Your Digital Program
Info
Producing Partners and Funders
Produced by Kidd Pivot in association with Eponymous.
Co-produced by Sadler’s Wells (London, UK), Théâtre de la Ville/La Villette (Paris, France), Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (Banff, Canada), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (North Carolina, US), Canadian Stage (Toronto, Canada), Seattle Theatre Group (Seattle, US), and The Hamber Foundation (British Columbia, Canada).
This is one of the 200 exceptional projects funded through the Canada Council for the Arts’ New Chapter Program. With this $35M investment, the Council supports the creation and sharing of the arts in communities across Canada.
Developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund.
Revisor is a co-production of The CanDance Network Creation Fund, Danse Danse, National Arts Centre, DanceHouse and Dance Victoria, and supported by the Canada Council for the Arts.
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.
Eponymous gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.
Kidd Pivot would like to thank: John Murphy, Mark Chavez, Artemis Gordon, Arts Umbrella, The Shadbolt Centre for the Arts, UBC Theatre, Michael Slobodian, Malcolm Dow, Offsetters, and the generous financial contributions from the Friends of Kidd Pivot.
Creative team
Created by Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young
Written by Jonathon Young
Choreographed and Directed by Crystal Pite
Original Music and Sound Design Owen Belton, Alessandro Juliani and Meg Roe
Scenic Design and Reflective Light Concept Jay Gower Taylor
Costume Design Nancy Bryant
Lighting Design Tom Visser
Assistant to the Creators Eric Beauchesne
Cast and Characters (in order of appearance)
Dancers
Renée Sigouin Misha
Doug Letheren Director of the Complex
Rakeem Hardy Postmaster Wieland
Rena Narumi Interrogator Klak
Ella Rothschild Minister Desouza
Brandon Alley Doctor Harlow
Jennifer Florentino Anna (Wife of the Director)
Brandon Alley Osip (Assistant to the Revisor)
Gregory Lau The Revisor
Jade Chong Apprentice/Swing
Julian Hunt Apprentice/Swing
voices
Meg Roe Narrator / Inspector
Scott McNeil Director of the Complex
Alessandro Juliani Postmaster Wieland
Kathleen Barr Interrogator Klak
Nicola Lipman Minister Desouza
Gerard Plunkett Doctor Harlow
Amy Rutherford Anna
Ryan Beil Osip
Jonathon Young The Revisor
technical team
Voice Director Meg Roe
Technical Director Jeff Harrison
Stage Carpenter Jethelo Espaldon Cabilete
Audio and Show Control ilvs strauss
Wig and Wardrobe Coordinator Stevie Hale Jones
Set and Prop Construction Great Northern Way Scene Shop
Cutter Janet Dundas
Costume Assistant and Buyer Alaia Hamer
Headpiece Sculptor Heidi Wilkinson
Company Manager on Tour Brent Belsher
producers
Executive Producer Jim Smith
Producer Francesca Piscopo
Associate Producer Sabine Rouques
A Message from the Creators
By Crystal Pite and Jonathon Young
We began with an old, well-known story about mistaken identity.
The story is based on an anecdote that surfaced in Russia in 1833, and quickly spread. It is now widely accepted as probably true.
In 1836, the story took shape in a five-act play.
The play premiered in St Petersburg before the Czar, who according to reports, laughed and applauded, and is said to have remarked: “Everybody gets it, and I most of all!”
The play was in disguise as a comedy.
Underneath the superficial subject of mistaken identity there were, of course, deeper subjects such as deceit, tyranny, greed and corruption; willful blindness and complicity; bureaucracy and officialdom; human suffering; the coming storm; the promise of change; imminent overthrow; salvation on the horizon; retribution just around the corner; justice at the gate.
There is evidence from the critical response that its arrival on stage was unwelcome; it was said to be unoriginal, improbable, coarse and vulgar. It turned on a stale anecdote everyone knew, it was a rank farce and the characters were mere caricatures. It didn’t matter: the rank farce about mistaken identity quickly took its place as a national institution.
Reports indicate that the playwright of the rank farce raged against the “unctuous, cloying, farcical style” of the original production — a style that nonetheless became convention for decades. The playwright insisted that he had been misread, and that his text contained an urgent moral indictment, a religious allegory, and a portrait of the universal soul in exile.
(Incidentally, the play is called The Government Inspector, or, in the original Russian, Revizor, and the playwright is Nikolai Gogol. Gogol made repeated attempts to revise Revizor to prevent further abuses of his underlying intentions, all in vain.)
