“made-to-measure… executed so generously… [The Ministry] asked about my world, listened and then let me slip free of it, at 10-minute intervals.”
– The New York Times
Finding yourself with a little time on your hands?
Missing the uplift of live arts and culture?
Is there a friend, a relative or a kid in your life who could use a daily dose of adventure?
The meticulous mavericks at The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries have got you covered. This customized improvised narrative experience unfolds over five exciting phone calls in one thrilling hour, as our intrepid private investigators delve into audience members’ very own micro mysteries using the investigative power of good conversation.
“The storytelling, the creativity, the wonderful acting and improvisation, the personalisation and immersion – was all incredible, and the experience was shared with such warmth – I am grinning from ear to ear. This, for me, is immersive theatre at it’s best.”
– Nina T. (audience member)
Since its premiere in March 2020, The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries has expanded into Outside the March’s longest-running project to date. Highlights so far include:
- In June 2020 169 free experiences were offered through a partnership with SummerWorks, including 15 ASL experiences for Deaf and HOH audiences
- In August 2020, MMM: Playdate Edition was developed with Theatre Direct and TO Live, a TYA-version of investigations with accompanying education materials that allowed kids in isolation to reconnect with their friends over the phone
- From October to December 2020, with the support of Unity Health and The Joy Fund, runs MMM: Frontline Edition, which adapts the one-week experience into one-hour, free experiences for frontline workers in Toronto
- The Pay-It-Forward program, where audiences could donate a free experience to someone in need, has resulted in over 40 experiences donated through partnerships with Amica Senior Lifestyles, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Toronto, and L’Arche Toronto
- Spearheaded by Shannon Currie and with the assistance of Colin Doyle, MMM was adapted into an Artists in the Classroom initiative, finding its way into the virtual halls of high schools across Ontario to supplement drama education in the online setting. Through in-class lessons in improvisation, story structure, and character creation, students found a way to connect, play, and develop their own work in the virtual landscape.
- In March 2021, the ASL edition was featured at the SOUND OFF Festival
- In June 2021, a one-hour “Power Hour” version was featured at the International Children’s Festival of the Arts
- In June 2021, Inspectors Kanagasekarampillai & Yuzwenko-Martin created a new ASL edition, “The Ministry of Cisnormative Mysteries”, in collaboration with Deaf Spectrum and Pride Toronto
Since investigations opened worldwide in June, The Ministry has investigated mundanities in over 210 cities. Now the project is expanding to offer independent artists in some of the countries hardest hit by the pandemic the opportunity to stay active and connected:
In November 2020, Lima-based Peruvian theatre company Animalien premiered “La Central de Misterios Cotidianos”, a Spanish-language adaptation of Mundane Mysteries. Peru has had one of the highest mortality increases in the world during the pandemic. The production, which began an open-ended run in November, is helmed by Animalien Artistic Directors Fiorella Pennano and Norma Martinez, who joined the Toronto cast as “Guest Inspectors” this past summer. For more information, and to watch the animated trailer, visit www.centraldemisterios.com
In December 2020, The Thespo Festival, an iconic youth theatre festival based in Mumbai, India has programmed a run of Mundane Mysteries, hiring a dozen local performers aged 18 to 25 to take on lighthearted mysteries posed by Indian audiences, like “The Case of the Aliens at Alibag Beach,” and “The Case of the Missing Ghagra-Choli.” India has the world’s second-largest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and continues to implement extensive lockdown restrictions. For more information, visit https://thespo.org
Explore all our mysteries worldwide using our interactive map. Click the button in the top left corner to open the legend and see all the different mysteries we’ve solved, or use your cursor to move around the world and see where mundanity is wrecking the most havoc.
*This is a CAEA production under the Artists’ Collective Policy
On a Telephone Near You
