Pang!

erforming rts enterC A P

university at albany State University of New York

2022-23

Cover photo: Urban Bush Women’s “Give Your Hands to Struggle” | Photo by Ian Douglas

Photo this page: UAlbany Performing Arts Center | Photo by Patrick Ferlo

Pang! is a response to socioeconomic disparity.

Over the course of eight months in 2015-16, Dan Froot & Company created six book-length oral histories of families living with food insecurity in Los Angeles, Cedar Rapids and Miami. They then collaborated with one family from each city to devise each of the 30-minute plays that comprise Pang!.

BASED ON THE ORAL HISTORIES OF, AND CREATED IN CONSULTATION WITH: Conching Matthews and family (Los Angeles)

Theo Bampamirubusa and family (Cedar Rapids)

Tranée Wallace and family (Miami)

PRODUCED, WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY: Dan Froot

IN COLLABORATION WITH:

Natalie Camunas

Donna Simone Johnson

Christopher Rivas

COMPOSER: Robert Een

DRAMATURGE: Bobby Gordon

PERFORMED BY:

Natalie Camunas

Krysta Gonzales

Christopher Rivas

ORAL HISTORIANS: Monica McGivern (Miami), Courtney Ball (Cedar Rapids), Luis Tentindo and Dan Froot (Los Angeles)

TRANSCRIPTIONISTS: Max Dunsker, Dorothy Dubrule

KIRUNDI DIALECT COACH: Alice Niyondagara

About the Company

Currently, Dan Froot and Company are touring “Pang!” while developing their current project, “Arms Around America” (AAA), to premiere first as a podcast in Fall, 2023, and as a live performance in Fall, 2024. AAA is a collection of six short plays based on the oral histories of real families around the country whose lives have been shaped in some way by guns. AAA is commissioned by the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, The Myrna Loy Center in Helena MT, and Miami Light Project. The project has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, National Performance Network, and by a National Theater Project Creation and Touring Grant from New England Foundation for the Arts. Check out DF&Co’s New York Times-featured “Pang!” Podcast, on all major podcast platforms.

Dan Froot’s (producer/writer/director) 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 worked with Dan Hurlin, Yoshiko Chuma, Ping Chong, David Dorfman, Mabou Mines, Ralph Lemon, Cornerstone Theater Company, and Victoria Marks, among others. He teaches at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. www.danfroot.com

Natalie Camunas (performer) is a Los Angeles native, USC Annenberg graduate, and queer identified artist. As an actor, Natalie has worked regionally in theaters across the country, including originating the role of Gabby Orozco in the world premiere co-production of American Mariachi at the Old Globe Theatre & Denver Center for the

Performing Arts. TV Credits: Goliath, Speechless, Major Crimes. As a writer, Natalie’s plays have been produced in L.A., NYC, and Ireland. Currently, she is working on a new play in development with The Vagrancy’s Writers’ Group. She is also in production of a podcast centered around Native Gardens, one of the most produced plays of 2019. www.nataliecamunas.com

Krysta Gonzales (performer) is an actor, writer, and chingona who earned their BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her work centers and values historically erased communities, by disengaging from mainstream dominant cultural, social, and narrative structures. She is developing First Blood, a vampire-quinceañera play set in her birthplace of El Paso. She is thrilled to be joining Pang! All her work is dedicated to her family: Gramma Chris, Mami Rachel, her cousin Dr. Grace Solomon, and most especially in loving memory of her Aunty Gorgeous, Grace’s Mom, Jessica Solomon. www.krystagonzales.com

Christopher Rivas (perfomer) is an actor, author, podcaster, and storyteller. Part memoir, part social commentary, his book ‘Brown Enough’ charts authentic selfdiscovery alongside racial awakening amidst the struggle to be "perfectly" Latinx, woke, and as Brown as possible in America. He recently developed two podcasts with SiriusXM's Stitcher: 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.

Bobby Gordon (dramaturge) 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 America and in South Africa.

Robert Een (composer) is a composer, singer, cellist, and performing artist known for his unique orchestrations and use of extended techniques for voice and cello. His work has been presented worldwide and has received an Obie Award for music composition, as well as two New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Awards for music composition and sustained achievement. Een has recorded sixteen albums of genre-defying original music. He composes for film, theatre, dance and the concert stage.www.roberteen.com

Special Thanks

From Dan Froot and Company to Kim Engel, Bryan Robinson and the entire staff of UAlbany Performing Arts Center; to Samuel Caldwell, UAlbany Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion; from The Food Pantries for the Capital District: Natasha Pernicka, Executive Director; Curtis LeClair & Lydia Calabro, Engagement & Referral Specialists; Angela Warner, Director of Social Justice Ministries, St. Vincent de Paul; Joseph Esposito, UAlbany Purple Pantry; from the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York: Molly Nicol, Chief Executive Officer; Nick Pisani, Chief Operating Officer; Susan Lintner, Chief Program And Advocacy Officer; Tammy Holmes, Food as Medicine; Travon Jackson, President and Managing Director, BlueLight Development Group, Inc.; Aiden Johansen; and Annie Kahane.

Pang! is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Legion Arts in partnership with Miami Light Project, and NPN. The Creation Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). Dan Froot and Company’s residencies are supported by NPN’s Performance Residency Fund, Community Fund. For more information on NPN please visit www.npnweb.org. Pang! is made possible in part by support from 24th STreet Theatre and by UCLA’s Council on Research Faculty Research Grant program; City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs; Network of Ensemble Theaters’ Travel & Exchange Net- work (NET/TEN), which is supported by lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Puffin Foundation West; Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Arts Commission; and by an Art Works grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov. Pang! was also made possible in part through residencies at MacDowell Colony, Automata Art Space, UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, and Knight Foundation; and by 117 individual donors who contributed through Hatchfund.org.

Are you hungry for change? Donations to the continuation of Pang! and the work of Dan Froot are gratefully accepted and are taxdeductible to the fullest extent allowable by law.

Via Paypal: danfroot@me.com or

Photo by Rose Eichenbaum

Pang!’s Capital Region Community Partners

For food assistance and resource guides by county:

https://thefoodpantries.org/how -to-find-food-assistance

Tonight’s Sponsors

The residency and performances of Pang! by Dan Froot and Company are supported by the University at Albany Foundation, University Auxiliary Services and UAlbany's StAR Program.

UNIVERSITY AT ALBANY FOUNDATION

University Administration Building, 226 518-437-5090

www.albany.edu/uafoundation

UNIVERSITY AUXILIARY SERVICES

University Administration Building, 232 518-442-5950

www.albany.edu/uas

Next on the Schedule

The Creative Life: A Conversation with Jane Curtin

Saturday, April 29 at 4pm Free admission

The actor/comedian/Saturday Night Live legend is interviewed on stage by WAMC's Joe Donahue discussing her creative inspiration, craft and career. A question-andanswer session with the audience will follow.

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s six theatres, three lounges and other spaces are available for rental.

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center’s six theatres, three lounges and other spaces are available for rental.

erforming rts enterC A P

HOUSE POLICIES

Latecomers will be seated at the discretion of the management and its staff.

The use of photographic or recording devices of any kind during this performance is strictly prohibited.

There is no food or drink allowed in the theatres, nor is smoking allowed in UAlbany buildings.

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To avoid disrupting the performance, kindly disable any noise making electronic devices you may have with you.

Please take time to note the location of the fire exits nearest to you. In the event of an emergency, an announcement will be made from the stage. Please proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly fashion.

The UAlbany Performing Arts Center is no longer operating a box office. All ticketing is done on-line and can be easily navigated from the web site provided through the QR code above or address below.

www.albany.edu/pac