The OtM-ifesto
Outside the March creates unforgettable immersive encounters—redefining the experience of theatre for a new generation of audiences.
For everyone who is tired of passively scrolling content, for anyone concerned that our city is becoming one indistinguishable condo block, we’re here to offer a cultural wake-up call.
We work to harness theatre’s secret weapon—the power of presence unique to live performance that can’t be streamed or downloaded. Our immersive experiences are communal, site-engaged and fuse the epic with the intimate, all with the goal of implicating our audiences in the stories that we share.
By expanding the canvas on which our storytelling takes place, we bring underused spaces into the public eye and welcome audiences who don’t normally find themselves at the theatre. Over the past decade, we’ve invited audiences to play with us 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 our eccentric private investigator service. Along the way, we’ve developed a signature artistic practice and an audience base that unites hardcore theatre lovers with the newly-initiated.
Charging into our second decade we will seek out more cross-disciplinary collaborations with the makers who inspire us. We will contribute to a more sustainable world, through both our practices and our programming, recognizing that the climate crisis is the most urgent issue of our time. And we will throw open our toolshed, contributing to a more equitable industry and furnishing a new and diverse generation of creators with the tools to immerse audiences in their stories.
As we look forward to what’s next, we seek 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 our moment.
*Outside the March was founded in 2009 by Co-Artistic Directors, Mitchell Cushman and Simon Bloom, and core artists, Amy Keating, Sebastien Heins, Katherine Cullen and Ishai Buchbinder. Katherine Devlin Rosenfeld joined the company in 2013 as the company’s first Managing Producer.