Dan Froot and special guests, Refujio "Cuco" Rodriguez and Bryonn Bain, explore how guns shaped the lives of two brother living in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood. The jumping-off point for the converstion is Dan Froot & Company's short audio drama "Rich & Dave," based on the brothers' oral history.
Rich and Dave struggle with the emotional toll of gun violence in their community, managing family responsibilities while charting a path away from troubled pasts. The drama highlights their familial bond, the pressures of their environment, and the pervasive presence of guns, even when not visible.
Following the audio play, Dan discusses the broader entanglements of gun violence, race, and the prison-industrial complex with guests Justin Alston, Refujio Rodriguez, and Bryonn Bain. They emphasize the importance of empathy, understanding systemic racism, the need for community resources to address the root causes of violence, and the case for prison abolition. Through personal stories and informed insights, the episode suggests that acknowledging each other's humanity could transform the gun debate. It is an appeal for dialogue and support over judgment and punishment.
Chapters:
- 00:00 - Introduction
- 02:41 - Audio drama: Rich & Dave
- 14:05 - Dan and Justin frame the discussion
- 15:30 - Introducing Refujio Rodriguez
- 18:40 - Introducing Bryonn Bain
- 28:11 - Dedication from the real-life Rich
- 31:58 - Thank you's and credits
Guest Bios:
- Refujio "Cuco" Rodriguez is the Chief Strategist & Equity Officer at Hope and Heal Fund. He has served as a Program Officer for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, division chief and ethnic services manager with the Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness, where he established Santa Barbara's first Latino Mental Health Consumer and Family Advocacy Network in order to engage Latino stakeholders.
- Bryonn Bain is a scholar, activist, theater director, actor, writer, producer, and spoken word artist. He uses the arts and activism to build movements for justice, criminal justice reform, prison education, and abolition. As the founding director of the UCLA Prison Education Program, Bain has drawn on his decades of work in prisons to establish opportunities for higher education, the arts, and research in southern California prisons.
Resources:
Dan Froot & Company
Collaborators:
- Producer, Artistic Director, Lead Writer: Dan Froot
- Actors: Justin Alston, Sola Bamis, Natalie Camunas, Krysta Gonzales, Donna Simone Johnson, Anthony Rey, Christopher Rivas
- Dramaturg: Bobby Gordon
- Composer: Julio Montero
- Musicians: Julian Gomez, Tom Moose, Isaac Rodriguez
- Sound Designer: Duncan Woodbury
- Oral Historian: Tula B. Strong
- Administrative Magician: Annie Kahane
- Social Media Manager: Lily Stockton
- Publicist: Lynn Tejada of Green Galactic
- Recorded, mixed, and mastered at ReadyMix Studio in Van Nuys CA.
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This podcast is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, on the web at arts.gov, and is made possible in part by a grant 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, the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, the UCLA Office for Research & Creative Activities and the Chancellor's Council on the Arts. Arms Around America is a National Performance Network Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Miami Light Project in partnership with The Myrna Loy (Helena MT), the UCLA Center for the Art of Performance, and NPN. The Creation & Development Fund is supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). For more information, visit http://www.npnweb.org. Arms Around America was created 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.
