Land Acknowledgement
Outside the March makes theatre on Turtle Island, the Land we are on, also known by many other names. We are specifically based in the Land known as Toronto, or Tkaronto, which includes the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, the Wendat, Haudenosaunee, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.
We acknowledge, honour and work to act in solidarity with all Indigenous peoples. We also recognize that acknowledgement is only the first step in ending oppression and contributing to the repair of relationships with our neighbours and the Land we call home.
Outside the March is actively working to address how we can better honour and serve Indigenous art and artists, and support these storytellers in sharing their own art, histories and culture. If you have feedback or questions about this land acknowledgement or anything else, we welcome you to email us at Info@outsidethemarch.ca.
Our Values
Our five core values have always implicitly informed what we do, and were articulated and formalized during our 2022 Strategic Planning process. We strive to fully embody them in all our work.
CURIOSITY: We’re on the hunt for the hidden theatrical potential in the world around us. We are open and adaptive as we seek new ways to tell stories together.
CARE: Our approach to hospitality celebrates that every artist, every staff member and every audience member has different needs and desires. We strive to be compassionate and empathetic, building a safer, more accessible, more equitable space for everyone who interacts with the company.
THRILLS: We relish the unknown, embracing joy and risk in our processes and surprise in our artistic offerings.
CONNECTION: We consciously forge relationships between artists, collaborators, audiences, our neighbours in Toronto, and the land we share stories on.
IMMERSION: We create epic and intimate worlds tailored to the unique needs of each project. We see every facet of a production as a chance to deepen the storytelling experience—from the first glance at a poster to the journey home from the show, and everything in between.
Who We Are
Outside the March creates unforgettable immersive encounters—redefining the experience of theatre for new generations of audiences.
We’re driven by the conviction that theatre’s secret weapon is the power of communal presence unique to live performance. We embrace live storytelling in any and all of its forms, giving our artists the greatest possible latitude for engaging audiences. So our experiences are immersive and site-engaged, often fusing the epic with the intimate. They are the antidote to passively scrolling content—always surprising, never boring.
We support and spotlight Canadian storytellers and selectively produce immersive productions of contemporary narratives from around the world. Our mandate allows us to seamlessly welcome audiences who don’t normally find themselves at the theatre, often bringing underused spaces into the public eye. We’ve invited audiences to play with us in a Parkdale kindergarten classroom (“Mr. Marmalade” 2011), weather the apocalypse in an abandoned Leslieville movie theatre (“Mr. Burns” 2015), unlock mysteries in a beloved Annex VHS rental store (“The Tape Escape” 2019), place a phone call to our mystery-solving service from anywhere in the world (“The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries” 2020-23), and rave at an underground dance party in a transformed cubicle farm (“R.A.V.E.” 2024).
We encourage our creators to expand the canvas on which theatrical storytelling takes place by treating every part of the theatre experience—from venue selection, to marketing materials, to post-show engagement—as having storytelling potential.
Our values-centred approach means that our practices and programming emphasize care, accessibility, sustainability and equity. Now mid-way through our second decade, we gleefully throw open our toolshed and are increasingly a national leader in supporting underrepresented voices in immersive performance with robust financial support, mentorship and platforms for development and showcase. This approach is enshrined in our current Strategic Plan, developed in collaboration with hundreds of artists, audiences and volunteers.
Our community includes new generations (ARTISTIC ACCOMPLICES), visionary creators (TD FORWARD MARCH), the artistic community (MARCHLAB workshops) and theatre audiences and non-theatre goers alike drawn to our discipline-bending productions. And we’re transforming how our company and our community activate underused spaces in our city with the launch of our OUTFIT THE March capital project and our MOBILE THEATRE TOOLKIT free lending and mentorship program.
History
We’ve become one of Canada’s leading immersive theatre companies—with 30 productions, 15 World Premieres, 23 Canadian Premieres, success with national and international touring, and two feature film adaptations.
Outside the March was founded in 2009 by Artistic Co-Directors Mitchell Cushman and Simon Bloom, and core artists Amy Keating, Sébastien Heins, Katherine Cullen and Ishai Buchbinder.
Much of our company’s artistic identity stems from discoveries made while developing our first immersive production, the Dora-Award-winning Mr. Marmalade (2011). The piece was staged promenade-style in a kindergarten classroom, with design constructed entirely out of found materials. Since then we’ve aimed to offer our audiences a level of stimulation, specificity and freedom equal to that of kids playing in a kindergarten classroom
During the pandemic, we became one of the country’s most active arts organizations. We created: Lessons in Temperament by James Smith, a full-length feature film currently streaming on TVO; Program Sound, a digital radio station created by Bahia Watson; an installation in High Park about Indigenous marker trees by Phil Coté; and a live “inflatable bubble” wedding ceremony that went viral with over 1.5 million online views. Most notably, we created The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries, a semi-improvised, telephone-based experience. Driven by a sense of responsibility to our communities of isolated audiences and precariously-employed artists, it was a runaway success, performed in 200+ cities to ecstatic reviews and passing on almost $200,000 in artist fees to 30+ performers.
