Trademark Theater Hosts One Night Only Live Concert Event, THE HOLLOW

A live concert experience isn't the conventional path to creating a theater production, but Trademark Theater isn't interested in being a traditional theater company. That's why they're presenting The Hollow, a concert event to be held on September 13th at Hook and Ladder in Minneapolis' Longfellow neighborhood.

This one-night-only concert showcases a "concept album" created by local musicians Jenna Wyse and Joey Ford, members of bands Tree Party, The Poor Nobodys, and the recently formed duo Coy & Daring. It's the next step in the development of The Hollow, a brand new performance experience blending live music, theater and dance. Inspired by Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Hollow marks Trademark's newest commission by local artists and seeks to challenge the boundaries of traditional theater performance. The concert will begin at 8:00pm and will open with local band Val Son.

Unencumbered by script or narrative, the performance offers up fragments of haunting imagery through music played by a live folk-rock band. The music focuses on the mystical setting of Sleepy Hollow and the eerie themes present in the novella while bringing the classic ghost tale into a contemporary setting. "We are attempting something new by putting the music at the forefront of our project, rather than story or narrative," Says Emily Michaels King, one of the collaborators on The Hollow. "In the end we are looking for something more fractured and abstract, and ultimately more thrilling than what a musical theater structure has to offer. We want it to be strange, we want it to be chilling, and we want it to rock."

Tyler Michaels, Artistic Director of Trademark Theater and the fourth collaborator on The Hollow, shares more about the project's direction: "We are much more interested in the intersection of a live concert experience and a traditional theater performance. Musical Theater has move so far away from what contemporary music now offers. How can we bring those worlds back together? In our eventual full production, we will do this by combining Jenna and Joey's concept album together with movement and theatrical imagery to create an even richer, more modern experience for our audience."

Attendees of the event are encouraged to stay after the concert to share their thoughts on the music with the creators. "Trademark is committed to long development processes to give artists the time and resources to make better, more powerful works of theater," Says Tyler Mills, Artistic Associate of Trademark Theater. "By crafting presentations like this, we are including our audiences in the creative process. We find it extremely important to get our patrons' reactions to our projects as they continue to evolve. It's also an opportunity for new audiences to engage with something that has a bit more risk and edge."

$18 tickets are on sale now through Hook and Ladder (http://thehookmpls.com/event/the-hollow/). More information about The Hollow and the rest of Trademark's Season is available at www.trademarktheater.org.