The Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA is helping to enlarge a discussion. Interdisciplinary artist Dan Froot, along with his cohort of collaborators, premieres a live podcast, “Arms Around America,” at the recently opened Nimoy Theater this Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16, at 8 p.m.
In this theatrical event, four actors, a foley artist (Froot) and three musicians bring front and center what is usually only heard. Promotional materials clarify the company’s intentions. AAA explores the robust topic of guns, but not about the instruments themselves. Rather, these short dramas are about “the ways that fear, love, power, identity and entitlement are enacted through our relationships with this hardware. All this is set against the backdrop of socio-economic upheavals, culture wars and other external dynamics.”
With each of the performers playing more than one role, the result is a fully visual uncovering of behind-the-curtain activities. In addition, as in conventional podcasts, experts, scholars and other community members involved in these experiences are included in the cast and the conversations that follow the plays.
These stories have previously been aurally available online, but the fleshed-out and full-bodied realization of this project premieres this weekend. This is the culmination of five years of development, interviews, recontextualizing and synthesizing these accounts into audience-friendly, and definitely thought-provoking, theatrical structures. The accompanying score is composed by Julio Montero and played live on stage by Julian Gomez, Isaac Rodriguez and Tom Moose.
—Benn Widdey, Culture Spot LA
LOCATION:
1262 Westwood Blvd., LA 90024
TICKETS:
$38
INFO:
https://cap.ucla.edu/event/dan-froot-company-0
Photo by John Pemble