Kev Berry's New Monologue WE HAD NOT CEASED DESIRING To Play At The Tank

After the record-smashing success of last year's Rough Trade and his live-streamed solo show Harsh Cacophonies I & II, The Tank's Playwright-Squatting-in-Residence Kev Berry returns to his artistic home with an intimate new evening-length monologue. Directed by Jackson Paul Walker, We Had Not Ceased Desiring is a ramble through the history of cruising and public sex, a time-old tradition in the queer community. As he wrestles with what it means to participate in the pastime in the age of hookup apps, PrEP, and a creeping return of normalized anti-queer rhetoric in the zeitgeist, he tells the stories of how far we're willing to travel in order to connect. Performed in The Tank's Attic Studio for only 30 audience members a night, Berry's deeply personal return to lo-fi monologue theatre is sure to be...penetrating.

There will be 5 performances between June 13 and June 24, 2024, all at 7:30 in the evening.

Tickets are available at tiered pricing between $20 and $40 at thetanknyc.org.

Kev Berry is a New York-based playwright, performer, public health worker, and life of the party. His work, both as a writer and a performer, has been seen at The Tank, Joe's Pub, Feinstein's/54 Below, The Green Room 42, 3-Legged Dog, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Judson Memorial Church, HERE Arts Center, New York Live Arts, the New Ohio Theatre, The Duplex, the Dramatists Guild Foundation, Dixon Place, The Brick Theater, Access Theater, Littlefield, The 9 Studios, Otto's Shrunken Head, The Cobra Club, Skidmore College, and across the harsh North Country of upstate New York. Kev is an Associate Artist at The Tank, the September 2018 Artist-in-Residence at Judson Memorial Church, a 2017 Artist-in-Residence with Fresh Ground Pepper, a January 2019 resident with Hot Bread, a 2019-2020 INKubator Resident Playwright at Art House Productions, and the former Artistic Associate at 3LD. He was an inaugural member of the Fresh Ground Pepper Process Accountability Lab. Alongside his collaborative partner and director Alex Tobey, he was a 2019-2020 Full Access Resident Artist with Access Theater. Kev formerly served as the curator and producer of the series Fast and Furious: Rapid Responses to Current Events at The Tank. His play Rough Trade has the highest attendance of any show in The Tank's history, playing to 16 sold-out houses in March and April 2023. His play Harsh Cacophonies I & II was a Semi-Finalist for the Princess Grace Award in 2022. His play Peter was a Semi-Finalist for the Princess Grace Award in 2019, and a Semi-Finalist for the Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship in 2020. He was the recipient of a Pet Project Grant from the Bushwick Starr. In 2021, he was a recipient of a NYFA City Artist Corps Grant. In 2022, he was a recipient of the Creatives Rebuild New York Guaranteed Artists Income fellowship grant. His performance in Nadja Leonhard-Hooper and Dan Nuxoll's Eat the Devil was hailed by the New York Times as "vehemently campy." His cabaret Kev Berry Is Diana the Musical was acclaimed as "Genius"(?)" and "utterly wonderful" by the UK-based Shenton Stage. This fall Kev will be beginning his MFA in Playwriting at Hunter College.

Jackson Paul Walker is a Colorado-grown, New York City-based theatre maker. He was last at the Tank directing the world premiere of Adam LaPorte's Plume. Other directing credits include a site-specific production of Constellations, an original adaption entitled Plan 9, or The Return of The Haunted House of The Living Dead from Outer Space with Local Classic Rep (Director in Residence), The Baseball Play (Best New Work, Broadway World Award) at FreshPaint Performance Lab, March of The Penguins (original adaptation) & Seussical at Oklahoma City University. As an assistant/associate, he's worked with Ars Nova, The Brick, Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, New York Theatre Festival, The Tank and The 92NY. Most recently, he assisted on The Animal Kingdom, On Set With Theda Bara & Jessica Vosk's California Dreamin'. He is currently the associate producer of the Lyrics and Lyrists series at The 92NY and the director of OCU Summer Music's Rising Stars Program. BM: Oklahoma City University. www.jacksonpaulwalker.com

Founded in 2003, The Tank is an Obie Award-winning, multi-disciplinary non-profit arts presenter and producer, which provides a home to emerging artists working across all disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, puppetry, and storytelling. Led by Artistic Director Meghan Finn, Managing Producer Molly FitzMaurice and Director of Artistic Development Johnny G. Lloyd, The Tank champions emerging artists engaged in the pursuit of new ideas and forms of expression. In doing so the company removes the economic barriers from the creation of new work for artists launching their careers and experimenting within their art form. From the company's home with two theaters on 36th Street, The Tank serves over 2,500 artists every year, presents over 1,000 performances, and welcomes 36,000 audience members annually. The company fully produces a curated season of 13-18 theatrical World or New York premieres each season. During the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis, The Tank has launched CyberTank, a virtual gathering space and programming platform for artists to share work. CyberTank has presented the work of over 4,000 artists in over 500 performances to 20,000 audience members across the country and the world since March 17, 2020.

Recent Tank-produced work includes The New York Times Critics' Picks Taxilandia by Flako Jimenez (2021), OPEN by Crystal Skillman, directed by Jessi D. Hill (2019); Red Emma & The Mad Monk by Alexis Roblan, directed by Katie Lindsay (2018); and The Offending Gesture by Mac Wellman, directed by Meghan Finn (2016), as well as Drama Desk Award-nominated productions The Hunger Artist (2018), The Paper Hat Game (2017), the ephemera trilogy (2017), Ada/Ava (2016) and youarenowhere (2016).

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.TheTankNYC.org

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