a SOVA and AUDIE award. He most recently played a young Andy Garcia in the new Latine-centered Father Of the Bride. Perez, the son of immigrants (and loving Husband of one), doesn’t take lightly the opportunity to represent a fuller, more rich representation of Americans in the mainstream narrative for the next generation, including his beautiful daughter Luna.

 

Christopher Rivas ACTOR, COLLABORATOR

Christopher Rivas is an actor, author, and podcaster. His book Brown Enough examines the role of Brownness in a Black / white world. It has recently become curriculum in schools around the country. He hosts two podcasts: Brown Enough, which parallels the themes of his book through interviews; and Rubirosa, an investigation of Porfirio Rubirosa, the Dominican diplomat, race car driver, and polo player believed to have inspired the character “James Bond.” On screen, Rivas is known for the Fox series, Call Me Kat. www.christopherrivas.com; @christopher__rivas.

 

Christiane Solo ACTOR

Christiane is an acting major in the New World School of Arts. At the age of four, she joined the Cuarta Pared Theatre Company in Madrid but her passion for performance flourished when she moved to Cuba. Studying theatre in the International School of Havana opened many doors for her: she co-directed her class’ production of Annie, participated in the International Schools Theatre Association Festival two years in a row, and amongst other achievements, obtained her IGCSE diploma. She also received training in the works of Checkhov, Stanisvlasky, Greek theatre and Grotowski. Christiane moved to Miami in 2021, where she had joined Doral Academy’s choir and troupe. Her senior year of high school she performed in a one act piece called Luana in the Florida Theatre Conference. Now she enthusiastically follows her studies and NWSA!

 

Julio Montero COMPOSER

Julio Montero was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, but grew up in New York City. He has collaborated with choreographers Alexx Shilling, Cheng Chieh Yu, Sarah Jacobs, DaEun Jung, Richard Rivera’s Physual, Wilfried Souly’s Souly Dance Arts, and Rayven Armijo/cuerva urban folklorico, and others, to compose original scores. He was founder and songwriter for Latin Alternative Folk band Cuñao. Cuñao was commissioned by The Wooden Floor Artistic Director Melanie Rios-Glaser to compose new original music for the piece Playground & Playground II, performed by The Wooden Floor students at The Irvine Barclay Theatre (Irvine, CA). In 2018, Montero and Cuñao performed Cancion Del Inmigrante, a multimedia folk opera in collaboration with alexx makes dances and One Grain of Sand Puppet Theater, at the Bowers Museum. Currently residing in Freehold, NJ, he is an audio production technician at Princeton Univeristy’s Richardson Auditorium, a freelance podcast editor, and always working on new music. Montero holds a Master of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Management from Pratt.

 

Bobby Gordon DRAMATURGE, COLLABORATOR

Bobby Gordon is a poet, performance maker, and Theatre of the Oppressed practitioner with an M.A. in Applied Theatre Arts from the University of Southern California (USC). He is a co-founder of the Melrose Poetry Bureau, teaches at UCLA in the Department of World Arts & Cultures/Dance, and has created work with ensembles across the Americas and in South Africa.

 

Marcus Kuiland-Nazario SET DESIGNER

Marcus Kuiland-Nazario is an interdisciplinary artist, producer, and curator. His practice spans sculpture, video installation, social practice, performance, and design. His installations and performances have been featured in museums in the United States and abroad. Kuiland-Nazario is the 2024 inaugural recipient of the Jacki Apple Award in Performance. He is a recipient of the Santa Monica Artist Fellowship award and an Artist At Work Fellowship. Kuiland-Nazario is a founding artist of the 18th Street Arts Center, where he is currently an Artist in Residence.

 

Duncan Woodbury SOUND DESIGNER

Duncan Woodbury is a sound designer and composer based in Los Angeles working on a range of creative projects including music, theater, dance, installation, and podcasting. Woodbury currently serves as Associate Technical Director of the UCLA Nimoy Theater. His previous collaborators include Lars Jan/Early Morning Opera, Andrew Schneider, Zoe Aja Moore, and Milka Djorjevich, among others. He is a graduate of Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts in Music Technology.

