The Tank (theater)
The Tank is a nonprofit off-off-Broadway performance venue and producer in Manhattan, New York. The organization was founded in May 2003 by a group of young artists and has since moved several times, residing on 36th Street as of 2017[update]. The Tank presents art across several disciplines (comedy, dance, theater, music, film), produced at no fee for use of the venue to the presenting artists.
The Tank's logo | |
The Tank's entrance (left), 2018 | |
Address | 312 West 36th Street, Manhattan, New York[1] |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°45′13″N 73°59′36″W / 40.753530°N 73.993261°W |
Type | Off-off-Broadway |
Genre(s) | Dance, theater, music, film, comedy |
Opened | May 2003 |
Website | |
thetanknyc |
The Tank houses two performance spaces (a 56-seat black box and a 98-seat proscenium) and five rehearsal studios. Beyond presenting work at its resident home in Manhattan, the theater has also produced shows performed elsewhere throughout New York City, collectively presenting over 1,000 performances each year. Between 2016 and 2018, five of the theater's shows were nominated for a total of six Drama Desk Awards and in 2020, the theater itself received an Obie Award for its work supporting emerging artists.
History Edit
The Tank was founded in May 2003 in Manhattan, New York, by eight artists, all recent college graduates in their mid-20s.[2][3][4] Its founders, mostly graduates of Yale University, Oberlin College, and Harvard University, included playwright Amy Herzog, playwright and director Alex Timbers, Justin Krebs, Rachel Levy, Mike Rosenthal, and Randy Bell, who collectively expressed the goal of offering young artists across disciplines the space to create work in the center of New York City.[2][3][4][5][6]
The organization was first housed on 42nd Street between Ninth and Tenth Avenues.[4] It leased the space on a month-to-month basis from a landlord who intended to sell the building in which the theater was housed.[4] Presenting "an obscure but growing lineup of indie bands, underground films, and performances ranging from comedy to puppetry", within 10 months, the company had repaid their startup loans.[4][7] The theater derived its name from the architecture of its first space: three large windows overlooking 42nd Street led to someone calling the space "the Fishtank"; later the "Fish" was dropped in favor of the shortened "the Tank".[3][4]
By 2006, the company had moved twice and by 2007, it had won an unsolicited grant of $10,000 from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and was receiving money from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.[3] The Tank's third location, into which it moved in 2006, was on Church Street in the Tribeca neighborhood, where the organization shared space with Collective:Unconscious as late as 2008.[2][3][8] By 2010, the Tank had returned to Manhattan's midtown Theater District, occupying the Davenport Theatre on 45th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues.[2][9]
The Tank had moved to the Playroom Theater on 46th Street by 2013, where it resided until 2017.[5][10][11] That year, the company signed a ten-year, $18,000/month lease on and moved to a two-stage venue on 36th Street, the former home of Abingdon Theatre Company, with one 56-seat black box theater and one 98-seat proscenium theater.[12][13][14][15] The Chain Theater, Workshop Theater, and the Barrow Group also resided in the same building as the Tank at the time of its arrival.[15] The Tank's move coincided with the relocations of several other New York City theaters in mid-2017, including the Flea Theater and the Chocolate Factory.[14]
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tank laid off most of its staff and suspended programming beginning March 13, canceling over 273 performances for an estimated loss of at least $50,000.[16][17][18][19] The theater went into arrears on its rent for two months before beginning to repay its landlord.[20] While the space was closed, the theater launched a digital arts livestream called CyberTank.[21][22] By July 2021, the theater was again presenting live in-person programming as well as site-specific and outdoor works.[23][24] The opened a rehearsal space, The Attic, on the sixth floor of its 36th Street building in 2022.[25]
As of 2022, The Tank's artistic director is Meghan Finn. The theater's director of artistic development is Johnny G. Lloyd and its managing producer is Molly FitzMaurice.[26][27]
Operations Edit
Categorized as an off-off-Broadway venue, the Tank presents more than 1,000 performances each year across several disciplines, including dance, music, theater, comedy, and film.[2][3][28][29] Artists do not pay to use the venue and are paid a portion of the ticket sales, a practice made sustainable by surplus value generated by better-selling shows.[2] The Tank also provides free rehearsal space at its five Attic rehearsal studios for productions.[30] As a nonprofit producer, the organization relies heavily on volunteers.[2][31] Most days, the Tank runs multiple shows in a single night.[2] The theater reported serving over 36,000 patrons, working with 2,500 artists, and operating on an $815,000 budget annually in 2020.[30][32]
In addition to presenting shows at its 36th Street location, artists have also produced pieces with the Tank at other venues in New York City, such as the 3LD Art and Technology Center in Lower Manhattan and Standard ToyKraft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.[31][33] The theater runs several festivals each summer, including LimeFest,[a] PrideFest, TrashFest, and DarkFest, the latter of which requires performers to create shows using no stage lighting.[32][35][36]
Reception Edit
The Village Voice listed the Tank in its Best of NYC poll in 2004, describing the theater as the city's "Best Broadway theater turned hipster hangout".[7] In 2020, Time Out New York described the Tank as "one of NYC's premiere incubators of emerging talent".[37]
A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, which premiered at the Tank in 2003, received an Obie Award special citation in 2004.[38] In 2007, Lucy Alibar's Juicy and Delicious, which would later be adapted into the film Beasts of the Southern Wild, had its world premiere at the Tank.[39] Alibar's screenplay would go on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.[40] The Tank has received six Drama Desk Award nominations. Two shows, ADA/AVA and YOUARENOWHERE, were nominated in 2016, and another two, the ephemera trilogy and The Paper Hat Game, were nominated in 2017, all in the category of Unique Theatrical Experience.[41][42] In 2018, Sinking Ship Productions' A Hunger Artist received two nominations: Outstanding Solo Performance and Outstanding Puppet Design.[43] The Tank received an Obie Award in 2020 for its work supporting emerging artists.[44]
Notes Edit
References Edit
- ^ Burns, Meredith (November 2019). "Fear Becomes Exhilaration: BrandoCapote". The Brooklyn Rail. from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hodges, Mary Love (February 3, 2010). . The Brooklyn Rail. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Lambert, Craig (March–April 2007). . Harvard Magazine. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f Eichna, Charlotte (June 17, 2004). "Downtown Edge in Midtown Venue". West Side Spirit. p. 26.
