I had the pleasure of attending a happy hour hosted at La Doña Cerveceria tonight to showcase Trademark Theater’s upcoming world premiere The Hollow. After some visiting and star spotting, time for those inclined to belly up to the bar for samples of La Doña Cerveceria wonderful brews, Jenna Wyse and Joey Ford took up their instruments and began playing. What followed was about an hour of listening to two of the most perfectly matched voices since Simon and Garfunkel. Wyse and Ford, a wife and husband team who have written all of the songs for The Hollow over the past three years, played selections from The Hollow, other original songs, and a beautiful rendition of Bob Dylan’s Girl From the North Country.

I got a chance to visit briefly with Tyler Michaels King, founder and Artistic Director of Trademark Theater, to get a better idea of what to expect when The Hollow later this week. The description on promotional materials describes it as a Concept Album/Contemporary Performance Hybrid. Michaels King described a show that while not telling an explicit story there is a through line or arc of the performers. The show is the collaboration of two couples, Jenna and Joey and Tyler and his wife Emily Michaels King. The musicians and singers will be on stage and performing their songs while Tyler and Emily will be performing a cross between modern dance and performance art to accompany the music.

I cannot speak to the dancing as this was a music only sampling of what was to come. Now a brewery taproom is not the best environment for listening to live music. But even with less than ideal acoustics, noises from brewery operations, and another event occuring at the other end of the bar. Based on what I heard tonight, Tyler and Emily can stand in one place jumping up and down and it will still be worth every penny. Once the Hollow closes one can only hope that Wyse and Ford immediately embark on a tour of small theaters and bars playing their original songs and hey, a few Dylan songs wouldn’t be out of line.

The Hollow Opens this Friday Oct. 4th, with Preview Performances Wednesday and Thursday. It runs through Sunday Oct. 20th at The Tek Box in The Cowles Center. You can purchase tickets from the Trademark Theater website at this link http://www.trademarktheater.org/current-season I will be attending the show Oct 11th, if you are there please stop over and say hi.