The Hess Collective's World Premiere Of LOVE TRADE Opens March 29 at La MaMa

La MaMa, in association with The Hess Collective, presents the world premiere of LOVE TRADE, a performance piece written and directed by Elizabeth Hess, and performed by Hess, Katie Palmer, and Lucas Syed. Sound designer/composer Lucas Tahiruzzaman Syed. Movement consultant: Gina Stevensen. Creative Producer/Managing Director: Jenny Waxman.

LOVE TRADE is an exploration of gender and cultural assumptions in upheaval. The piece uncovers a love tangle between the Western goddess Demeter - frozen in eternal springtime - and Persephone - her restless daughter - who wanders away from the Upper World. Somewhere in 'no-man's land' she meets her soul mate who she takes to be the Eastern god, Shiva - intense and mysterious - and is immediately attracted to his exotic 'otherness.' All three undergo clashing cultural and gender expectations; two emerge transformed.

LOVE TRADE is a timely arrival at a cultural moment in which the momentum of the #metoo movement continues to spark dialogue and open doors to new ways of being in the world.

Hess delves into the dark side of the mother archetype as Demeter in LOVE TRADE, the flip side to her portrayal of the perfect mother on Nickelodeon's Clarissa Explains it All.

"The fact that the title of the play resonates with the term 'Sex Trade' is not an accident," says creator Elizabeth Hess. "Women have so often been expected to sell themselves as a product-and whether or not you sell it as sex or dress it up as love-it is still a trade, and not a loving exchange. Women are reacting against this more and more personally and publicly." Hess continues "There is often devastating competition between mothers and daughters around these impossible projections and idealizations, and the play really examines that."

POST-SHOW TALK-BACKS:

Friday, March 30 Approaches to Embodied Performance

Writer and dramaturg Martha Steketee will lead a discussion with performer/playwright Elizabeth Hess and award-winning filmmaker/theatre-maker Erica Fae.

Friday, April 6 Re-imagining Myths in a Multi-cultural World

Moderated by Saviana Stanescu, award-winning playwright; ARTivist; founder of Immigrant Artists and Scholars in New York. With featured panelists:

Marvin Carlson, Sidney E, Cohn Distinguished Professor of Theatre and Performance, Comparative Literature and Middle Eastern Studies, The Graduate Center, CUNY;

Orietta Crispino, Performer; Playwright; Artistic Director of Theaterlab;

David Diamond, Coordinator, La MaMa Umbria International; Core Member, Theatre Without Borders;

Caridad Svich, OBIE Award-winning playwright; Founder of No Passport Theatre Alliance and Press.

For tickets, go to: lamama.org/tickets or call OvationTix customer service: 212-352-3101

For more information on The Hess Collective, visit thehesscollective.com, Like on Facebook.com/TheHessCollective, and follow on Instagram at @thehesscollective. For more information on La MaMa visit www.lamama.org, Like them on Facebook at Facebook.com/LaMaMaNYC, and follow on Twitter and Instagram at @LaMaMaETC.

Ms. Hess arises as a vibrantly sexual, magnificent woman...The play is about transformation and Ms. Hess' realization of it is astonishing... The woman gazing out at the audience as the lights go down is so stunning you need a moment to remember she was there all the time. (BIRTH RITE) -The New York Times

Elizabeth Hess has appeared on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regional theater, and her
acclaimed solo work has been performed around the globe: SPOILED, at SUNY Conference on Masculinities and Stage Left Studio in New York; DUST TO DUST in Bucharest, Kiel, Stockholm, Prishtina, New York, and the UN Conference on Gender Violence; LIVING OPENLY & NOTORIOUSLY: BIRTH RITE, DESCENT, AT/ONE (a solo trilogy) in Berlin, Bath, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Toronto, Yerevan, and Off-Broadway.

Internationally, Hess is the recipient of the ITI Armmono Festival Director's Award; ITI Thespis Mono Festival Organizers and Audience Awards. She was an ACULSPEC (American Cultural Specialist) in Yerevan, Armenia where she taught master classes in playwriting and performance; participated in the ITI / UNESCO Conference (Philippines); on the jury of the ITI Thespis Mono Festival (Kiel, Germany) and Saint Muse Festival (Ulan Bator, Mongolia) and conducted a playwriting / acting workshop in Prishtina, Kosovo, resulting in the devised work, INTERNALLY DISPLACED.

Hess is the author of ACTING & BEING: Explorations in Embodied Experience (Macmillan, 2017). The book is based on Hess' methodology culled from teaching acting/playwriting primarily at New York University, and international master classes and workshops. "[ACTING & BEING] is what every actor needs to navigate the unknown and 'play dangerously'. It offers a clear and comprehensive guide for unlocking barriers and unleashing creative potential." - Jeff Janisheski, Head of Acting, National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

Founded by Elizabeth Hess in 2016, The Hess Collective generates new work based on a hybrid approach to embodied performance. The work addresses issues of social and global urgency through heightened realism, cross-cultural collaboration, and inter-disciplinary creation. Artistic Director Elizabeth Hess. Managing Director Jennifer Waxman. Producing consultant Rebecca Sheahan. Press intern Madison Renee Willard.

La MaMa is dedicated to the artist and all aspects of the theatre. The organization has a worldwide reputation for producing daring performance works that defy form and transcend barriers of ethnic and cultural identity. Founded in 1961 by award-winning theatre pioneer Ellen Stewart, La MaMa has presented more than 5,000 productions by 150,000 artists from more than 70 nations. A recipient of more than 30 Obie Awards and dozens of Drama Desk, Bessie, and Villager Awards, La MaMa has helped launch the careers of countless artists, many of whom have made important contributions to American and international arts milieus.

La MaMa's 56th season highlights artists of different generations, gender identities, and cultural backgrounds, who question social mores and confront stereotypes, corruption, bigotry, racism, and xenophobia in their work. Our stages embrace diversity in every form and present artists that persevere with bold self-expression despite social, economic, and political struggle and the 56th season reflects the urgency of reaffirming human interconnectedness.