The Tank Announces Programming for Eco-Forward Festivals TRASHFEST & DARKFEST

The Tank announced today the return of their eco-forward festivals, TrashFest and DarkFest, from Friday July 30 - Monday August 9, 2021. For years, The Tank has hosted DarkFest - a week of shows that does not use conventional theatrical lighting in an effort to reexamine how we can make theater more sustainable. With the pandemic forcing their physical theater to close, they challenged that idea further with the first annual TrashFest in 2020. It is often difficult to wrestle with the environmental impact our daily lives and our work can have - especially in theater, where so many resources are needed to develop sets, props, and costumes that are only used for a short amount of time. TrashFest centers work that not only produces no waste, but reuses materials discarded as garbage while DarkFest celebrates innovative performance that utilizes self-sufficient and alternative energy sources.

Both festivals will take place in-person at The Tank NYC (312 West 36th St New York, NY 10018) for fully vaccinated audiences, at openairTank (Broadway between 35th and 36th Street), and online at CyberTank. More information about the festivals can be found here: https://thetanknyc.org/trashdarkfest2021

DarkFest will include the following programming:

and come apart

Produced by Portmanteau

By Eric Marlin

Directed by Lila Rachel Becker

In-person performances at The Tank and virtual performances on CyberTank

July 30 - August 7, 2021

and come apart centers a fading matriarch's immigrant family as they untether from their ancestral identity. Wrestling with the violence of diaspora and assimilation, and come apart enacts a ritual from which we might begin to heal.

The sun is going down. Shabbat is almost over. You - the matriarch of a family who has left the Forest, crossed the Desert, and made a life in this New Place - you are now in your twilight hours. No longer able to see or speak, your three daughters have returned home to keep vigil by your side. As they dredge up History, warping time, space, and language around you, your only hope for peace may be your granddaughter, the one person who seems to notice you're still there. An experiment in radical empathy and come apart compresses a thousand years of Jewish diaspora history into a single generation to examine the violence assimilation yields, the false promise of America, and the rituals through which we might begin to heal.

The cast features the vocal talents of Meredith Alexander, Lori Elizabeth Parquet, Amy Rodriguez, and Ching Valdes-Aran. Rodriguez will also appear live for the in-person performances.

and come apart features art direction by Alahna Watson, sound design and engineering by Phil Johnson, and sound design and music by Avi Amon. The dramaturg is Luke Daniel White, Aubrey Near is the line producer, Adam Koob is the recording stage manager and Eponine Myles is the in-person stage manager.

and come apart will play both in-person and virtual performances simultaneously. The performance schedule is as follows: July 30 & 31 at 7pm ET; August 4 at 4pm & 7pm ET; August 6 & 7 at 7pm ET. Tickets begin at $15 and are available at https://thetanknyc.org/trashdarkfest2021.

Trash Fest will include the following programming:

THE LESBIAN PLAY

By Riley McCarthy

Directed by Julia Gaudioso

In-person at The Tank and on CyberTank

August 2 - 9, 2021

On the night of the 2016 presidential election, Boston University's Women Loving Women Club gathers at their president's Back Bay apartment to celebrate the birthday of one of their own. With tensions already bubbling and cracking under the surface and their inner relationships with one another on the brink of extinction, the Women Loving Women Club is thrust into political turmoil as they wage war on each other over their political identities, the definition of lesbianism, and who can even consider themselves "LGBTQ".

The Lesbian Play, directed by Julia Gaudioso, following a sold-out collegiate Zoom premiere at Marymount Manhattan College this January, is making its world stage premiere at The Tank in a reimagined, sustainable and environmentally friendly production. Basement Light Productions is committed to producing The Lesbian Play in an eco-friendly, fully recyclable fashion with zero to low waste product.

The Lesbian Play is a one act, 100-minute drama. Performances will be live and in-person at The Tank blackbox and livestreamed on CyberTank.

The performance schedule for The Lesbian Play is as follows: August 2 at 7pm ET, August 6 & 7 at 9:30pm ET, August 8 at 9pm ET, and August 9 at 7pm ET. Tickets begin at $15 and are available at https://thetanknyc.org/trashdarkfest2021.

GREEN

By YES Theater & Grass Future Society

In-person at openairTank

August 1, 2021at 12pm ET and 3pm ET

GREEN is a live performance collaboration between YES Theater and the brand new groovy musical group Grass Future Society. Taking the form of a pared down concert of Grass Future Society's upcoming album GREEN, there will be recycled-mask dancers telling the abstracted narrative of the album, which is essentially about being stuck inside and looking out the window to see the world on fire. (Sound familiar!?) The project is grounded in finding the joy and beauty in community, and to represent the possibility of proving the opposite of the narrative of isolation and destruction.

GREEN will play two performances on August 1, 2021 at 12pm ET and 3pm ET. Tickets begin at $10 and are available at https://thetanknyc.org/trashdarkfest2021.

FRET NOT! - TRASHFEST EDITION

Curated and produced by Elyse Durand

In-person at openairTank

July 30, 2021 at 7pm ET

Fret Not! A Night of Music, Comedy, and Musical Comedy is the communion of gregarious musicians and comedians with harmonicas. A bricolage of stand-up, tunes, and funny tunes, Fret Not is a variety show with a sustainable twist. In true hootenanny tradition this special Fret Not - TrashFest Edition challenges artists to create or play their instruments with recycled or reused goods. Grab that 1840's washboard, or your empty bottle of Guinness and join the Fest!

Tickets begin at $5 and are available at https://thetanknyc.org/trashdarkfest2021.