Trademark Theater Presents Audioplay of UNDERSTOOD, Featuring Sasha Andreev and Adelin Phelps

Trademark Theater presents the first project of their newly announced digital season: an audio play version of the company's 2018 interpersonal/socio-political drama Understood written by local playwright Tyler Mills. The two-person, four-character play has been updated to reflect the current cultural climate with a special focus on racism and the need to examine the white perspective, as well as the nation's political and social divisiveness. The audio play is directed by Trademark's Artistic Director Tyler Michaels King with sound design by Katharine Horowitz and features performances by Sasha Andreev and Adelin Phelps. The audio play will stream on Trademark's website from October 1st through November 4th, the day after the presidential election. Pay-what-you-choose tickets ($0-$50) are now available on the Trademark Website event page.

TRADEMARK'S 2018 HIT, UPDATED FOR 2020

Trademark's 2018 production of Understood, produced in lead-up to the midterm elections, was reviewed as "thrillingly of the moment" and a play that "points us in the right direction."

The play features a young couple who, realizing they are lost in their marriage, separate from each other and find themselves connecting with people from across the social and political divide. The play touches on a variety of topics including race, religion, abortion, and homophobia, but at the heart of the piece is a story about the struggle of connecting with those we disagree with, whether they are strangers from different backgrounds or loved ones we see every day. The two-person, four-character play contains nearly 50 short scenes separated by lightning-quick transitions and is heightened with moments of magical realism.

Now, two years after the world premiere production, playwright Tyler Mills has reworked the play to reflect the changing political and social landscape. Understood now centers difficult conversations on race and white privilege between four white characters. "There were several elements of the script that I wanted to update but the one that felt most important was bringing the ideas of race and racism into the piece," says Mills. "It is vitally important for white people to be talking to each other about racism so that the full burden of that conversation does not fall on BIPOC shoulders. I hope that these new parts of the play will help demonstrate to our white listeners how crucial those conversations are and encourage all of us who identify as white to talk about anti-racist philosophies and action steps with our friends and family." The re-imagined play allows Trademark to engage in urgent local and national conversations with its audiences through several "post-show" conversations to be held on digital platforms such as Facebook Live and Zoom.

A SHIFT IN FORMAT

Trademark originally intended to remount the updated version of Understood live on stage this Fall. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company quickly shifted to new presentation models for all of their upcoming 2020-2021 projects. Understood's new audio play version will be available to stream on Trademark's website beginning October 1st. The shift in format provides an exciting new direction for the company. States Artistic Director Michaels King, "The audio play setting allows the messages in the play to resonate in an entirely new way through a pair of headphones. It gives us an even deeper intimacy. And, in a broader sense, the format allows Trademark's work to be shared with a greater number of listeners and an ability to shift between a more diverse set of producing models in the future." Listeners will be able stream the audio play directly from the company's webpage, or open the play in any number of mobile podcasting platforms via RSS feed. Trademark hopes to make the play as accessible as possible, to as many people as possible by utilizing several streaming options and Pay-What-You-Choose/no-cost ticketing

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