The Empty Space is a performance venue that features scholarship developed by students and faculty in the Hugh Downs School of Human Communication, often in partnership with the Initiative on Innovative Inquiry. The Empty Space is part of the Media and Performing Arts building at the Tempe campus of Arizona State University. In 2004, ASU contracted for the renovation of a building at Rural and University to house The Empty Space, the Prism Theatre, and several art, media, film and dance studios. Performance projects at The Empty Space serve to realize, in part, the mission of the Performance Studies Area: "to foster theoretical and practical explorations of performance and performativity with a humanistic focus on social discourse." Projects range from extended solo performances to group performances, including explorations in ethnographic, literary or other performance forms and methods. Trigger scripting, a performance method developed in the Hugh Downs School, is a featured form of performance scholarship at The Empty Space. Trigger scripts are used to engage community audiences in topics of social significance through educational scripts and discussion. The Empty Space also hosts local and national artists and performance educators who offer lectures, workshops, and performances.
