The Tank is a non-profit arts presenter that serves emerging artists pursuing new ideas and expressions. Across many disciplines, including theater, comedy, dance, film, music, public affairs, and storytelling, annually they serve over 1,000 artists in more than 400 performances. Their stated goal is to foster an environment of inclusiveness and remove the burden of cost from the creation of new work for those launching their careers and experimenting within their art form.
Wood Calls Out to Wood is an adaptation of one of my favorite paintings, Hieronymus Bosch’s 15th century triptych “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” A art piece with religious symbolism, the left and right panels represent Eden and hell. The larger center panel is the garden of the title, as humanity acts with apparent free will where naked men and women engage in various pleasure seeking activities. The painting is awesome in its details and mind-blowing in its imagery.
This theatrical piece focuses on the garden. Then, when taking a closer look, Boschian beings begin to emerge. Two horses in a neigh-scent relationship. A vacant treehouse in need of a tenant. A human with a grape for a head. Through dialogue and sound, the audience experiences these images and characters selected from the painting. I particularly enjoyed Connor James Sheridan as Grapehead and Will Dagger as the Horse. However, the show is very meta, a little too much so for my taste. An interesting experiment, Wood Calls Out to Wood is a fine diversion.