Dear Friends,
Here we are. Season Eight! I’m so glad we’ve made it. This 24/25 season might be my favorite yet. It’s packed to the brim with humor and heart—two things I find myself desperately yearning for lately. I suspect a lot of you are too.
Each of TRADEMARK’s projects this year is meant to welcome you in, let you kick back, have a few chuckles (or a whole lot of them!), and be moved by vivid and heartfelt characters. This realm is a sweet spot of mine artistically. As such, I’m thrilled to be directing all of the projects this year as we take you on a joke-filled, heart-centered ride.
I hope you’ll join us for our first solo world premiere since 2019 this fall, and I hope to see you many more times throughout the season. Here is to another successful year of new works!
TYLER MICHAELS KING
Artistic Director and Founder
THE REUNION: A HILARIOUS NEW MURDER MYSTERY
created by Tyler Michaels King and Tyler Mills
World Premiere Production
September 19 - October 12, 2024
@ Gremlin Theatre
A group of old high school friends gathers for a murder mystery party game night. Costumes, drinks, and one hell of a story are making for a fun evening. But once the game gets going, the host is mysteriously murdered. Like, actually murdered. Is it all part of some elaborate, nefarious crime? Or is it some bizarre accident? Did someone spike the punch? Is the gun even real? Why does the blood taste like chocolate?! Most importantly, who’s out to get who? As relationships fray and secrets are revealed, the group must keep playing to figure out the mystery behind the mystery.
CUTTING ROOM FLOOR VOL. II
Second Annual Cabaret and Fundraiser
One Night Only
January 17, 2025
@ Luminary Arts Center
Ten Percent. Roommates. We'll Have Tomorrow. These incredible songs were cut from Broadway hits like Chicago, Cabaret, and Little Shop of Horrors before their opening nights, forever left on the rehearsal room floor. In “Volume II,” TRADEMARKTHEATER will continue the tradition of presenting fabulous and epic “cut” songs in its second-annual Cabaret + Fundraiser.
Directed and curated by Artistic Director and Founder Tyler Michaels King and featuring a stunning cast of favorite Twin Cities musical theater performers. Join us for this stunning, one-night-only event full of sweeping ballads and incredible showstoppers, all to support our new works mission.
THE OSTENTATIOUS OUTLAWS OF NEEHAI VALLEY
Book, music, and lyrics Keith Hovis
Directed by Tyler Michaels King
Workshop and Staged Reading
February 10, 2025
@ TBD
Set in a Wild West from some alternative reality, Ostentatious Outlaws of Neehai Valley is an absurd satire of the ever-present friction between religion and queerness. In a quiet, rural town, residents follow the teachings of a literal bush. When an outsider arrives, their world is thrown into disarray after the stranger's magical culottes start sparking awakenings that will change them forever. Cue existential breakdowns and evil squirrels all leading to an epic standoff between a bush and pants. So, basically, it's as if Urinetown, Little Shop of Horrors, Kinky Boots, Aliens, and church had a fivesome. Welcome to Neehai Valley.
WHAT YOU CAN’T KEEP: A THREE PART FILM
By Harrison David Rivers
Directed by Tyler Michaels King
Special Presentation
June 2025
@ TBD
The emotional conclusion of an intimate, art-stricken love story. WHAT YOU CAN'T KEEP: A THREE PART FILM dances through memories of past loves and misdeeds while finding hope for the future. Blending storytelling, film, and theater, WYCK is a “meet cute meets art house” feature length film that explores the inner thoughts of Lizzy and Lucas as their relationship collides with art, intimacy, and love. A long-term, multi-year, multi-part project for Trademark, each part was filmed two years apart, depicting the growth of both the characters in the film and the artists who have brought them to life.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Commissions and Development
So much happens behind the scenes at Trademark. Each of these adventurous new works has been granted resources and critical artistic support in Trademark’s eighth season. Stay tuned for future updates and special showcases of these new works.
THE MEASURES - Book by Kira Obolensky, Music and Lyrics by David Darrow
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY - Conceived and Adapted by Tyler Michaels King
WORKSHIFT - by Tyler Mills
THE FOX SISTER AND OTHER GUILTY PARTIES - By Eric Sharp