David Thomson Comes to The Chocolate Factory Theater

The Chocolate Factory Theater presents the world premiere of VESSEL, a new durational performance installation by David Thomson.

Performances will take place at The (New) Chocolate Factory Theater, 38-33 24th Street, Long Island City NY 11101.

Something personal. A means of transmission. Bearing witness.

VESSEL, created by celebrated choreographer and performer David Thomson, is a durational performance installation centered on a practice of witnessing. It asks all involved to engage their senses and imaginations in the process of listening on different - and deeper - levels; embracing the unseen as a palpable state of possibility.

VESSEL is thematically influenced by post-colonialist writer Édouard Glissant's Poetics of Relations, in which he explores the concept of opacity as the unquantifiable definition of 'other'; questioning our ability to truly know another or even ourselves within the constructs of socio-political identity. Thomson and his collaborators translate these questions into the semiotics of the visual, asking: how can we subvert the relationship between audience and performer and the deeply habitual act of visual interpretation as truth...to reimagine the poetics of presence?

VESSEL is the culmination of a three-year process of building a physical practice of surrender, freedom and alterity with a select group of artists. It is a continuation of his research into questions of identity, and how presence and absence operate within the human experience.

Audience members are asked to arrive at the announced entry time (5pm or 7pm), and may stay for as long as they prefer.

Created and performed by David Thomson with Jaguar Mary X, Katrina Reid, Katie Workum, Nehemoyia Young and Martita Abril.

Visual Design by Peter Born and Athena Kokoronis. Sound Design by James Lo. Lighting Design by Stan Pressner. Production Stage Manager: Tricia Tolliver.

Commissioned by The Chocolate Factory Theater with additional support from Café Royal Cultural Foundation, Lunder Institute for American Art, NYSCA, Dance/NYC Advancement Fund, Gibney Dance and The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

David Thomson is a Brooklyn based interdisciplinary collaborative and performing artist who has worked in the fields of music, dance, theater and performance with such artists as Mel Wong, Jane Comfort, Bebe Miller ('83-'86; '03-'06), Remy Charlip, Marta Renzi, The Lavender Light Gospel Choir, Trisha Brown ('87-'93), Patricia Hoffbauer, Donna Uchizono, David Roussève, Wendy Perron, Susan Rethorst, Michel Laub/Remote Control (NL), Ralph Lemon ('99-'10), Bo Madvig (DK), Sally Silvers, Tracie Morris, Sekou Sundiata, Reggie Wilson, Dean Moss/Layla Ali, Mike Taylor, Meg Stuart, Marina Abramović, Muna Tseng, Daria Faïn & Robert Kocik, Clarinda Mac Low, Alain Buffard (FR), Deborah Hay, Tere O'Connor, Beth Gill, Yanira Castro, David Bowie, Fiona Templeton, Kaneza Schaal, Okwui Okpokwasili, Lee Mingwei/Bill T Jones and Carl Hancock Rux among many others. He has been a member of Yvonne Rainer's "Raindears" since 2015. Thomson has performed downtown, Off-Broadway and in London with the Drama Desk-nominated a capella performance group, Hot Mouth, founded by Grisha Coleman, Jonathan Stone, Viola Sheely and Thomson.

His own work has been presented by The Kitchen, Danspace Project at St Mark's Church, Dance Theater Workshop, Roulette and Movement Research at Judson Church. Thomson has been Artist-in-Residence at Dance Theater Workshop, Movement Research, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Gibney Dance Center, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Invisible Dog, Topaz Arts and Mount Tremper Arts Center, The Yard, Performance Space NY and The Lunder Institute of American Art. His work has been supported by The Robison Foundation, The MAP Fund, Jerome Foundation and the Brooklyn Arts Council among other sources. Thomson was honored with a New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie") for Sustained Achievement (2001), as part of the creative team for Bebe Miller's Landing/Place (2006) and for Outstanding Production for his first evening-length work he his own mythical beast (2018).

Thomson has been awarded fellowships from United States Artists|Ford, NYFA in Choreography (2013, 2022), MacDowell, Yaddo, The Yard (Bessie Schoenberg Fellow), The Rauschenberg Foundation, LMCC Extended Life Fellowship (2018-21) and is a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Awardee (2022). He is currently a Mabou Mines Associate Artist and Danspace Artist Research Fellow.

Thomson has served on the faculties of Movement Research, NYU, Sarah Lawrence, The New School, Barnard, Bennington, Middlebury and Pratt as well as teaching internationally. In 2017, he initiated The Sustainability Project with Kate Watson-Wallace, which serves as a platform and practice to expand the discourse surrounding ideas of financial, artistic, and personal empowerment within the arts community. Thomson began dancing at Haverford/Bryn Mawr Colleges and later received his BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from SUNY Purchase.