- ^ a b . Theatre Is Easy. June 2013. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
- ^ Pinto, Nick (February 2008). . The Tribeca Trib. p. 43. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
- ^ a b Cole, Lori (October 6–12, 2004). . The Village Voice. p. 88. Archived from the original on October 27, 2004. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
- ^ Williams, James R., ed. (2007). Inside New York 2008. New York City: Inside New York. p. 158. ISBN 978-1892768407.
- ^ La Rocco, Claudia (April 5, 2011). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
- ^ Gans, Andrew (July 21, 2020). "Off-Broadway's Playroom Theater Has Closed Permanently". Playbill. from the original on November 16, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2021.
- ^ Heins, Scott (January 16, 2017). . Gothamist. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
- ^ Fujishima, Kenji (August 25, 2017). . TheaterMania. Archived from the original on August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
- ^ Clement, Olivia (August 31, 2017). . Playbill. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
- ^ a b Felton-Dansky, Miriam (September 12, 2017). . The Village Voice. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
- ^ a b Stiffler, Scott (September 4, 2019). . AM New York. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
- ^ Snook, Raven (March 13, 2020). . Theatre Development Fund. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- ^ Shaw, Helen (March 13, 2020). . Vulture. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
- ^ Dilella, Frank (March 20, 2020). . NY1. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
- ^ Cote, David (May 25, 2020). "What's Ahead for Off-Off Broadway: The Most Vulnerable but Vital Spaces for Theater?". Observer. from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
- ^ Larsen, Keith (June 4, 2021). "Pulling rabbits out of a hat: How NYC theaters survived Covid — or didn't". The Real Deal. from the original on June 4, 2021. Retrieved June 4, 2021.
- ^ Stigler, Britt (March 18, 2020). . All Arts. WNET. Archived from the original on March 18, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
- ^ Pastorino, Gloria (2020). "Going Dark: Theater in the Time of Covid-19". In Burini, Federica (ed.). Tourism Facing a Pandemic: From Crisis to Recovery. Università degli Studi di Bergamo. pp. 261–271. ISBN 978-88-97253-04-4.
- ^ Gans, Andrew (July 2, 2021). "The Tank's Summer Season Includes Audio-Visual Experience Samuel and Site-Specific Botte di Ferro". Playbill. from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
- ^ Harms, Talaura (July 20, 2021). "The Tank NYC Announces Lineups for TrashFest and DarkFest". Playbill. from the original on July 21, 2021. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Chloe (November 8, 2022). "The Tank Announces New Affordable Rehearsal Rental Space The Attic". BroadwayWorld. from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
- ^ Meyer, Dan (July 28, 2020). "Industry Roundup: New Hires at The Tank, Echo Theater Company, Milwaukee Rep, More". Playbill. from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Chloe (April 5, 2022). "The Tank Announces Casts and Dates For In Scena! Italian Theater Festival NY". BroadwayWorld. from the original on July 9, 2022. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
- ^ Seymour, Lee (April 28, 2020). . Forbes. Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
- ^ (PDF). New York Innovative Theatre Awards. New York Innovative Theatre Foundation. December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 16, 2015. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
- ^ a b "The Tank Opens Affordable New NYC Rehearsal Space". American Theatre. November 8, 2022. from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
- ^ a b Roberts, Shoshana (November 15, 2016). . Theatre Is Easy. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
- ^ a b Brunner, Jeryl (June 30, 2020). "For 17 Years This Nonprofit Theater Company Has Helped Launch Careers Of Oscar And Pulitzer Prize Nominees". Forbes. from the original on June 30, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
- ^ Brantley, Ben (June 26, 2016). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 22, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
- ^ Rabinowitz, Chloe (August 7, 2020). "The Tank Announces Programming for LimeFest 2020". BroadwayWorld. from the original on August 16, 2020. Retrieved July 23, 2021.
- ^ Vincentelli, Elisabeth (August 21, 2018). . The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 30, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
- ^ van Laarhoven, Kasper (July 27, 2017). . Bedford + Bowery. New York. Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
- ^ Feldman, Adam (March 31, 2020). . Time Out New York. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
- ^ Hernandez, Ernio (September 15, 2006). . Playbill. Archived from the original on June 30, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
- ^ Cox, Gordon (July 14, 2012). . Variety. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
- ^ Han, Angie (January 10, 2013). . /Film. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
- ^ Editorial staff (June 5, 2016). . TheaterMania. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ Gerard, Jeremy (April 27, 2017). . Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ . Drama Desk Awards. Drama Desk. April 26, 2018. Archived from the original on April 27, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
- ^ McPhee, Ryan (July 14, 2020). "Heroes of the Fourth Turning, A Strange Loop Among 2020 Obie Award Winners". Playbill. from the original on July 16, 2020. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
External links Edit
- Official website