Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation steps up with $500,000 donation for nomadic theatre company Outside the March | Canada Voices

A substantial gift will help a nomadic Toronto theatre company in its quest to easily turn almost any space into a fully functional, comfortable, temporary venue for site-specific productions. The $500,000 donation from the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation is the largest single contribution in Outside the March’s 15-year history.

In the past, the company rented equipment on an ad hoc basis for immersive theatrical experiences across the city. Productions have taken place in such unconventional spaces as a Parkdale kindergarten classroom, an abandoned Leslieville movie theatre and a former video rental store.

The company aims to raise $1.5-million for the first phase of its capital project, called Outfit the March. The funds will allow for the purchase of modern production equipment and temporary seating.

“In the past, we were often renting the wrong equipment for too much money, and we’d be back to square one at the end of the production,” said founding artistic director Mitchell Cushman.

The company’s site-specific productions typically took place in abandoned spaces the company would take over for an extended period of a time. The new equipment, including wireless, compact lights, will premiere next month in a coffee shop. The café will continue to operate during the day, with performances taking place at night.

“A traditional stage light takes 40 minutes to hang in the perfect position on a grid above the stage,” said playwright Rosamund Small. “That’s never going to be something that is practical in an operating café. But these beautiful new lights can be put up and taken down so quickly.”

Small will perform her one-person play, Performance Review, at the Morning Parade Coffee Bar on Dundas Street West, Feb. 27 to March 23.

The staging equipment acquired through the capital project will also be available to other companies in the city that operate without a home stage. “We’ll use the gear about two-thirds of the year,” Cushman said. “For the rest of the year, we can loan it out at cost or below market rates.”

Though Outside the March also mounts productions in established theatres with staging equipment already in place, those spaces are more expensive than the unconventional venues they temporarily refit.

“Theatres are hot commodities and more unaffordable for independent collectives and emerging artists,” Cushman said. “Since the pandemic, there is quite a lot of vacant and underutilized space in the city.”

Including the gift from the Hilary and Galen Weston Foundation, $800,000 has been raised to date. The first wave of equipment acquisitions was used for 2024′s R.A.V.E., which involved Outside the March transforming abandoned office space at the former Downsview Airport into a neon-lit underground dance party.

New production gear will include an adjustable wheelchair ramp; a fully equipped mobile workshop; e-generators and solar panels capable of running an entire production off grid; and hundreds of foldable, modular chairs.