THE TANK SPACE FOR PERFORMING AND VISUAL ARTS

SLAM Theater invites artists and audiences to get involved in the process of making theater. Playwrights bring fresh scripts, and actors are called out of a hat to perform timed segments, completely unrehearsed. After each round, the judges score the plays, moving the top-scoring plays to the next round. Winning writers get to unveil more of their work, acting as director or bringing one in to give timed notes. SLAM is an evening of theater with impromptu performance,
spontaneous collaboration, and friendly competition.

Now in it's third year, SLAM Theater continues to encourage new voices, opening up a stage for diverse writers to develop work. SLAM is open to everyone. Anyone can come in, throw down a script, put their name in the actor pool, and get involved. A community has grown around SLAM -- a group of artists who come regularly to support each other, and give each other honest feedback in a raw, immediate setting. Each month, our SLAM Champion is given The Tank's space to put on a staged reading of their work. Many artists come and end up making strong connections and creative relationships that continue to develop outside of SLAM. SLAM is always growing and expanding. Actors, bring your talent. Playwrights, bring your scripts. Audience, bring your voice. Come SLAM!

The Miracle Tour Featuring novelist Geoff Herbach's Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg (Three River's Press) and MPR personality Sam Osterhout's Sad and Hilarious Radio Shorts

GEOFF HERBACH is the author of "The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg" from Three Rivers Press. He's a loud reader. He also sometimes breaks down and cries while reading out loud. Along with Sam Osterhout, he co-founded the Lit 6 Project, a group that brings live literature into bars and back alleys. He's also a founding member of the Electric Arc Radio Show, a literary tragi-comedy that is taped live and airs periodically on Minnesota Public Radio (whenever it meets FCC standards -- not that often).

"The Miracle Letters of T. Rimberg is a darkly comic, extraordinary peek into the delicate mind of a suicidal no-hoper. A modern-day Owen Meany, T. Rimberg is a superbly crafted character: death obsessed and soulful, resentful and ashamed, chivalrous and scruffy. In his brilliant debut novel, Geoff Herbach parks good and evil side-by-side in the sandbox and, with masterful confidence, allows them to figure things out for themselves." —Tish Cohen, author of Town House

SAM OSTERHOUT is an author and storyteller whose work can be heard on Minnesota Public Radio and live in bars and bookstores and back alleys across the country. Along with Geoff Herbach, he co-founded the Lit 6 Project, a group dedicated to lighting the city streets on fire with story and malt liquor. He is also a founding member of the Electric Arc Radio Show. When he tells stories, bunnies die.

"Welcome to the quirky world of the Electric Arc Radio Show. Finally, someone has succeeded in uniting literature and rock 'n' roll…" —Graydon Royce, Minneapolis Startribune