TrashFest/DarkFest 2024

For eleven years, The Tank has hosted DarkFest—a week of shows that do not use conventional theatrical lighting in an effort to reexamine how we can make theater more sustainable. DarkFest celebrates innovative performance that utilizes self-sufficient and alternative energy sources. In 2020, with the onset of the pandemic that forced their physical theater to close, they challenged that idea further with TrashFest. It is often difficult to wrestle with the environmental impact that our daily lives and our work have—especially in theatre, 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 produces no waste by reusing materials discarded as garbage. Curated by Johnny G. Lloyd.