BIG WAVE Returns For Third Run At The Tank NYC This September
The surreal, movement-driven work explores memory, identity, and how women raise women.
Big Wave returns for its third staging, running September 9–14, 2025, at The Tank NYC. The bold and dreamlike performance asks a haunting question: what would you do if you realized you were living a memory? The story follows an antique dealer who helps her hoarder friend avoid eviction. As they navigate thousands of objects, the complexity of their relationship unravels and one of them realizes she is not where—or when—she thought she was. At its heart, the piece explores generational behaviors, and how women raise and shape one another.
The play centers on two characters, performed by Daniely Martins and Alexandra Byrne, both trained in the Meisner Technique. Surrounding them is a chorus of eleven performers who create a shifting, surreal environment through dance-theater, physical theatre, and Grotowski-inspired techniques. Choreographer Shelby Green weaves drag, mime, and Graham technique into an avant-garde language of movement, while Agnieszka Grądziel co-directs and guides the physical theatre elements. Original composition and sound design by Kodi Lynn Milburn adds another textured layer to the work’s oneiric atmosphere.
The production is led by a creative team rooted in international training and eclectic practices. Director, playwright, and performer Daniely Martins, born in Brazil and based in New York, brings experience from theatre communities across Europe and the U.S. Alexandra Byrne, a British-American actor and graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, plays her counterpart, delving into the psychological and emotional depths of the character. Grądziel, originally from Poland, joins as co-director, drawing on her background in Meisner, Warsaw theatre training, and international collaborations. Choreographer Shelby Green injects an aesthetic of high camp and satire that reimagines vulnerability through absurdity. Sound designer and composer Kodi Lynn Milburn, known as the “Swiss Army Knife of Theater,” infuses the work with a soundscape that resonates with activism and contemporary issues. Stage manager Jon-Mykul Bowen and marketing manager Leta Marcellus round out the leadership team.
The chorus features Paula Imana, Martina Demaio, Alice Litchfield, Isabel Jaramillo, Maria Elisa Mantilla, Kaleigh Nicole, Griffin Lockette, Jennifer Appelquist, Lucia Sapienza, Ruth Łchav'aya K'isen Miller, and Francesca Pecchi, who collectively embody the spectral voices that unsettle and reframe the central story.
Big Wave is a meditation on how belief systems and inherited behaviors shape reality. Through the mental confusion of its central character, the play raises questions about subconscious reflexes versus conscious choices, and how we respond to realities both personal and social. Its resonance today is profound, as conversations about gender, sexuality, and women’s roles in society shift against the backdrop of information moving at unprecedented speed.
The Tank, with its mission to support new work by emerging artists, provides an ideal home for this latest staging of Big Wave.
Performance Schedule
Performances will take place Tuesday, September 9 at 7:00 p.m.; Friday, September 12 at 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, September 13 at 3:00 p.m.; and Sunday, September 14 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are available now.
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