Actress Dee Freeman will have a month-long run of her play “Poison Gun” the story of an event in her Louisiana childhood at the Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles in April 2025. The show will run for 4 weekends, with 8PM shows on Saturday and 3PM shows on Sunday.
The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights movement when white supremacy, cross burnings and lynching were a way of life for poor black people living in the South. Juliette Jeffers will direct. Videographer-Editor Peter Hermes will provide film that will enhance the story for the production.
Freeman's granddaddy was a farmer and a bootlegger, a very successful bootlegger. He was so successful he branched out and became the local loan shark when someone needed money. Two things about her granddaddy everybody knew. He was legally blind, and he didn't trust banks. So, her granddaddy hid all of his money in coffee cans and buried them around his farm. Freeman knew because she helped him. She was his eyes and his accountant. To this day, she knows where each coffee can was buried and exactly how much was inside.
When both of her grandparents were murdered and their house was burned to the ground to cover it up, it set a series of events in motion that changed Freeman's life forever. For many, the answer to who killed her grandparents is still a mystery to this day.
Told through Freeman's naïve, young eyes, “Poison Gun” is the story of her grandparents' murder, the investigation, the cat and mouse game she had to play with a corrupt white police officer who was interested in finding her granddaddy's hidden money, and the conviction that followed.
When asked about the show Freeman says “I am going to provide a glorious evening of entertainment to audiences that will keep them on the edge of their seats while they try to guess who's behind the double murder that changed my world.”
Dee Freeman was born in Louisiana and raised in Los Angeles, CA. After high school she entered the United States Marine Corps on a dare and left six years later as a Sergeant. She then lived in Japan where she worked for an all-Japanese radio station, FM Aomori, as a disc jockey. She has been a working actress for more than two decades in theater, television, and movies, and has performed in over 40 stage productions beginning with "Shear Madness" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She has won numerous awards including a 2013 ISA award for Best Supporting Actress. Freeman was also nominated twice for the NAACP Image award, first for "Homegirl" at the Court Theater in Los Angeles, CA, and then for "The Last Street Play" at the Colsac Theater in Los Angeles, CA.
Juliette Jeffers is an award winning Caribbean American actor, playwright, producer, solo show coach and director. On screen, she has appeared in 22 films, 42 television shows, and over 65 national commercials. You can currently see her in a recurring role on “Tulsa King” starring Sylvester Stallone, and stay tuned for her upcoming recurring role in Shondaland's “The Residence” on Netflix.
Jeffers has produced several theatre productions in NY and LA. She has written five solo plays and has performed them throughout the US and the Caribbean. As a coach, she has helped develop and/or directed over 80 solo shows.
Peter Hermes has been a Producer, Director, and Cinematographer for over 20 years. He has worked on large-scale productions for companies such as Disney and Warner Bros as well as independently produced feature films and documentaries and advertising. Hermes and Freeman have worked together over the past 12 years on projects ranging from web series to narrative films to live theater.
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