Since the 1830s, the play has been translated and adapted countless times. We approached the original text as a matrix for both voice and body, and found it to be malleable and resonant. Our quest has been to locate and portray a glimpse of the soul within this most unlikely frame: a well-worn farce about corruption and deceit.
We would like to thank David Raymond, Cindy Salgado, Tiffany Tregarthen and all of our performers and collaborators for their essential contributions to the making of Revisor. They are the lifeblood of our creation; each of them masterful, generous, and truly inspiring. We are deeply grateful.
Crystal Pite
Co-creator, Choreographer & Director
In a choreographic career spanning three decades, Crystal Pite has created over 50 works for companies including The Royal Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater I, Cullberg Ballet, Ballett Frankfurt, The National Ballet of Canada, Ballets Jazz Montréal (resident choreographer 2001–04), and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. Pite is a Member of the Order of Canada, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Benois de la Danse, Canada Council Jacqueline Lemieux Prize, Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal, two UK Critics’ Circle Dance Awards, three Laurence Olivier Awards, and the 2022 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. She began her dance career as a company member of Ballet British Columbia (Ballet BC), then William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt, and is currently Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater I, Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre, and Associate Artist at Sadler’s Wells in London. She holds an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Simon Fraser University and is a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2002, she formed Kidd Pivot in Vancouver.
Jonathon Young
Co-creator, Writer & Voice Actor
Canadian theatre artist Jonathon Young is playwright-in-residence at Kidd Pivot and a core artist of Electric Company Theatre, where he has created and performed in over 20 original productions: Tear the Curtain! (Arts Club Theatre, Canadian Stage), No Exit (American Conservatory Theatre), Betroffenheit (international tour). He has worked as an actor on stages across Canada: Knives in Hens (Coalmine Theatre), The Full Light of Day (Electric Company/ Luminato Festival), All But Gone (Necessary Angel, Toronto), The Great Gatsby (Theatre Calgary), Hamlet (Bard on the Beach, Vancouver). In addition to Betroffenheit and Revisor, Jonathon collaborated with Crystal Pite on two productions for Nederlands Dans Theater (Parade and The Statement). Jonathon is the recipient of an Olivier Award and the UK National Dance Award.
Owen Belton
Composer & Sound Designer
Owen Belton graduated with a degree in Fine and Performing Arts and studied acoustic and computer music composition. Since 1994, he has created scores for dance companies including Kidd Pivot, National Ballet of Canada, Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Jorgen, Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm, Ballet Nuremberg, Oregon Ballet Theatre and 420 People in Prague.
Alessandro Juliani
Composer, Sound Designer & Voice Actor
Alessandro Juliani is a Canadian artist who has been working in the disciplines of music, sound, theatre, and film for the past 30 years. AJ is frequently executed, maimed, disemboweled, dismembered, immolated, crucified and/or air-locked on your favourite locally-shot television programs and films. He often lends his voice to the animated programs which your kids/grand-kids/great-grand-kids/socially-awkward uncles currently binge. As a composer and sound designer, his creative energies have contributed to/detracted from numerous productions and films. People have occasionally given him trophies for his work. Some of them are transparent, and others more opaque. He makes his home in Vancouver with his partner and frequent collaborator, Meg Roe, and their three children.
Meg Roe
Composer, Sound Designer, Voice Director & Voice Actor
Meg Roe is a multidisciplinary artist whose work has been seen and heard across Canada and internationally with: Crows Theatre, Shaw Festival, Theatre Calgary, Canadian Stage, Factory Theatre, PuSh Festival, Alberta Theatre Projects, Bard on the Beach, Theatre Junction, Citadel Theatre, Ruby Slippers Theatre, Electric Company Theatre, Blackbird Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Arts Club, Belfry, Theatre SKAM, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Catalyst Theatre, RealWheels, Intrepid Theatre, Elbow Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Western Canada Theatre, National Arts Centre, Centaur Theatre, The Banff Centre, Yukon Arts Centre, Why Not Theatre, Savage Society, vAct, Theatre Replacement, Rumble Theatre, The Cultch, the American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco), Center Theater Group (Los Angeles), and as a collaborator with Crystal Pite and Kidd Pivot.
Jay Gower Taylor
Scenic & Reflective Light Concept Designer
Jay Gower Taylor started out in theatre as a professional dancer where he enjoyed an international career spanning more than twenty years. As a scenic designer, he has collaborated with Crystal Pite over the last decade, creating onstage environments for works such as Plot Point, Frontier, Solo Echo, Parade, In the Event, Partita for 8 Dancers and The Statement for Nederlands Dans Theater; Emergence and Angels’ Atlas (co-production with Zurich Ballet) for the National Ballet of Canada; Polaris for Sadler’s Wells; The Seasons’ Canon and Body and Soul for The Paris Opera Ballet; and Flight Pattern for The Royal Ballet. For Kidd Pivot, he designed Dark Matters, The Tempest Replica, Betroffenheit, and most recently, Revisor.
