"Spaceholder Festival" open rehearsal

On December 14, 2011, Morgan Thorson and her collaborators held an open rehearsal of her latest work in progress, Spaceholder Festival. The atmosphere of the Black Box Theatre took on that of an exhibition opening. Velvet ropes were set up to designate the place of the audience, as well as to indicate a "hands-on" station where patrons were invited to browse and examine Thorson's gallery of artifacts. Upon walking into the theatre the public became part of the piece, acting no longer as a passive viewing audience, but like art observers who were free to come and go as they pleased. Performers Jessica Cressey, Hannah Kramer, Karen Sherman, Kristin Van Loon, and Max Wirsing presented Thorson's vision of "movement as choreographic artifact". There was no introduction of the rehearsal and each phase of the work was done in a continuous link.

The open rehearsal was an experiment in which Thorson explored the idea of presenting the piece as a “museum artifact.” Included in the work was a "found sound" score composed by collaborator Sxip Shirey earlier in the residency, as well as auctioneering chants that emerged out of Thorson’s work with a local auctioneer and her recent experience at auctioneering school.