What to Expect at…Outside the March

/By Jessica Watson / Nov 12, 2021

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Looking for information about your favourite theatres? We’ve got you covered! Intermission’s Insider Intel articles showcase one theatre at a time to give you all the information you need before your visit.

This week: Outside the March

What kind of theatre do they produce?

Outside the March creates unforgettable immersive encounters—redefining the experience of theatre for a new generation of audiences. Their immersive experiences are communal, site-engaged and fuse the epic with the intimate, all with the goal of implicating their audiences in the stories that they share.

By expanding the canvas on which their storytelling takes place, Outside the March bring underused spaces into the public eye and welcome audiences who don’t normally find themselves at the theatre. Over the past decade, they’ve invited audiences to play in a Parkdale kindergarten classroom, parade with Queen Elizabeth along the Danforth, venture to Roncesvalles on an EMS call, follow a piano-tuner into living rooms across the city, weather the apocalypse in an abandoned Leslieville movie theatre, infuse a Davisville funeral home with love, unlock mysteries in a beloved Annex VHS video store, and place a call to an eccentric private investigator service. Outside the March seeks to support new voices who see every closed door—every warehouse, storefront window, café and public park—as an opportunity: a chance to amplify the vital and disparate narratives of the moment.

Location

Outside the March operates in Toronto.

Maeve Beatty and the cast of *Passion Play* (2013) cross Carlaw Street. Photo by Corbin Smith.

Venue

Outside the March primarily creates experiences in found spaces—their venue is ever-changing, and always a key to the experience. Sometimes audiences will be invited to move through the space, so dressing for movement is key. Expect the unexpected, and prepare to be immersed!

Ticket Prices

Tickets are generally $30 (this may vary slightly depending on the show)
Discounts are typically offered to artsworkers and students

For more information on Outside the March’s latest shows or to purchase tickets, visit their website.

COVID-19 Safety Information

Outside the March is following provincial guidelines
All patrons, artists, and staff who attend and OtM production must be fully vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination (second dose at least two weeks prior to your visit), with the sole exception of patrons under the age of 12
Masks must always been worn indoors, except when patrons are seated to eat and drink

Amy Keating and Rielle Braid perform in *Mr. Burns* (2015). Photo by Neil Silcox.

Accessibility

Outside the March is committed to creating inclusive experiences and seeks to offer accessibility services depending on the location and nature of a performance. Check their website, www.outsidethemarch.ca for accessibility information for their current shows.

Artists You Might Recognise

Outside the March is run by a group of dedicated and passionate theatre artists from across the country and beyond. Whether you’ve seen them onstage or have caught a show in which they were involved, these familiar names are staples, risk-takers, and change-makers within the Toronto theatre community.

Mitchell Cushman, Artistic Director
Sébastien Heins, Associate Artistic Director
Griffin McInnes, Creative Producer
Jeff Ho, Company Dramaturg
Nick Blais, Head of Design
Amy Keating, Artistic Associate
Katherine Cullen, Artistic Associate
Michelle Yagi, Artistic Associate
Anahita Dehbonehie, Artistic Associate

David Andrew Reid & Jacqueline Burtney perform in *Something Bubbled, Something Blue* (2020), presented by Talk is Free Theatre in association with Outside the March. Photo by Scott Cooper.

Workshops and Classes

MarchLAB is a series of theatre creation workshops led by OtM artists. Topics include: Design Your Own Website For Theatre Artists, Intro to Immersive Theatre, Playwriting and more. These workshops are highly subsidised by the company and various partnerships to make them accessible for artists. Workshops are offered intermittently, typically twice a year: keep an eye on Outside the March’s website, newsletter, and social media to find out when they are open for applications.

Where to Eat and Drink

Because their venue changes with every show, Outside the March makes it easy for you to grab a bite before or after the performance. Information of where to eat and drink at each venue will be available on their website, so be sure to check before your next OtM adventure!

Iconic Past Productions:

Inside a brightly coloured kindergarten classroom, Lucy, age 4 stand barefoot. She is wears a pink dress, with her hair in pigtails, and she is hugger a taller man, who wears a white suit.

