play/PLAY: the gallery

A working collection of 70+ North American participatory performances collected by Jenn Stephenson, Mariah Horner, and research assistants Derek Manderson, Jacob Pittini and Hailey Scott. All photography is gathered from promotional material associated with the shows and whenever possible, production information is provided. To see more information on cast and creative team, click the image in the gallery. 

If you are an artist with a participatory performance on the horizon, please connect with us through our contact page! 

4inXchange / xLq / 4 audience members. 1 table. $1000.00 in cash. Limitless possibilities.

Ambrose / Single Thread Theatre Company / Solo audience exploratory ghost story in the Grand Theatre in Kingston.

The Archive of Missing Things / Zuppa Theatre Co. / An audience is led on a digital scavenger hunt of a lost archive, with the help of live actor vignettes, audio excerpts, and an iPad app.

The Assembly / Porte Parole / A staged debate about democracy with a final act inviting the audience to speak their piece.

Brantwood / Co-created by Julie Tepperman and Mitchell Cushman / An immersive and site specific musical at an old high school.

Broken Tailbone / Carmen Aguirre (Nightswimming) / A salsa dance lesson with monologue about politics and sex.

b side / Co-created by Molly Johnson and Meredith Thompson / A meditative act of witnessing and wandering, giving life to what is hidden in plain sight.

Ça a l’air Synthétique Bonjour Hi / co-created by Burcu Emeç, Michael Martini, Nien Tzu Weng and Roxa Hy / A satirical participatory performance where willing audience members are compensated for their participation.

Café Sarajevo / bluemouth inc. / An immersive experience exploring the borders that divide and unite us, within the framework of a live podcast.

Choir!Choir!Choir! @ foldA / Choir!Choir!Choir! / A crowd of strangers becomes a community choir, located in Kingston, Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal connected digitally.

Citation / Lisa C. Ravensbergen / Audio walk meets ritual around Queen’s University Campus.

Club Quarantine / A socially isolated queer nightclub and dance party on Zoom. ​

Counting Sheep / Lemon Bucket Orkestra / Audience participates in recreated moments from the Ukranian revolution.

culture.capital / Milton Lim and Patrick Blenkarn / A collectible trading card game and live art performance project

Corona Variations / Convergence Theatre / Four live phone plays

Draw Me Close / Jordan Tannahill / A one-one-one VR performance with an audience member and an actor in a mocap suit.

Everyman / Single Thread Theatre Company / Show for one, adaptation of Everyman in a church basement where you are Everyman.

Foreign Radical / Theatre Conspiracy / Theatre-game hybrid that explores security, profiling, freedom of expression, and privacy in the age of cybersurveillance.

Good Things To Do / Good Things Collective / A show for one in a camping tent, where you befriend a computer program that offers tips on self-care.

Green Rooms / NAC & FOLDA / An international conference live on Zoom

Haircuts By Children / Mammalian Diving Reflex / Children give free haircuts to the public

Imaginary Ordinary / Eric Moschopedis / A community centre meets pop-up performance space. For regular people, by regular people.

Improbable Escapes Kingston / A series of escape rooms and experiences in Kingston.

Intimate Karaoke, Live in Uterine Hall / Dayna McLeod / Cabaret karaoke where participants are invited to sing karaoke into a mic fed into Danya MacLeod's uterus

It Comes in Waves / bluemouth inc. & Necessary Angel Theatre Co. / Canoeing to the Toronto Island to set up an experimental dance party.

The Itinerary: Playtest / Outside the March & Sébastien Heins / An interactive real life video game that’s controlled by the audience and performed live

Landline / XO Secret / Two strangers text while doing a tandem audio-walk in two different cities.

Legend Has It / Rebecca Northan / An audience member is selected to be the hero in a quest to save the world

Looking At You / Kamala Sankaram, Rob Handel, Kristin Marting / An experimental opera where the an app mines and projects participants' social media during the show.

Lost Together / UnSpun Theatre / A participant shares a story of loss, Michaela and Shira make them something to remember.

Lumina Walks / Moment Factory / A series of unique site specific outdoor immersive experiences.

May I Take Your Arm? / Red Dress Productions / A tactile audio experience where participants are taken by the arm through an immersive installation.

Megaphone / Moment Factory / An outdoor interactive urban art installation exploring public speaking.

Ministry of Mundane Mysteries / Outside the March / Week-long series of personal phone calls

Monday Nights / 6th Man Collective / Live performance meets basketball game, teamwork is the drill we're all running.

New Societies / Re: Current Theatre / A game that invites players to create a utopia

Play in Your Bathtub / This is Not a Theatre Company / A site-specific immersive experience taking place in your own bathtub

Plays2Perform@Home / Boca del Lupo / Four plays mailed to your door to be read by your pandemic "bubble"

[Queer] Blind Date / Rebecca Northan / Improv show where a clown invites an audience member on a date.

Red Phone / Boca del Lupo / An audience-to-audience performance that utilizes the intimacy of a phone call and the technology of a teleprompter

Secret City Adventures / Series of theatrical escape room games in Toronto.

Sleep No More / Punchdrunk / Shakespeare's Macbeth told through a film noir lens

Sensory Box / Ghost River Theatre / A tactile play-in-a-box performed live and livestreamed

The Stranger / DLT / You are the main character in an ambulatory immersive show about being-in-the-world.

Tape Escape / Outside the March / Escape room meets immersive performance set in a 90s video store.

The Curious Voyage / DLT / An immersive show where the participant starts in a hotel, hops on a plane and ends up seeing a secret musical in London.

This is Nowhere / Zuppa Theatre Co / Ambient Street Performance about searching for a secret blueprint of Halifax, exploring the city's past and present, and imagining its future

Time for Time / compagnie marie chouinard / One by one, audience members tell dancers a wish for them to interpret through movement

Tour / Mardon and Mitsuhashi / Performers act as tour guides, leading audiences through the space and sharing their knowledge regarding their surroundings

To You / Cellar Door Project / A pandemic pop-up porch Birthday party

Town Crier / Theatre Replacement / Criers declare everyday observations which are relayed via tablet

Trophy / STO Union / A performance and art installation that asks: how have you changed?

What Happens to You, Happens to Me / Susanna Fournier and CanStage / a meditative audio play for the COVID-19 isolation

Why We Are Here / Nightswimming / An invitation to sing with other people with a political/social/geographical bent.