Media Release
Sharing the Stage: Rainbow on Mars
August 9 – 20
Tickets Onsale Now
June 25, 2025... Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, announced today that Outside the March will be the company’s next Sharing the Stage partner with the world premiere of Rainbow on Mars by Devon Healey. Rainbow on Mars is a co-production between The National Ballet of Canada, Outside the March and Peripheral Theatre and will be onstage at the Ada Slaight Hall at Daniels Spectrum August 9 – 20. Tickets are on sale now.
Rainbow on Mars is a multidisciplinary reclamation of Blindness by Healey, a playwright, performer and Assistant Professor of Disability Studies and one of the country’s leading voices on the necessary creativity of Blindness in the performing arts. The project features a hybrid cast of Blind, visually impaired and sighted theatre performers and dancers of the National Ballet’s RBC Apprentice Programme. Based on Healey’s own journey into Blindness, it follows a young woman hurled into an upside-down world of fabulists, fabricators and fatalists as she discovers it’s not just her vision that isn’t what it seems.
“We are delighted to partner with Outside the March for our next Sharing the Stage project. Rainbow on Mars promises to be an exciting and unique experience for the audience and performers alike,” said Muir. “With this project, we are thrilled to be collaborating with a new community, offering innovative ways to access dance and theatre that are immersive and captivating."
This unique work is choreographed by Robert Binet, co-directed by Outside the March Artistic Director Mitchell Cushman and award-winning visually impaired stage combat director Nate Bitton, with script development support by Cushman, Bitton and Vanessa Smythe. Rainbow on Mars will be performed in-the-round, embedding audiences into the performance, with sets by Nick Blais, sound design by Heidi Chan, lighting by Melissa Joakim and costumes by Anahita Dehbonehie.
Launched in 2019 with the generous support of the Metcalf Foundation, Sharing the Stage connects The National Ballet of Canada with Toronto’s dance and theatre community through shared performances and accessible programming. It began with outdoor performances at Harbourfront Centre featuring such companies as Compañía Carmen Romero, Esie Mensah Creations, Holla Jazz, Human Body Expression, Little Pear Garden Dance Company, Lua Shayenne Dance Company, Rock Bottom Movement, Samantha Sutherland and Tanveer Alam. Most recently, the programme featured a performance with Nova Dance at the Richard Bradshaw Amphitheatre at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.
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The RBC Apprentice Programme is sponsored by The RBC Emerging Artists Project.
Top photo: Photography by Dahlia Katz. Poster design by Raul Delgado.
The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Ontario Arts Council; the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council; the Government of Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage with the Honourable Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity; and the Government of Ontario with the Honourable Stan Cho, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Gaming and Minister of Sport.
For more information, and interview opportunities, please contact:
Touchwood PR
Andréa Grau, Founder and Owner
Keira Hunt, Senior Manager of Publicity and Promotions
Chelsea Cabello, Senior Publicist
NBOC@touchwoodpr.com
The National Ballet of Canada
Catherine Chang, Associate Director of Communications & Content Strategy
Kate Dresser, Communications Manager
Media@national.ballet.ca