Mr. Marmalade

2013 DORA AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION AND SUMMERWORKS FESTIVAL'S EMERGING ARTIST AWARD

Comparable to an episode of Rugrats on LSD, Noah Haidle's Mr. Marmalade centres around Lucy, aged four, and her abusive relationship with her imaginary friend Mr. Marmaladeâ€”a violent, degenerate, sex-obsessed drug-addict. Through its darkly comic lens, the play explores the way in which children are being socialized and sexualized at a younger and younger age in our media-inundated culture. This promenade-style production is staged inside an actual kindergarten classroom. The audience roams the space alongside the performers, and selects their own vantage point from which to watch the story, and drink their juice box.

Image courtesy of Outside the March

An EMT stands next to a white brick wall, lit from behind. Her hair is pulled back and she is in uniform, peering intensely at a point on the wall, which she picks at with her right hand.

Vitals

WINNER OF 2 DORA AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING INDEPENDENT PRODUCTION AND OUTSTANDING ORIGINAL PLAY

Anna's daily routine is life, death, bureaucracy. Every call she receives is an emergency. How much trouble is our city in? Based on real interviews conducted with a Toronto EMS worker, Vitals, by Rosamund Small, invites the audience to venture into the psyche of a paramedic dealing with PTSD. The play weaves together a canvas of affecting, poignant and disturbing emergency stories and explores their impact on the responder to these calls. OtM's 2014 production was staged inside of a residential house in Roncesvalles, and transformed every inch of this three-story home to resemble the fractured memories of dozens of emergency calls. Performed using a live-broadcast, audio headset system, audience members were free to forge their own experience through Anna's psyche, while the narrative of the experience unfolded all around them.

Image courtesy of Outside the March

A man in a blue shirt is held aloft by three women, his face obscured by a brown rubber horse mask. He raises his arms above him as if in trimuph.

Jerusalem

WINNER OF 6 DORA AWARDS, AND THE JON KAPLAN AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD

Award-winning Canadian screen icon Kim Coates returned to the stage after almost thirty yearsâ€”teaming up with Outside the March to present the national premiere of Jez Butterworth's explosive masterwork. A pied piper tale for the Tarantino generation, Jerusalem is the story of aging daredevil Johnny ”Roosterâ€ Byron, purveyor of drugs, alcohol, mythic tales and sanctuary to the troubled teens of Wiltshire county. Squat with Rooster deep in the heart of Byron wood, as he rails against the community council bent on eradicating him, bulldozing the land, and putting up condos. A bold new exploration of one of the most lauded plays of the past twenty years, described by Ben Brantley of The New York Times as ”a great frame-busting play that thinks big â€” transcendently big â€” in ways contemporary drama seldom daresâ€.

Image courtesy of Outside the March

Eight artists are gathered together, their faces lit by red and blue lights, staring forward and up with a variety of expressions - some are concerned, others seemingly excited - but they are all staring intently at what they're looking at. The woman in the centre of the group is holding an open book.

Tape Escape

AN OUTSIDE THE MARCH ORIGINAL PRODUCTION

Outside the March gave Queen Video a re-birth with an immersive escape room experience that invited you to put your life on pause. Most video stores let you take the movies home. But at The Tape Escape, the rentals happen to you, pulling you deep inside its collection of thousands of VHS Tapes. Created by Vanessa Smythe, Mitchell Cushman, and Nick Bottomley, The Tape Escape invited audiences to disappear back into 1999 with this love-letter to the lost art of browsing. Audiences could escape into (and out of) some of their favourite movies by selecting from our collection of ”in store rentalsâ€.

Image courtesy of Outside the March

WRITTEN BY

Jessica Watson

Jessica is a former associate editor at Intermission, as well as a writer, classically-trained actor, and plant enthusiast. Since graduating from LAMDA in the UK with her MA in acting, you can often find her writing screenplays and short plays in the park, writing extensive lists of plant care tips, or working on stage and screen (though she uses a stage name). Jessica freelances with various companies across Canada, but her passion lies in working with theatre artists and enthusiasts.

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