Elizabeth Hess is the writer, director and one of the performers in LOVE TRADE, a new performance that tests the sex games Demeter passes on to her daughter Persephone, who wanders away from the Upper World and meets the exotic Shiva. Elizabeth took a break from preparing for the world premiere of LOVE TRADE to answer our 6 Questions.
I’m a preacher’s kid who subconsciously chose to ‘get rid’ of my virginity with a fellow undergraduate I barely knew who was from Pakistan. I’d been taught that my sexuality (and all women’s’ sexuality) was taboo, so I somehow thought that if I distanced myself from my own culture I could undertake this ‘dark and dirty deed’ and then just walk away. No consequences. No complications. No questions asked. It was an act of great violence against myself, and an equally heartless disregard for my partner, even if his own motives were just as murky. How could they not be? There was no intimacy, no understanding, and no loving parental role models to emulate. Just this acting out of wounded psyches. This barter of bruised souls. This so-called ‘love’ trade.
2. In what ways does LOVE TRADE deal with issues of gender roles and assumptions?
All three characters in LOVE TRADE identify with god/goddess archetypes as a way to feel empowered in a world that writes them off – for being the wrong sex or the wrong race. Not surprisingly they also project fantasies of fulfillment onto each other without any sense of each others’ cultural context. A Western girl thinks an Eastern man is some kind of guru, without even knowing if he’s Hindu or Muslim or whatever. And he in turn thinks she’s hot-to-trot like Madonna, the queen of pop. So he’s shocked to discover (too late) that she’s a virgin, and she’s shocked that he now thinks he owns her after a one-night stand. But, they move passed their limited understanding to a place of greater self-awareness and empathy, whereas the girl’s mother remains as frozen as her botoxed face, trying to live up to the impossible ideal of womanhood in a patriarchal world.
3. Both Greek and Indian myths are inspirations for the piece. What do you think these classic works have to say to us today?
In an increasing global world, we are now free to search for meaning that goes beyond the restrictions of our own cultural baggage. In LOVE TRADE, Persephone (Greek queen of the Underworld) adopts the persona of Kali (Hindu goddess of creation/destruction) because she is not ready to be associated with an icon in her own culture that expresses the uncensored rage she feels about being identified as a ‘vessel of purity’. Shiva (Hindu god of transformation), on the other hand, morphs into Hades (Greek king of the Underworld) as a way of exploring his sorrow, something he feels uncomfortable expressing in a world that celebrates macho posturing. As for Demeter (Greek goddess of fertility) her embodiment of Dhumavati (Hindu goddess of death) allows her to vomit up all the toxic contents of her shadow side.
4. What should audiences expect from LOVE TRADE?
Ah! The audience is invited to go on a journey that leads to the resurrection of the self! It is a celebration of one’s aliveness after breaking through the painful secrets and loveless lies and cultural taboos that keep one from their own truth.
5. Your book, Acting & Being: Explorations in Embodied Performance embodies much of the work you are doing in LOVE TRADE. What have you learned from the creation of this piece?
It’s thrilling to take the unique performance techniques developed in my book and explode them open in the creation of LOVE TRADE. To embody this hybrid approach - which is based on a fusion of Western & Eastern physical theater practices - and witness it take on stunning life in this cross-cultural piece is deeply gratifying. The ensemble is unlocking rich, resonant impulses and taking huge imaginative leaps as they explore their characters’ journeys while also illuminating the inner contents of their own stories.
6. What does working at La MaMa mean to you?
My very first acting gig was at La MaMa almost 40 years ago! I played a heroin addict in Love and Junk and researched my role by observing outpatients at Bellevue’s methadone clinic. That was a time when the Lower East Side was writhing with tormented souls and aspiring artists – all of us searching for some kind of transformation. And transformation is something that’s still very central to my work today. So I am thrilled to return to the very theater that gave me my start and now share my own voice and vision - which itself was sparked way back when I saw Tadeusz Kantor’s play Wielopole, Wielopole at La MaMa and staying up all night to write my first play!
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La MaMa presents
LOVE TRADE
By The Hess Collective
Written & Directed by Elizabeth Hess
A love tangle. A lonely girl. Lost god. One angry mother.
March 29 - April 8, 2018
Thursday - Saturday at 7pm; Sunday at 2pm
The Downstairs @ La MaMa
66 East 4th Street
(between Bowery and Second Avenue)
New York, NY 10003
Tickets: $25 Adults; $20 Students/Seniors; the first ten tickets for every performance may be purchased for $10 each, advance sales only - first come, first served.
For Tickets and Info: CLICK HERE
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