All Together Now, June 2017
“Krista Leigh Pasini and the cast of All Together Now created an entry point into grief and the human experience that is both heart wrenchingly beautiful and poignant. The use of movement to convey story is original and takes this theatrical performance to new heights. You will be blown away by the caliber of the script, the lighting and set design, only surpassed by the performance of the actors. Montana competes with the best talent coming out of any urban population. ”
About the Project
All Together Now first premiered as a one act submission for Sacrifice Cliff Theatre’s New Works Festival in 2015. Pasini collaborated with sound artist Matt Taggart on the drifting gaps in Montana families as sons and daughters pick up new occupations and leave the farms, ranches, and towns they were raised in. Without dialog, the piece depicts a family at dinner communicating through action and gesture. As the project evolved into an evening length work, a secondary narrative emerged: how a family copes and fractures amid tragedy. The 90 minute performance can’t be considered a play or a dance, rather it’s a nonlinear piece of multidisciplinary theater and relies heavily on a unique sound score to drive narratives delivered through movement and gesture. The movement and story is anchored by a dining table; the only place the family is together in both bright and dark times.
Follow the Journey
More details & information posted on the Facebook event pages All Together Now (2016) and All Together Now at Carroll College (2017)
Cast + Crew
Learn more about the Artists
Carol: Dina Brophy
John: Dave Caserio
Annie: Carly Mann
Sam: Dan Nickerson
Dennis: Patrick Scott-Wilson
Set & Tech Designer: Michael Pasini
Lighting Designer: Dave Schanno
Stage Manager: Alys Marshall
Director: Krista Leigh Pasini
Original Theme Score: Matt Taggart
Featured Music by: Matthew Burtner
Photography Ted Kim + Jodie Tenicin + Thom Bridge + Ed Kemmick + Casey Page
Promotion Design: Allison Kazmierski
“I can’t begin to recommend this remarkable play enough. I won’t get into specifics (for that, you’ll have to see the play) but will say that All Together Now touches on personal loss and grief with an unforgettable voice. Just a superb performance all the way around. Go see it! ”
PC: Ted Kim (2016)
PC Independent Record (2017) Thom Bridge
“I still can’t quite articulate the level to which I was touched. An incredibly thoughtful, complicated, and realistic depiction of what [does and doesn’t] happen inside a family in the aftermath of tragedy. A whole lotta scar tissue was loosened for many, I’m sure. ”
“This is a terrific play and ensemble. The cast did a superb job. There is a scene where Carly Green (who is so stellar throughout) slips under the dining table. The movement is haunting in its fluidity. That’s all I’m going to say. You’ll have to go and see for yourself. ”
PC: Ted Kim (2016)
Press Links 2016
Last Best News, Dancer Director Debuts Drama Keeps it Real Raw Live "Pasini had decided early on to make the play an immersive experience, so that audience members were not merely watching a family dinner but feeling almost a part of it ... All in all, it’s an impressive debut for a director." Ed Kemmick
Billings Gazette, Billings Newest Venue Hosts All Together Now "Pasini is still the play’s director, but she encouraged the performers — all experienced in the craft of theater and performance art — to add their vision to the work. The result is an unnervingly accurate look at a family with all of its eccentricities and varying worldviews." Jaci Webb
Billings Gazette, Examples Point to Billings Demand for Culture "The play doesn't rely on dialogue to communicate grief, bitterness, and ultimately love. Because director Krista Leigh Pasini is a dancer and choreographer, her vision for the piece was to use the body to convey messages from the heart ... It feels like we're peeping into a window of this family’s home."
““Mourning is intrinsic to cultivating response-ability. Mourning is about dwelling with a loss and so coming to appreciate what it means, how the world has changed, and how we must ourselves change and renew our relationships if we are to move forward. Genuine mourning should open us into an awareness of our dependence on and relationships with those countless others being driven over the edge of extinction ... The reality, however, is that there is no avoiding the necessity of the difficult cultural work of reflection and mourning. This work is the foundation of any sustainable and informed response. Grief is a path to understanding entangled shared living and dying ... without sustained remembrance, we cannot learn to live with the ghosts and so cannot think ... it matters what thoughts think thoughts; it matters what stories tell stories”
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