Nancy Bryant
Costume Designer
Nancy Bryant works widely as a designer in dance, theatre, opera and film. Her home is on the west coast of Canada in Vancouver. Previous collaborations with Pite include Body and Soul and The Seasons’ Canon (Paris Opera), Flight Pattern (Royal Ballet), Partita, Parade and Plot Point (Netherlands Dance Theater), Revisor, The Tempest Replica (Kidd Pivot) and Betroffenheit (Kidd Pivot/Electric Co.); and most recently, Angels’ Atlas (National Ballet of Canada / Zurich Opera House). Nancy's work has brought her together with various teams of fellow designers, directors, writers and choreographers to theatres and production workshops across Canada, the USA, the UK and to Europe. Her approach to costume design has been influenced by her visual arts background and many years of exceptional collaborations with some of Canada’s most innovative and groundbreaking theatre artists.
Tom Visser
Lighting Designer
Tom Visser grew up in the countryside of west Ireland. At the age of 18, he started working in music theatre through his theatrical family and in dance through the Nederlands Dans Theater. Since 2005, he has created original designs for choreographers including Crystal Pite, Alexander Ekman, Johan Inger, Stijn Celis, Lukas Timulak, Sharon Eyal, Hofesh Shechter, and more.
Eric Beauchesne
Associate Artistic Director
Born in Québec, Eric Beauchesne has been on stage with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, as well as with Canadian contemporary dance icons such as La Fondation Jean-Pierre Perrault, Paul-André Fortier, Louise Lecavalier and Crystal Pite. Company member since 2004, Eric now collaborates with Kidd Pivot as associate artistic director, and stages Pite’s work on companies worldwide. Eric has served as guest teacher for several organisations, as well as rehearsal director for Nederlands Dans Theater. He currently resides in Holland and devotes his spare time advocating for climate action in the dance world.
Dancers
Renée Sigouin
Dancer
Renée Sigouin was born in Saskatchewan and moved to Vancouver in 2008. Since graduating from Modus Operandi contemporary dance program in 2012, she has performed in several works with Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY, Company 605, Wen Wei Dance, Mascall Dance, Kinesis Somatheatro & EDAM. She joined Kidd Pivot in 2018.
Doug Letheren
Dancer
Doug Letheren is a Juilliard graduate and has danced with the Batsheva Dance Company, Sharon Eyal’s L-E-V, GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, Alan Lucien Øyen’s Winterguests, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s Hell’s Kitchen Dance, Adam Linder, and Kidd Pivot. He is a recipient of the 2007 Movado Future Legends Award, and a 2019 Der Faust German Theater Prize nominee.
Rakeem Hardy
Dancer
Rakeem Hardy, originally from Toronto, Canada, received their BFA and the Thayer Fellowship Award from the State University of New York at Purchase College. Through their time at Purchase, they performed works by Ohad Naharin, Doug Varone, Sidra Bell, Norbert De La Cruz III, and Roderick George. They received additional training at the Taipei National University of the Arts, as well at Springboard Danse Montreal where they performed pieces by Crystal Pite, Alejandro Cerrudo, and Aszure Barton. Rakeem has collaborated and performed with A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Loni Landon Dance Projects, Collectif LA TRESSE, and Gallim Dance.
Rena Narumi
Dancer
Rena Narumi was born in Tokyo, Japan. She trained at Centre d’artchoregraphique Franco-Japonais in Paris, France and Arts Umbrella dance graduate program in Vancouver BC,CANADA. She has performed with Kidd Pivot, Hessischen Staatstheaters Wiesbaden, Royal Swedish Ballet (RSB), Nederlands Dans Theater 1 (NDT1). With RSB, she performed the main role of Juliet in Juliet and Romeo by Mats Ek. With NDT1, she travelled all over the world to perform.
Ella Rothschild
Dancer
Ella Rothschild was born in Israel and is a choreographer, multidisciplinary artist and dancer. Rothschild received the Rosenblum Performing-Arts Award by the city of Tel-Aviv for promising creator of 2016, as well as the ministry of cultural award. In 2017 she received the Israeli Ministry of Culture Award for the best solo performer. Between 2013 to 2022, Ella created and performed eleven of her works in Israel, Europe, Japan, and the US. In 2020 Ella received a residency at Baryshnikov art center (NYC) and was named an artist in residence in the Suzanne Dellal Centre’s inaugural residency program where she created her work Pigulim. In the same year Ella collaborated with the director Kenichi Tani in a new Japanese production The History Of Humankind for the Kanagawa Arts Theatre. In 2021 Ella created Summer snow, on the edge of nowhere, and A Year Without Summer—a trilogy of artworks for the Batsheva Dance Company.