Now in our 16th year, we develop and produce new Canadian immersive voices, and we selectively produce immersive adaptations of existing English-language scripts for their Canadian premieres. Our programming is experienced by thousands of Canadians every year and our outreach programs reach hundreds annually. We’ve been honoured with numerous distinctions, including a dozen Dora Awards. OtM boasts an extraordinarily strong financial track record, an active and passionate board of directors, and a growing staff supported by industry-leading HR policies and practices.
The company was co-led by Mitchell Cushman and Simon Bloom until 2015 when Bloom departed and Cushman became sole Artistic Director, a position he still holds. Throughout his years with the organization, Cushman has directed over a dozen award-winning, critically acclaimed productions and become recognized as one of the country’s leading immersive theatre practitioners. Throughout his tenure, he has also nurtured the development of a host of new plays and emerging artists and been foundational to developing OtM’s signature artistic voice. Through his direction of innovative solo pieces such as Lessons in Temperament (2017), The Ex-Boyfriend Yard-Sale (2019), No Save Points (2023) and Performance Review (2025), he has also specialized in exploring immersivity as a tool for capturing personal memoir.
During his tenure as Artistic Co-Director, Simon Bloom greatly contributed to the foundational years of the company. His work directing the SummerWorks Festival hits Murderers Confess at Christmastime (2013) and That Syncing Feeling (2015) helped grow the company’s reputation for compelling intimate storytelling, while his contributions as co-director on Mr. Burns (2015) served to redefine the epic scope of OtM’s site-specific productions. During his time in leadership, Bloom also led the processes for the company to become a registered not-for-profit and receive charitable status, shoring up the organization’s longevity. He left the company in 2015 to pursue a career in web development and has remained an active company stakeholder and supporter. He currently serves as a passionate member of OtM’s Board of Directors.
Katherine Devlin Rosenfeld was OtM’s Managing Producer from 2013-2024, serving as the company’s co-executive lead. During her transformative 11 years with the company, she oversaw its growth from an indie collective to a robust charitable non-profit organization, producing many of our award-winning productions including Vitals (2014), Jerusalem (2018) and No Save Points (2023). Devlin Rosenfeld led passionately, with unwavering dedication and attention to detail that benefited all of the projects she undertook while leaving an indelible mark on the company’s history.
OtM continues to be guided by its Artistic Council, six artists with a long-term history of collaboration with the company: Ishai Buchbinder (founding member), Katherine Cullen (founding member), Anahita Dehbonehie (associate artist and former Metcalf Foundation Intern), Jeff Ho (former Company Dramaturg), Amy Keating (founding member), and Michelle Yagi (former Interim Managing Producer and 2023-28 Strategic Plan Coordinator).
Production History
(**World Premiere | *Canadian Premiere)
Performance Review (2025 production)**
R.A.V.E. (2024 co-production with The R.A.V.E. Institute in association with Toronto Luminato Festival)**
A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney (2024 co-production with Soulpepper)
No Save Points (2023 presentation by Starvox Entertainment in association with Modern Times Stage Company)**
The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale (2022 presentation by Soulpepper, 2019 presentation by Progress Festival, both in co-production red light district)*
Trojan Girls (2022 co-production with Factory Theatre)**
Lessons in Temperament (film adaptation) (2021 film adaptation distributed by LevelFilm and TVO)**
StupidHead! (2021 production in partnership with Talk is Free Theatre)
The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries (2020-2023 production, including co-productions with SummerWorks, Theatre Direct, Sound Off, Unity Health and TO Live)**
Something Bubbled, Something Blue (2020 production in association with Talk is Free Theatre)**
The Stream You Step In (2020 co-production with University of Windsor Drama)**
The Golem’s Mighty Swing (2019 presentation by Winnipeg Jewish Theatre)**
The Flick (2019 co-production with Crow’s Theatre)*
The Tape Escape (2019 production)**
A Community Target (2018 co-production with Convergence Theatre)**
Dr. Silver: A Celebration of Life (2018 co-production with The Musical Stage Company)**
Jerusalem (2018 co-production with The Company Theatre)*
Lessons in Temperament (2016 presentation by SummerWorks; 2017 New York tour presentation by Soulpepper; 2022 presentations by National Arts Centre & Stratford Festival; 2023 presentation by High Performance Rodeo; 2024 tour presentation by Ontario Presents)**
TomorrowLove™ (2016 production) **
That Syncing Feeling (2015 presentation by SummerWorks)**
Mr. Burns, a post-electric play (2015 production in association with Crow’s Theatre)*
Vitals (2014 production in association with Theatre Passe Muraille)**
Murderers Confess at Christmastime (2013 presentation by SummerWorks)
Passion Play (2013 co-production with Convergence Theatre and Sheep No Wool)*
Terminus (2012 presentation by SummerWorks & Mirvish; 2014 tour to The Belfry & Yukon Arts Centre; 2015 presentation by Centaur Theatre)*
Mr. Marmalade (2011 presentation by SummerWorks)*
The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs (2012 in association with Theatre Passe Muraille)
Oh the Humanity, and Other Good Intentions (2010 production)*