Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young are back! The team behind the award-winning production “Betroffenheit” (part of Steps 2018) and “Revisor” now present their third collaboration, “Assembly Hall.” Following its Canadian premiere in October 2023, the piece will stop in Switzerland in the spring of 2024 as part of its European tour.
A group of medieval re-enactors have come together for an Annual General Meeting in their local community hall. As the Board of Directors, they oversee an event called "Quest Fest" that has fallen on hard times: membership is dwindling, debt is mounting, and the hall is falling apart.
Unless something drastic happens, the Directors of this venerable order will be facing dissolution. As the meeting progresses, the line between real and re-enactment begins to blur, ancient forces are awoken, and it soon becomes clear that there is something much more at stake here than a mock-medieval tournament.
Kidd Pivot are known for a hybrid approach that combines dance with stage theatre as well as movement with language – an unmistakable style that has been taking audiences by storm across the globe. Their topics are contemporary and socially relevant. Their latest creation also attests to their fascination with storytelling as well as to the company’s signature wit and inventiveness.
Simply put: Eight people dance and speak on stage. The piece explores the need to belong somewhere. It deals with emotions and community.
Infos
Duration: 90 minutes
Spoken language: English, with German or Italian subtitles (depending on region). 
Age recommendation: none
Content warning: Profanity
World premiere: 26.10.2023, Vancouver Playhouse, Canada
Further information: kiddpivot.org
Credits
Choreographed and directed by Crystal Pite
Written and directed by Jonathon Young
Performers: Brandon Alley (Woody), Livona Ellis (Gail), Rakeem Hardy (Boyd), Gregory Lau (Dave), Doug Letheren (Shaun), Rena Narumi (Bonnie), Ella Rothschild (Mae), Renée Sigouin (Glenda)
Voices: Ryan Beil (Dave), Marci T. House (Gail), Alessandro Juliani (Boyd), Meg Roe (Bonnie), Gabrielle Rose (Glenda), Amanda Sum (Mae), Vincent Tong (Woody), Jonathon Young (Shaun)
Voice director: Meg Roe
Subtitling: Dòra Kapusta, Subtext
Composition and sound design: Owen Belton, Alessandro Juliani, Meg Roe
Scenic design: Jay Gower Taylor
Costume design: Nancy Bryant
Lighting design: Tom Visser
Video design: Cybèle Young
Show control and sound programmer: Eric Chad
Assistant to the creators: Eric Beauchesne
Additional music: Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23, TH. 55 - I. Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso - Allegro con spirito performed by Alice Sara Ott · Münchner Philharmoniker · Thomas Hengelbrock ℗ 2010 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Berlin
Technical director / stage carpenter: Elisha Burrows
Lighting director: William Fallon
Stage manager: Yvonne Yip
Audio and show control operator: Ilvs Strauss
Wardrobe supervisor: Donnie Tejani
Set construction: Great Northern Way Scene Shop
Scenic artists: Charlie Easton, Barry Kootchin, Sharon Sloan, Patrick Spavor
Prop builders: Monica Emme, Jay Gower Taylor, Heather Young, Jen Hiebert
Aluminum armour: Rob Valentine & Valentine Armouries
Cutter: Janet Dundas
Costume assistants and builders: Alaia Hamer, Nicola Ryal, Alice Devonshire
Stitchers: Tracey Gauvin, Eloise Pons, Jayme Cline
Dyer and builder: Tessa Armstrong
Rehearsal assistant: Nasiv Kaur Sall
Executive Producer: Jim Smith
Producer: Francesca Piscopo
Production: Kidd Pivot
Coproduction: Edinburgh International Festival (Edinburgh, UK), Sadler’s Wells (London, UK), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris, France), Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara (Trento, Italy), National Arts Centre (Ottawa, Canada), Seattle Theatre Group (Seattle, US), Canadian Stage (Toronto, Canada), DanceHouse (Vancouver, Canada), Danse Danse (Montreal, Canada), Le Diamant (Quebec, Canada), Electric Company Theatre (Vancouver, Canada).
Kidd Pivot would like to thank: Artemis Gordon, Barry Kootchin, Charlie Easton, Kevin Macdonald, Niko Taylor, Arts Umbrella, Ballet BC, The Dance Centre, Studio 58, Ostrom Climate, and the generous financial contributions from the Friends of Kidd Pivot.
A special thanks to the Y.P. Heung Foundation, Zita and Mark Bernstein Family Foundation, and Bonnie Mah for their generous support.
Developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.
Kidd Pivot benefits from the support of BNP Paribas Foundation for the development of its projects.
Kidd Pivot gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of British Columbia, British Columbia Arts Council, City of Vancouver, and countless individual and business supporters.
Crystal Pite
Crystal Pite is a Canadian dancer and choreographer. She started her dance career at the Ballet BC in Vancouver and later continued it, among other places, at Ballett Frankfurt under the direction of William Forsythe. Over the last 35 years Pite devised over sixty works for international dance companies. She is known for radical crossovers between dance and theatre and has found great acclaim all over the globe for her courageous approach to moving topics. In 2002 she founded her own company Kidd Pivot with which she has been touring globally for over twenty years. In 2015 she presented “Betroffenheit,” her first collaboration with Jonathon Young, which marked a new departure in her career. In 2018 Pite and Young brought the piece to Steps. In Young Pite found a theatre-maker that has allowed her to further refine her signature approach and to combine dance and theatre in unique ways. Their third collaboration premiered in 2023 and will be on stage in Switzerland for the first time as part of Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps 2024. Picture © Anoush Abrar
Jonathon Young
Jonathon Young is a Canadian actor, playwright, and director. He is the artistic co-director of Electric Company Theatre in Vancouver. Founded in 1996, the company has been one of the leading collectives in the fine arts in Canada and has brought more than twenty works to stages in Canada, the US, and the UK. Young first collaborated with Crystal Pite and Kidd Pivot in 2015 on the internationally acclaimed “Betroffenheit,” which received multiple awards. Its story is based on actual events and deals with the death of a child: Young lost his daughter, niece, and nephew in a fire in 2009. Following “Betroffenheit,” Young collaborated with Pite on the successful “Revisor” in 2019, another milestone in the work of the two artists. Their third collaboration “Assembly Hall” will have its Swiss premiere as part of Migros Culture Percentage Dance Festival Steps. Picture © Four Eyes