Brandon Alley
Dancer
Brandon Lee Alley began his professional career with Hubbard Street 2 followed by one year with BODYTRAFFIC in LA. In 2015, he joined Ballet BC where he had the privilege of dancing many leading roles for 5 seasons. Brandon is also the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Dance//Novella collective based in Vancouver, Canada. In addition to creating dance, Brandon has a passion for sound design. He has made several original scores for dance and is excited to be formalising his training with an audio engineering diploma from the SAE institute in North Vancouver.
Jennifer Florentino
Dancer
Jennifer Florentino, born in Paterson, NJ, is a storyteller with a career that reflects her work in theater, film and dance. She received her BFA in Dance from Point Park University. Upon graduating she had the privilege to perform across the country. Musical Theatre: On Your Feet (1st National), Moulin Rouge The Musical (Boston), Evita (Encores). Television/Film: Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, Modern Love, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Isn't It Romantic, Kennedy Center Honors (Gloria Estefan), SNL. Dance: Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Sonya Tayeh’s You'll Still Call Me By Name and recently worked with Aszure Barton at the LA Opera. Jennifer feels extremely delighted to join the Kidd Pivot family.
Gregory Lau
Dancer
Gregory Lau was born in Honolulu, Hawaii where he began his training at Mid-Pacific Institute School of the Arts. After attending The Juilliard School, Gregory joined Nederlands Dans Theater 2 in 2013 and went on to join Nederlands Dans Theater 1 in 2016. In 2019 he joined Kidd Pivot for the production of Revisor. He has been a recipient of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts 1st Award in Modern Dance and Ballet. He has worked with choreographers such as Jiri Kylian, Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Marco Goecke, Paul Lightfoot & Sol Leon, Hans Van Manen, Johan Inger, Edward Clug, Medhi Walerski, Alexander Ekman, Camille A.Brown and more. Gregory was recently featured in Doja Cat’s 2021 VMAS Performance.
Jade Chong
Dancer
Jade Chong was born and raised in Steveston, BC and first found her passion for movement as a gymnast beginning at age 2. She trained at Modus Operandi Contemporary Dance Program under the direction of Tiffany Tregarthen, David Raymond and Kate Franklin. Since graduating, she has had the pleasure of working with Khoudia Toure, Kirsten Wicklund & MUCCI/OURO Collective and has performed in works by Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Radical System Art and Company 605. In 2022, Jade toured nationally and internationally with Radical System Art.
Julian Hunt
Dancer
Julian Hunt was born in Terrace, B.C where he found his passion for dance at the age of 16 and later moved to Vancouver BC in 2020 to attend Modus Operandi post-secondary contemporary dance program under the direction of Tiffany Tregarthen, David Raymond and Kate Franklin. While at Modus Operandi, Julian got to study works by Crystal Pite, Out Innerspace Dance Theatre, Joshua Beamish/MOVETHECOMPANY, Yin Yue/YYDC, Spenser Theberge, Shay Kuebler. Julian is also a member of award winning Hip-Hop dance team, Northside, directed by Adrian Vendiola and Kelvin Tu. He is excited to be a part of this remount of Revisor.
Voice Actors
Scott McNeil
Voice Actor
Scott McNeil is an Australian-born Canadian actor and voice actor. He currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. One of the most well-known Canadian voice actors of all time, McNeil has provided voices to many characters in animated shows, most notably The Wacky World of Tex Avery, ReBoot, Beast Wars: Transformers, Storm Hawks, Dragon Ball Z, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, InuYasha, Ranma ½, Fullmetal Alchemist, X-Men: Evolution, League of Super Evil and Mega Man. He has done live action work as well.
Kathleen Barr
Voice Actor
Kathleen Barr is one of the voice-over industry's busiest actors, and has voiced anything and everything from raging zombies to nutty pieces of rebellious fruit. Favourite roles include: Dot (Reboot), Wheezie (Dragon Tales), Trixie (My Little Pony), Kat and Millie (Kid vs Kat), Glorb (Super Monsters), Mom (Johnny Test), Kevin and Marie Kanker (Ed, Edd and Eddy), Misako (Ninjago), Tina, Mavis and Dora (Corner Gas), Maetel (Galaxy Express 999), Laura and tons of characters on Dinosaur Train, and Chip and Potato, Yufon and Olin (Supernatural Academy), and a host of Evil Queens in the Barbie movies. Kathleen is thrilled to be a part of the amazing cast and crew of Revisor.
