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. 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
The Tank's logo
The Tank's entrance (left), 2018
Address312 West 36th Street, Manhattan, New York[1]
Coordinates40.753530°N 73.993261°W / 40.753530; -73.993261
TypeOff-off-Broadway
Genre(s)Dance, theater, music, film, comedy
OpenedMay 2003 (2003-05)
Website
thetanknyc.org

The Tank houses two performance spaces, a 56-seat black box and a 98-seat proscenium. Beyond presenting work at its resident home in Manhattan, the theater has also produced shows performed elsewhere throughout New York City, collectively presenting over 1000 performances each year. Between 2016 and 2018, five of the theater's shows were nominated for a total of six Drama Desk Awards. Programming at the theater is suspended as of April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

History

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]

The Tank's Church Street space in 2008

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 46th Street by 2013, where it resided until 2017.[5][10] That year, the Tank 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.[11][12][13][14] The Chain Theater, Workshop Theater, and the Barrow Group also reside in the same building as the Tank.[14] 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.[13]

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.[15][16][17][18] While the space is closed, the theater launched a weekly digital arts livestream called CyberTank.[19]

The Tank's artistic director is Meghan Finn as of 2019.[20]

Operations
The Tank's 98-seat proscenium stage (left) and 56-seat blackbox (right)

Categorized as an off-off-Broadway venue, the Tank presents more than 1000 performances each year across several disciplines, including dance, music, theater, comedy, and film.[2][3][21][22] 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] As a nonprofit producer, the organization relies heavily on volunteers.[2][23] Most days, the Tank runs multiple shows in a single night.[2]

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.[23][24] The theater runs several festivals each summer, including LadyFest and DarkFest, the latter of which requires performers to create shows using no stage lighting.[25][26]

Reception

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"[27]

A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, which premiered at the Tank in 2003, received an Obie Award special citation in 2004.[28] 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.[29] Alibar's screenplay would go on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.[30] 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.[31][32] In 2018, Sinking Ship Productions' A Hunger Artist received two nominations: Outstanding Solo Performance and Outstanding Puppet Design.[33]

References
  1. Burns, Meredith (November 2019). "Fear Becomes Exhilaration: BrandoCapote". The Brooklyn Rail. Archived from the original on January 31, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  2. Hodges, Mary Love (February 3, 2010). "Spotlight on The Tank". The Brooklyn Rail. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  3. Lambert, Craig (March–April 2007). "Avant-Garde Incubator". Harvard Magazine. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  4. Eichna, Charlotte (June 17, 2004). "Downtown Edge in Midtown Venue". West Side Spirit. p. 26.
  5. "The Tank: A Theasy Interview with Josh Luxenberg, curator of the Flint & Tinder theater series at The Tank". Theatre Is Easy. June 2013. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  6. Pinto, Nick (February 2008). "Subterranean 'Tank' Hosts New Music". The Tribeca Trib. p. 43. Archived from the original on September 8, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  7. Cole, Lori (October 6–12, 2004). "Best Broadway theater turned hipster hangout". The Village Voice. p. 88. Archived from the original on October 27, 2004. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
  8. Williams, James R., ed. (2007). Inside New York 2008. New York City: Inside New York. p. 158. ISBN 978-1892768407.
  9. La Rocco, Claudia (April 5, 2011). "A Long Swim Looking for Laughs". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  10. Heins, Scott (January 16, 2017). "5 Fun Things To Do In NYC This Week". Gothamist. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  11. Fujishima, Kenji (August 25, 2017). "The Tank Announces New Season, New Home". TheaterMania. Archived from the original on August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  12. Clement, Olivia (August 31, 2017). "The Tank Finds New Home in Old Abingdon Theatre Company Space". Playbill. Archived from the original on September 14, 2017. Retrieved September 14, 2017.
  13. Felton-Dansky, Miriam (September 12, 2017). "This Fall, Rent-Challenged Downtown Theaters Are Battling to Stay in Place". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2017.
  14. Stiffler, Scott (September 4, 2019). "Rising rents push NYC theater companies to get creative to secure real estate". AM New York. Archived from the original on September 4, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  15. Snook, Raven (March 13, 2020). "Beyond Broadway: Which Shows Are Suspended, Permanently Closed or Still Running?". Theatre Development Fund. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  16. Shaw, Helen (March 13, 2020). "'There Is No "Surplus" in Nonprofit': How Off Broadway Is Coping With Closure". Vulture. Archived from the original on March 14, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2020.
  17. Dilella, Frank (March 20, 2020). "How the Coronavirus Has Impacted Off-Broadway". NY1. Archived from the original on March 20, 2020. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  18. Cote, David (May 25, 2020). "What's Ahead for Off-Off Broadway: The Most Vulnerable but Vital Spaces for Theater?". Observer. Archived from the original on May 26, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  19. Stigler, Britt (March 18, 2020). "The Tank launches new (digital) spaces with an excerpt from Ran Xia". All Arts. WNET. Archived from the original on March 18, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  20. Clement, Olivia (September 6, 2019). "Tonya Pinkins Curates Collection of Feminist Plays at The Tank Off-Broadway". Playbill. Archived from the original on September 6, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2019.
  21. Seymour, Lee (April 28, 2020). "Show Business Is Adapting To The Pandemic, But It Won't Survive Unless Congress Steps Up". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 30, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  22. "Study of Off-Off-Broadway Performance Venues" (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.
  23. Roberts, Shoshana (November 15, 2016). "Vera & Valya & The Magical One Cat Circus". Theatre Is Easy. Archived from the original on January 29, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  24. Brantley, Ben (June 26, 2016). "Review: Urban Nightmares as Puppets in 'The Paper Hat Game'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 22, 2016. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  25. Vincentelli, Elisabeth (August 21, 2018). "Review: Besties With Rasputin in 'Red Emma and the Mad Monk'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 30, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  26. van Laarhoven, Kasper (July 27, 2017). "Let There Be Dark! at This Electricity-Free Theater Festival". Bedford + Bowery. New York. Archived from the original on October 18, 2017. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  27. Feldman, Adam (March 31, 2020). "The best live theater to watch from home on March 31". Time Out New York. Archived from the original on March 31, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  28. Hernandez, Ernio (September 15, 2006). "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant Returns to NYC". Playbill. Archived from the original on June 30, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2018.
  29. Cox, Gordon (July 14, 2012). "'Beasts' author has stage roots". Variety. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  30. Han, Angie (January 10, 2013). "85th Academy Award Nominations: 'Beasts of the Southern Wild,' 'Lincoln,' and 'Silver Linings Playbook' Earn Major Recognition". /Film. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016. Retrieved May 11, 2019.
  31. Editorial staff (June 5, 2016). "Shuffle Along, The Humans, and More Take Home 2016 Drama Desk Awards". TheaterMania. Archived from the original on August 12, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  32. Gerard, Jeremy (April 27, 2017). "'Hello, Dolly!' And 'The Hairy Ape' Lead Drama Desk Musical, Drama Nominations". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 28, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  33. "2018 Nominees". Drama Desk Awards. Drama Desk. April 26, 2018. Archived from the original on April 27, 2018. Retrieved April 27, 2018.
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