The Great American Gunshow
The Great American Gunshow is an interview-based project exploring American gun culture, gun violence and trauma, and the tension within our society over the “right of the people to keep and bear Arms.” Created in partnership with numerous host organizations, Gunshow will document, map, archive and reflect our collective experience through a series of theatrical presentations across the country, each imagined as a unique hybrid of a live performance and a participatory town hall event. Gunshow explores the humanity at the heart of the gun debate and invites participants to engage in a more nuanced discussion about guns in America by setting aside political polarization and investigating whether or not we can find common ground.
Created by the ensemble, produced by Team Sunshine Performance
Premiere & National Tour coming Spring 2025
This project will premiere in Philadelphia in Spring 2025, with national engagements to be announced in New Orleans (Mondo Bizarro), Detroit (A Host of People) and Whitesberg, KY (Appalshop/Roadside Theater) in 2025-2026. The Pilot Phase of this project created in collaboration with Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, with work-in-progress showings at Caldwell Consistory (Bloomsberg) and Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia) in August, 2022.
Team
Director/Creator Alex Torra
Lead Artist/Creator/Performer Makoto Hirano
Community Liaison Sarah Branch
Performer/Creator Benjamin Camp
Video Producer Daniel Gatto
Production Manager Kat Larson
Sound Designer Jordan McCree
Stage Manager Avery Roberts
Project Mentor Ping Chong and Company
Design Strategy Partner Mike O’Bryan/Humanature
Host Partners: Asian Arts Initiative, Japan American Society of Greater Philadelphia, Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble (Bloomsburg, PA), Mondo Bizarro (New Orleans), A Host of People (Detroit), and Appalshop/Roadside Theater (Whitesburg KY).
Photos by Willow Springs Photography
Support
THE GREAT AMERICAN GUNSHOW is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble, Asian Arts Initiative, and NPN. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts and a grant from the Network of Ensemble Theaters’ Travel & Exchange Network (NET/TEN).