The Tank To Celebrate 15th Anniversary With Gala Today

The Tank (Meghan Finn and Rosalind Grush, Artistic Directors) will hold their 15th Anniversary Gala on Tuesday, May 22 at their home, 312 West 36th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues). The event will honor Randi Berry of IndieSpace, an organization that creates 'permanent real estate solutions for the independent theater community'. IndieSpace was instrumental in finding The Tank's new home, and we'll be celebrating The Tank's home, history, and future with this exciting event. Tickets ($75-$1200) may be purchased in advance at www.thetankgala.com.
The evening is set in motion with a VIP cocktail hour beginning at 6pm. Tank friends and local supporters looking for an early evening can join us for a toast celebrating The Tank's incredible accomplishments over the past 15 years.

At 7pm, those purchasing a ticket for the full evening will stay and enjoy a dinner with delicious eats by Tank Board Member, Jenn de la Vega of RANDWICHES on the stage of our 98-seat theater. We'll hear from our honorees and enjoy a couple of short performances by some of our favorite Tank artists including actor James Zebooker (Held Momentarily at the New York Musical Theatre Festival; Aquaman: The Teen Drama), Mexican artist Pedro Reyes (DOOMOCRACY with Creative Time/Brooklyn Army Terminal), comedians Sam Soghor and Meeko Gattuso (Gimme the Loot; Sam's Tea Shack), drag performance artist Kev Barry and more. The evening will be hosted by comedian and Tank Artist X Mayo and we're expecting an appearance from special guest Femi Olagoke of Black Panther.

If that's not your style, skip the formalities and join us for our party with nibbles, dessert, and open bar at 8pm. We'll be welcoming even more of The Tank family with music, dancing and a handful of more raucous performers. In addition to catching up with your favorite Tank friends and family, you'll have the opportunity to bid on an array of fabulous items as part of our Silent Auction and dance the night away!

While our guest list is still being finalized, since its founding in 2003 Tank artists who've made appearances at our events include Alex Timbers, Amy Herzog, Stephen Sondheim, Michael Shannon, Jane Maxwell, Lucy Alibar, Mike Daisey, Reggie Watts, Kyle Abraham, Andrew Bujalski, We Are Scientists, and tens of thousands of others. Our recent events have attracted such luminaries as Ethan Hawke, Donna Karan, David Schwimmer and others.

The Tank's Benefit Committee includes Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, Andrew Dinwiddle and the Times Square Alliance, Femi Olagoke, Anne Hamburger, and Anita Durst, among others.

The Tank is a non-profit arts presenter serving emerging artists engaged in the pursuit of new ideas and forms of expression. We serve over 2,000 artists every year in over 400 performances, and work across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, public affairs, and storytelling. Our goal is to foster an environment of inclusiveness and remove the burden of cost from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers and experimenting within their art form. The heart of our services is providing free performance space in our 98 seat proscenium and 56 seat blackbox that we operate in Manhattan, and we also offer a suite of other services such as free rehearsal space, promotional support, artist fees, and much more. We keep ticket prices affordable and view our work as democratic, opening up both the creation and attendance of the arts to all.

Past Tank produced-work includes Drama Desk-nominated productions Ada/Ava (2016), youarenowhere (2016), The Paper Hat Game (2017), and the ephemera trilogy (2017), as well as New York Times Critics' Pick The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, directed by Meghan Finn (2016). Since its founding in 2003, artists who have come through The Tank include Alex Timbers, Amy Herzog, Lucy Alibar, Mike Daisey, Reggie Watts, Kyle Abraham, Andrew Bujalski, We Are Scientists, and tens of thousands of others. www.thetanknyc.org