Artist Bios

Ken Godmere – writer, performer

Ken Godmere began his professional acting and directing career in Toronto in the early eighties. He trained at The Second City, performing on stage in their first Master Class production. He also worked as an actor, stage manager, and director with a number of other theatre, film, and television companies including: Invisions Inc., Stage Centre Productions, Stephen Leacock Theatre, Kevin Sullivan Productions, Theatre 48, and Vancouver Realities.

When Godmere moved to Ottawa in 1997, he continued directing and performing with CHUM Television, CTV, The Institution Improv Comedy Club, Mountain Road Productions, The National Arts Centre, Ocnus Productions, Odessa Films, Vision Theatre, and Zucchini Grotto. He has received two consecutive Awards for Acting Excellence from the E.O.D.L.; a Best Professional Director Award from the Capital Critics Circle; and a Rideau Award nomination for his 2010 one-man show, It’s Just a Stage.

Godmere’s previous fringe experience includes directing the Ottawa Theatre School’s A Dollar at the 2009 Ottawa Fringe; directing Scratchcard Productions’ No Exit Upstage at the 2009 Ottawa Fringe; writing and performing in MODERN GEEK Theatre’s It’s Just A Stage at the 2010 Ottawa Fringe; directing and performing in JAT Productions’ Kelly’s Instant Mashed Potatoes Brings You THE INITIAL REACTION at the 2010 Ottawa Fringe; directing Silent QUEMB Productions’ Complex Numbers at the 2011 Ottawa Fringe; and performing in Ottawa Little Theatre’s The Interview at the 2011 Ottawa Fringe.

As well as teaching acting classes, Godmere coaches performers, musicians, radio personalities, politicians, and corporate communicators.

As a corporate speaker, trainer, coach and consultant, Ken Godmere’s intuitive, inspired, and incisive approach has connected in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Orlando, Seattle, and San Jose. Find out more at kengodmere.com.

Tania Levy – director

Tania Levy is a bilingual performer, director, and writer, born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. She has performed with many local theatre companies over the years, in both English and French. Recent credits include Secrets of a Soccer Mom (Arts Court Productions), Hamlet 2011 (Ottawa Shakespeare Company), As You Like It, Henry V, Top Girls (Third Wall Theatre), Trash/Rebut (Rideau Project – Théâtre la Catapulte/Magnetic North Theatre Festival), La fin des fins, Airport Security (Gruppo Rubato). She has also toured the fringe festival circuit with her two solo shows, The Jewish Princess Diaries and The Opposite of Infinity. She graduated from the University of Ottawa’s Theatre program in 2002.

That year, she co-founded Gruppo Rubato with local artist and fellow classmate Patrick Gauthier. The company includes core members Kris Joseph and Gavriella Silverstone. Gruppo Rubato exclusively presents new works by Ottawa artists, and this year marks the company’s 10th anniversary. They began their celebratory season with a short piece in the recent premiere of SubDevision, an Ottawa theatre event similar to Vancouver’s HIVE event. SubDevision featured eight of Ottawa’s finest independent theatre companies devising works for specific areas in St. Paul’s Eastern United Church, located in downtown Ottawa. Their piece, La fin des fins, co-written by Gauthier and Levy, performed by Levy, and directed by Gauthier, was performed in a wheelchair elevator. Over the years, Gruppo Rubato has produced 10 shows, toured the fringe circuit twice, and won multiple awards. Among the company’s accolades: several fringe festival Best in Fest titles, People’s Choice Awards, and two nominations for the Prix Rideau Awards Outstanding New Creation prize (The Churchill Protocol, Airport Security), winning for The Churchill Protocol. They cap off their anniversary season this fall with Snapshot, by up-and-coming local playwright Karen Balcome.

Recently, Levy has stepped off the stage to direct Ottawa/Toronto actress Nancy Kenny’s solo show Roller Derby Saved My Soul, which premiered at the 2011 Ottawa Fringe Festival. Thrilled by the challenge of directing sport on stage (and specifically women — or woman — in sport), Levy took up the challenge of directing a piece where the actor was on roller skates 50 per cent of the time. Roller Derby Saved My Soul took home both a Best in Fest award and the Judges’ Choice award at the Ottawa Fringe, and also earned the 2011 Prix Rideau Award for Outstanding Fringe Show. Levy herself was nominated for the 2011 Emerging Artist Prix Rideau Award for her work on the production.

Emma Godmere – co-producer, stage manager, publicity

Emma Godmere is thrilled to return to the fringe circuit after performing in Ottawa, Wakefield, and Regina last summer in Bio-Punk Productions’ one-woman show Old Legends. Previous stage appearances include the Nurse in Sock ‘n’ Buskin’s March 2011 production of Romeo and Juliet, and a variety of roles in The Lark, Les Belles Soeurs, Emma, and Ten Lost Years with Elmwood Theatre.

Off-stage, Godmere is an Ottawa-raised/Toronto-based writer, radio host, and all-round entertainment enthusiast. Her work has appeared in The Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen, OpenFile, and dozens of campus newspapers across the country. For the last two years, she has independently hosted and produced Now Playing, a weekly music program airing on CHUO 89.1 FM in Ottawa. You can find out more about her at emmagodmere.com.

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