Nationally Touring Show Exploring America’s Relationship With Guns to Be Performed in Ivins
– By Cami Cox –
On Friday, March 21, at 7:30 PM and Saturday, March 22, at 2 PM and 7:30 PM, the Center for the Arts at Kayenta will present Dan Froot & Company’s “Arms Around America.” This community-based theater project explores how Americans experience fear, power, identity, loss, and love through their relationships with guns. Performances will take place in the center’s Lorraine Boccardo Theater. The Center for the Arts at Kayenta is located at 881 Coyote Gulch Court in Ivins.
“Arms Around America” is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by CAP UCLA and NPN. The show is staged as a live radio theater broadcast, with four actors voicing dozens of characters in a constellation of six short plays based on real families whose lives have been shaped by guns. The performances are accompanied by sound effects artist Dan Froot and a driving score by Julio Montero.
The stories featured in the show focus not on guns themselves or even their political dimensions but on people’s relationships with guns and with each other. Members of the local community will host the evening from seats at an onstage kitchen table. After the performance, the kitchen table participants will discuss the relevance of the pieces to their own lives and communities.
Dan Froot & Company’s “Arms Around America” began in 2018, when the Parkland, Florida shooting occurred at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The Los Angeles-based theater company was compelled to investigate the U.S.’s polarization around guns and its paralysis in response to gun violence. Froot and his associates spent several years conducting six book-length oral histories of families in Southern California, south Florida, and western Montana. By opening a window into these families’ lives, the company brings together a collection of stories that represent a wide range of perspectives and fosters dialogue around the complex roles that guns play in society.
Tickets for “Arms Around America” range from $10-$35 and can be purchased online. For more information, call (435) 674-2787 or visit kayentaarts.org.
FREE ‘UNLOCKING THE ARTS’ PUBLIC DISCUSSION
On March 22 at 6:30 PM, prior to that evening’s performance, Froot will also be present as a guest scholar as part of the Center for the Arts at Kayenta’s “Unlocking the Arts” series. The evening’s discussion will center around the theme “Reflecting diverse perspectives on gun safety and legislation through community-based storytelling.” Admission to “Unlocking the Arts” discussions is free.