 

Antony Gutierrez LIGHTING DESIGNER

Antony Gutierrez is very excited to be a part of Arms Around America. His work has been seen in many productions at UCLA, where he serves as the Lighting Supervisor for Royce Hall. Recent credits include: All In Podcast Summit, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s anniversary gala, Angel City Chorale, and Omar Offendum’s Little Syria.

 

Very special thanks to: Fred Frumberg, Meryl Friedman, Bozzy Karasu, and the entire staff of CAP UCLA, Arsenio Apillanes, Victoria Marks, Emmett Marks-Froot, Milo Marks-Froot, Nicole Samuel, Ann Carlson, Maeven McGovern; to the staff and advisors of The National Theater Project: Quita Sullivan, Derek Schwartz, Leilani Ricardo, Daniel Banks, Candace Feldman, Claudia Alick, Torange Yeghiazarian; to the beautiful children who have lit up our rehearsals: Luna Perez, Coltrane Johson-Irvin, River Alston, Sula Bamishigbin; and to the narrators who generously shared their stories: Daniel Carlson-Strom, Ryan Cooney, Jessica Huerta, “Patricia,” Leslie McCaddon, and Wilkins and Kennedy Robles.

 

Dan Froot & Company thank the following individuals for their support: Alberto Denis, Amy Denio, Angelia Leung, Brian Selznick, Courtney Bell, Cristina Fernandez, Dana Cuff/Kevin Daly, Ken Froot, David Gere, Eve Beglarian, Gayle Kouklis, Hana van der Kolk, Ilaan Mazzini, Jackie Lopez, Jason Samuel, Jeff Griffin, Jeff Kahane, Jost Rhodius, Juliana Irizarry, Karla Christian-Irizarry, Katie Pfeifer, Kenneth Foster, Lili Flores, Mari Kornhauser, Maria Gillespie, Marike Splint, Marla Berns, Mathew Sandoval, Nan Friedman, Jessica Stern, Oliver Trager, Pat Turner, Paul Bonin-Rodriguez, Robert Flynt, Ryan Jones Talmadge, Tom Keegan.

 

THANKS TO OUR COMMUNITY PARTNERS:

• MIAMI
  • Colleen Adams of Empowered Youth
  • Natalie Lewis Schere of PATH to Hip Hop
  • Dr. Keshia Abraham
• LOS ANGELES
  • Emily Ives of UCLA Veteran Resource Center
  • Tess Barragan Banko of US Vets
  • Dr. Sharon Birman and the Mayor’s Challenge to Prevent Suicide
  • Roberto Álvarez and the Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger
  • James Zenner and the LA County Department of Mental Health Veteran Peer Access Network (VPAN)
  • Cuco Rodriguez and Brian Malte of The Hope and Heal Fund
• MONTANA
  • Project for Alternative Learning (Helena)
  • University of Montana Department of Native American Studies (Bozeman)
• NATIONAL
• • Patrick O’Neil of Stop the Bleed

Arms Around America is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by The Myrna Loy, Miami Light Project, UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, and NPN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information: npnweb.org. This program is made possible with funding by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Theater Project, with lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and by grants from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, UCLA’s Office of Research and Creative Activities Acceleration Grant Program, the Chancellor’s Council on the Arts (UCLA), and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

 

If you enjoyed this show, please check out the Arms Around America podcast. It’s a companion work to what you have seen this evening, with different material in every episode. New episodes coming soon! Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Want to discuss the show? Tell us about it on TourScout, the world’s largest community platform for rating and reviewing live performances. Connect with other fans and the performers you’ve just seen on stage. Your feedback helps others discover great events and supports the work of artists like Dan Froot & Company. Every voice matters — your insights could inspire someone’s next night out or help an artist refine their craft. Help shape the future of live entertainment! Scan below and join the conversation on TourScout: https://tourscout.com/artist?id=261

Donations to the continuation of Arms Around America and the work of Dan Froot & Company are gratefully accepted and are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law.

Via Paypal: [email protected]