As co-director of The Hinterlands, Liza creates performances that are both highly irrational and deeply American. Along with fellow co-cirector Richard Newman, Liza has created a range of work including psychedelic Wild West shows, drive-in radio theater, shadow puppet magical realism, immersive documentary film, and sub-cultural Vaudeville. Before founding The Hinterlands, Liza worked for four years as the only non-Chinese national studying and performing Sichuanese folk “opera” (chuanju) throughout China. She has adapted the physicality she learned in the discipline to explore American archetypes and urban dance, and brought The Hinterlands to Chengdu and Shanghai in 2011 to collaborate with Chinese artists. Liza co-curates and manages Play House, a Detroit neighborhood-based performance space converted from a formerly vacant two-story house, as well as organizes festivals and events that celebrate the diverse range of cultures and art forms in this strange hinterland called America. Liza has a MFA in ensemble-based physical theater from Dell’Arte International and is a member of the Bangla School of Music.