Team Pang!
Dan Froot (producer, artistic director, performer) is a producer, writer, composer, monologist, dancer and saxophonist. He received a Bessie Award for his music/theater work Seventeen Kilos of Garlic, and a City of Los Angeles Individual Artist (COLA) Fellowship and National Foundation for Jewish Culture playwriting fellowship for his gangster-vaudeville, Shlammer. Dan’s music concerts, theater pieces, and performance events have been presented by leading art centers across the U.S., and in Europe, Africa and South America. He has composed numerous scores for dance and theater companies, has created an ongoing series of collaborative interdisciplinary duets with choreographer David Dorfman, and has danced, acted and played music nationally and internationally with the likes of Victoria Marks, Ralph Lemon, Yoshiko Chuma & The School of Hard Knocks, Mabou Mines, David Cale, Ping Chong & Co., and Dan Hurlin. Dan teaches at UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. danfroot.com
Ari Andersen (producer) is the host of Millennials Don’t Suck podcast and Life Rites podcast, as well as the founder of podcast network and production company Curious Audio. His podcasts have reached the top 100 rankings on iTunes and have been featured in the New York Times, VICE, Business Insider, and many other print and digital publications. He produces any kind of podcast you can think of.
Natalie Camunas (actor) is a native Los Angeleno, USC graduate, queer second-generation Latinx actor, playwright, and voice-over artist. Natalie works regionally in theatres across the country, favorites include Mother Road at Arena Stage in Washington D.C., Native Gardens at the Cleveland Playhouse and 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. Recent TV credits: Goliath opposite Billy Bob Thornton on AMAZON & Speechless on ABC. As a voice over artist, you can hear Natalie’s voice in promo spots for Fox’s 911 and in the New York Times recommended podcast PANG! (@pangpodcast) available on iTunes. As a playwright, Natalie’s plays have been produced in Los Angeles, New York, and Ireland. nataliecamunas.com
Cristina Fernandez (actor) is a sassy Puerto Rican/Cuban actor and storyteller. She has worked alongside Conan O’Brien, Christopher Guest & James Franco. Recent work: Powerless, with Vanessa Hudgens (NBC), Last Night Tonight With John Oliver (HBO), A Streetcar Named Desire, (Los Angeles) and numerous national commercials. Even more recent work: catch her talking about being a first-time mom/long-time baby at open mics or anywhere there’s a microphone. She is tickled to join the cast of Pang! in Miami. Namaste to Dan, Donna, Natalie, Chris & Crew. So much love to my baby Lulu & husband. cristinafernandez.net
Christopher Rivas (actor) is a Rothschild Social Impact fellow, a two-time Moth winner, published writer (NYT’s, Swipelife), actor (GLOW, Grey's Anatomy, SEAL Team, Shameless, Rizzoli & Isles, 2 Broke Girls, Rosewood), social activist, teacher, and speaker. His mission is to create and share powerful stories that disrupt, move us forward, blend boundaries, and encourage dialogue. He's developed storytelling workshops for The WWE, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, Safe Place for Youth, LAMP on Skid Row, and The Museum of Broken Relationships to name a few. Rivas is also currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Expressive Arts for Global Health & Peace Building from The European Graduate School. christopherrivas.com @Christopher__rivas
Donna Simone Johnson (actor) is a LA Native, actress, choreographer and liberator. Deeply rooted in arts leadership and activism, she is the Co-Founder of Hardcorps (an arts organization providing training to under-resourced artists) and leads various community organizing activations, including work with the LA Poverty Department, Watts Village Theater Company, We Charge Genocide, Calling Up Justice and Equity and Diversity Initiatives for Center Theater Group. An LA Native, she attended New York University, where she earned her MA in Dance Education and CalArts, where she received her MFA in Acting. Since then, she has enjoyed a vibrant career working in commercials, voiceover, on screen and international stages. She is a series regular on Y'all Family, premiering this fall and a Company Member in Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2020 Season, playing Somerset in the Henry VI adaptation, "Bring Down The House, (Parts 1 & 2)." TV/Film credits include: The Inspectors, Agent X, and Dreamland and NETFLIX's animated Super Drags (recurring). She won the NAACP Award for Best Lead Actress for her work in Broken Fences at The Road Theatre and has worked regionally at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Pantages, Portland Center Stage, Virginia Stage, Playwrights Arena, African American Shakespeare, Co. The Broad, The Royal George and Off-Broadway's Union Square NYC to name a few. International credits and tours include CITIZENSHIP in Kampala, Uganda, Echoes of a Thousand Hills (alongside Mashrika and Center for New Performance, Kigali, Rwanda), and with the award-winning CLOUD 9 (RITu, Liege, Belgium). At a time where the power of the collective is being alchemized into tangible change and liberation, Donna is more energized than ever to continue the work with Dan Froot and Co towards empathy, change and harnessing the power of the collective. @dsimonejo across all platforms for joy and activism alike!
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. roberteen.com
Bobby Gordon (Dramaturge - staged adaptation) is a professional poet, dramaturge, and performer working at the intersection of sexual health and social justice. Gordon has taken stages across the United States, Brazil and Southern Africa where he was a 2016 Drama For Life Artist in Residence at the University of the Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa. Gordon is a founding member of the Melrose Poetry Bureau, the Assistant Director of UCLA’s Art and Global Health Center, and the co-founder of the UCLA Sex Squad, an arts-based sex education theater troupe that tours Los Angeles high schools performing for/with students.
Oral Historians: Luis Tentindo, Dan Froot (Los Angeles); Courtney Ball (Cedar Rapids); Monica McGivern (Miami)