Gerard Plunkett
Voice Actor
Gerard Plunkett's first role with Kidd Pivot was in The Statement in 2015. He is delighted to voice Dr. Harlow in Revisor. Gerard is a Jessie Richardson and Leo award winner. His theatre work includes Saint Joan, Glengarry Glen Ross, Helen Lawrence and Tear the Curtain! Among his extensive movie/TV credits are Travelers, Legends of tomorrow, Eight Below, 2012, Sucker Punch, Intelligence, DaVinci's Inquest, Nightwatching, Snakes on a Plane and Seventh Son.
Ryan Beil
Voice Actor
Ryan Beil is an actor, comedian and writer based out of Vancouver, BC. He holds a BFA in Acting from the University of British Columbia. You can catch him every Sunday performing Improv with the legendary troupe The Sunday Service, which he founded. He is also on TV from time to time when the powers that be allow it. He is incredibly proud to have played a small role in the creation of Revisor and is jealous of all of the dancers’ incredible abilities.
Nicola Lipman
Voice Actor
Selected theatre credits: Humans, Matchmaker, Les Miserables, Driving Miss Daisy (Arts Club), Corleone (Classic Chic), Grey Gardens (Acting Up), Other Desert Cities (Citadel Theatre), King Arthur’s Night (Neworld Theatre), Scorched, Humble Boy, simpl (Tarragon Theatre), All the Way Home (Electric Company), Death of a Salesman (Theatre Calgary), and various film and TV. Nicola is a graduate of the National Theatre School and UBC, and has received four Jessie Awards and the 2012 Queens’ Diamond Jubilee Medal.
Amy Rutherford
Voice Actor
Amy Rutherford was classically trained at The National Theatre School of Canada and Birmingham Conservatory. For over 20 years, she has worked in TV, film and theatre with many of Canada’s leading directors and writers. In 2020, she received a Toronto Theatre Critics Award for her portrayal of Blanche Dubois in Soulpepper Theatre’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Amy is also an award-winning writer. Her play, Mortified, was recently published by Playwrights Canada Press.
About Kidd Pivot
World-renowned for radical hybrids of dance and theatre, Kidd Pivot creations are assembled with a keen sense of wit and invention. Led by Canadian choreographer and director Crystal Pite, the company is unflinching in the face of such challenging and complex themes as trauma, addiction, conflict, consciousness and mortality. Pite’s bold and original vision has earned her international acclaim and inspired an entire generation of dance artists.
Kidd Pivot strives to distill and translate universal questions into artworks that connect us to profound and essential parts of humanity. “Running through all of our work is the question of what moves us,” says Pite.
Kidd Pivot tours internationally with critically acclaimed works such as Betroffenheit and Revisor (both co-created with playwright Jonathon Young), The Tempest Replica, Dark Matters, Lost Action and The You Show.
Since 2015, Kidd Pivot has measured its touring carbon footprint and offset over 1000 tonnes of CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent), enabling Kidd Pivot to be one of the first dance companies to tour carbon neutral.
Kidd Pivot
Artistic Director Crystal Pite
Associate Artistic Director Eric Beauchesne
Writer-in-Residence Jonathon Young
Executive Director Jim Smith*
Producer Francesca Piscopo*
Associate Producer Sabine Rouques*
Communications and Marketing Manager Jonathan James*
Accounts Manager Ann Hepper*
Production Manager Jeff Harrison
Fundraising Associate Brent Belsher
Fundraising Coordinator Lo McEwan*
Administration Assistant Kevin Locsin*
Representation for Kidd Pivot:
Eponymous (Canada)
Menno Plukker Theatre Agent Inc. (International)
Assisted by Magdalena Marszalek and Isaïe Richard
* Eponymous
Board of Directors
President Ainslie Cyopik
Vice President Barry McKinnon
Treasurer Fiona Hanington
Secretary Dory Dynna
Past President Guy Riecken
Directors Valerie Jerome and Derek Porter
Festival for the Future
Adelaide Festival is proudly Carbon Neutral and you can help us reduce our impact on the environment further! This year, Adelaide Festival has partnered with Reforest and Trees for Life to support the Mannavale farm bushfire recovery project in Adelaide Hills.
Plant one for the planet as part of your Adelaide Festival experience. You can learn more about the project, take action and track your impact here.
Your contribution through Reforest will help repair the damage caused by both bushfires and historical land clearing, and help Trees for Life plant a range of native species to restore an area of forest habitat for native wildlife.
