Name: Concert within a play ‘Love Bomb’ sparks conversation about sex trafficking
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Concert within a play ‘Love Bomb’ sparks conversation about sex trafficking

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Skip to contentHomeEntertainmentEvening show Oct. 14 and matinee Oct. 15 at North Delta Centre for the Arts to close national tourJames SmithA play that blends a rock concert with a tense mystery about sex trafficking in B.C. is coming to North Delta for two shows next week.Love Bomb, an award-winning original drama from Vancouver-based Shameless Hussy Productions, tells the story of Lillian, a mother searching for her missing daughter, and up-and-coming singer/songwriter Justine, whose music may hold the answers Lillian is looking for.The play is set at a bar in Prince George, where Justine is booked to perform. Lillian, convinced that a song of Justine’s she heard on YouTube contains her daughter’s words, tracks the singer down and forces her to perform the rest of her set, determined to learn the truth.“Through the music, through the lyrics, you learn what happened to her daughter,” director Reneé Iaci told the Reporter in a recent phone interview.Love Bomb stars Vancouver actor Daune Campbell (Shameless Hussy’s co-artistic director and managing producer at Axis Theatre) as Lillian and recent addition Melissa Kahan as Justine.“This is her first tour with us and she’s knocking it out of the park,” Iaci said. “It is a very hard role to take on — she has to play live, 10 songs on guitar, and sing and of course act.”The production has been touring the country since Sept. 6, playing shows across B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, and will close out its current run with a pair of shows at the North Delta Centre for the Arts (11425 84th Ave.): an evening performance on Saturday, Oct. 14, and a matinee on Sunday, Oct. 15.“Everything has got to fit in the van — two actors, a technician and our entire set,” Iaci said. “[When it’s over] they’ll have gone 10,700 kilometres cross country in a van, and it’s something we do usually two times a year.”A Delta resident and co-artistic director at Shameless Hussy, Iaci has been involved with the play since day one, taking part in its creation nine years ago alongside writer Meghan Gardiner and composer Steve Charles.SEE ALSO: Delta actors share their mothers’ life stories in new showLove Bomb delves into the sex trafficking industry in Canada, based partially on the case of Reza Moazami, who in 2014 became the first person in B.C. to be found guilty of human trafficking and was sentenced to 23 years in prison. His 11 victims ranged in age from 14 to 19 years old.“We met with the Crown counsel, we met with the lead investigator, we read the 11 testimonies of the girls — we used a lot of facts from that case,” Iaci said. “Nothing is verbatim in terms of the victims, the story is fictitious, but it’s based on a lot of those facts.”But the genesis of the play was an experience Iaci had 20-odd years ago, when a student she was directing in a production at Vancouver’s Templeton Secondary School was being “love bombed” — a tactic used by pimps and gang members to control their victims with gifts, attention and affection.“I didn’t know this [at the time], but (…) this guy who was posing as her boyfriend and was buying her all sorts of gifts and showering her with love and attention, he was grooming her for the sex trade,” Iaci said.The girl ran away for a period of time before returning to take part in the show, then disappeared again at the end of the school year.“In September she came back and wanted to just take theatre in school, but of course that’s not allowed. Then she was gone, that was it.“That haunted me because it happened right under my nose and I didn’t know. I didn’t recognize what was going on until afterwards. That’s where the seed [for Love Bomb] started from.”Iaci said a colleague ran into the girl at a grocery store around five years ago and learned she now had a family and was doing well, but noted not all such stories have a happy ending.Since debuting at Vancouver’s Firehall Art Centre in 2015, Love Bomb has toured extensively, often with the support of local police and service providers who recognize the show’s value as a way to educate people about sex trafficking.Next week’s performances in North Delta will be followed by 15-20 minute “talk back” sessions where the cast and members of the Delta Police Department will answer audience questions. Representatives from Deltassist will also be on hand to offer support to those who need it, but will not be taking part in the sessions as such.Despite the heavy subject matter, Iaci wants audiences to know that the show is more than just educational.“We dispel a lot of myths in the show, but it is an entertaining piece of theatre,” Iaci said.“I hope people know that it’s a fun night out, too. It is like a concert. (…) It’s not just a lecture, that’s for sure.”Tickets to the Oct. 14 evening performance are $30 for adults/$25 for students and seniors, while Oct. 15 matinee tickets are $25 adults/$20 for students and seniors. Tickets to both shows are available through eventbrite.ca.— with files from Tom Zillich and Ashley Wadhwani, Black Press MediaSEE ALSO: Barney Bentall &amp; The Cariboo Express playing charity show in DeltaJames Smith is the founding editor of the North Delta Reporter.Dialogue and debate are integral to a free society and we welcome and encourage you to share your views on the issues of the day. We ask that you be respectful of others and their points of view, refrain from personal attacks and stay on topic. To learn about our commenting policies and how our community-based moderation works, please read our&nbsp;Community Guidelines.More from Today in B.C. &gt;

Skip to contentHomeEntertainmentEvening show Oct. 14 and matinee Oct. 15 at North Delta Centre for the Arts to close national tourJames SmithA play that blends a rock concert with a tense mystery about sex trafficking in B.C. is coming to North Delta for two shows next week.Love Bomb, an award-winning original drama from Vancouver-based Shameless Hussy Productions, tells the story of Lillian, a mother searching for her missing daughter, and up-and-coming singer/songwriter Justine, whose music may hold the answers Lillian is looking for.The play is set at a bar in Prince George, where...

Concert within a play ‘Love Bomb’ sparks conversation about sex trafficking

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