Finding a place beyond place in the Rouge Park Project

This article is a critical reflection on the 2012 Rouge Park Project, an applied theatre project in Toronto that looked at the relationship between urban life and the natural world. The impetus for the project was the transitioning of a large Toronto civic park into a national park, making it the first of Canada’s many national parks to be located inside a major city. Using Doreen Massey’s notion of a ‘place beyond place’ as a provocation, the facilitators of the project consider whether the theatrical process enabled among the participants and audience any sense of ethical engagement with the issues at stake in the park’s nationalization. While modest about the outcomes, the facilitators find worth in the direct contact the project’s participants had with members of the community throughout the process.