Horse Trade Presents THE GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA 5/14-5/23

I am I because my little dog knows me...really? In this new adaptation of Stein's humorously dizzying novel The Geographical History of America, Human Group plays with the ways we conceive, contextualize, and perform our identities. Employing dance, music, and digital photography, THE GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA is a communal experience for the Facebook age.

THE GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA will feature Julia Crockett, Phil Gasper, and Lindsey Hope Pearlman with set and lighting design by Jonathan Cottle.

The production, presented by Horse Trade Theater Group and produced by Human Group in association with The Centrifuge, will begin in The KGB Bar and then continue upstairs in The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Ave and Bowery) May 14-23, Thursday through Saturday at 9pm. Tickets ($15) are available by calling Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or online at www.horseTRADE.info

Lindsey Hope Pearlman began her love affair with Gertrude Stein's writing while living in Paris, France in the spring of 2007. The Geographical History of America marks Lindsey's third Stein-based project, after directing and performing Ladies' Voices and Identity: A Poem in the spring of 2008. She is a founding member of Human Group, formed with three fellow Hamilton College graduates. Favorite projects include The Snow White Project presented by FIAF and performing with The Drafts, the Horse Trade Non-Equity Ensemble.

Randi Rivera is a director, designer, stage manager, and technician. She is thrilled to be working on Stein alongside Lindsey once again after designing Ladies' Voices and Identity: A Poem in the spring of 2008. Randi is a founding member of Human Group and a graduate of Hamilton College. Since graduating she has proudly worked with many companies, including Dance Theater Workshop, New York Film Academy, and of course Horse Trade Theater Group.

Gertrude Stein was an American writer known for her role in the experimental arts and letters of Europe in the early part of the 20th century. She traveled in Paris, Vienna and San Francisco as a child, studied philosophy with William James at Radcliffe College and medicine at John Hopkins University. She moved to France in 1904 and found herself in the center of a crowd of artists that included Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and Henri Matisse. Stein's prose is often compared to the abstract paintings of the time, daring and, at times, nearly incomprehensible. Although Stein had been writing plays, prose and poetry for years, she was unknown to most readers until the 1933 publication of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, named after her companion of many years. Her other books include Three Lives, Tender Buttons, The Making of Americans, and The Geographical History of America.

Human Group is an association of emerging actors, directors, designers, musicians, and creative humans of all kinds. Our goal is to create new and experimental works which examine and question the human experience. We collaborate to create an inventive, thought- provoking and fun theatrical experience. We take risks, and value levity. You too can become a member of Human Group.

The Centrifuge is a new, intrepid theater company devoted to sustaining the lush culture of New York City, while at the same time evolving the dynamics of the theater experience and it's process. We are determined to agitate artistic and creative sedimentation in our community, and renovate the theater into a place which brings the most eminent and demanding subject matter to the forefront. Past productions include Fun Design with Svelte (The soloNOVA Arts Festival) Tune Up, Faulty Piston! (Fringe '08, Access Theater Spotlight Series), Poe, Judith, The Forgetting of Things, The Voice of the City, and Fresh Ground Pepper, their monthly development series at UNDER St. Marks.

Horse Trade Theater Group is a self-sustaining theater development group; with a focus on new work, it has produced a massive quantity of stimulating downtown theater. Horse Trade's Resident Artist Program offers a home to a select group of Independent Theater artists, pooling together a great deal of talent and energy. It is also the home of FRIGID New York - the first and only festival of its kind in New York City.

MAY 14-23
OPENING NIGHT MAY 14
PRESS PERFORMANCES MAY 14, 15, & 16