Musical Theatre Instructors
Theresa Cillis-O’Meara
Theresa Cillis-O’Meara holds Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education degrees from the University of Ottawa. She has enjoyed the past twenty-seven years serving Ottawa’s musical community through her work with The Savoy Society, The Greely Players, Cantabile, The Ottawa School of Speech and Drama, The Canadian Centennial Choir, The Ottawa Gay Men’s Chorus, The Ottawa Dutch Choral Society, CAMMAC, The School of Dance, The Beachcomber Dinner Theatre, The Bytown Operaworks, and the University of Ottawa’s Choral Ensemble, Opera Workshop, and Calixa Lavalee Choir. She has taught music for The City of Ottawa and presently teaches Music at Sacred Heart Catholic High School. Selected credits include serving as the Musical Director for GOYA Theatre Productions, OSSD, and Act Out Theatre for the musicals “Vaudeville”, “Menopositive the Musical”, “Cabaret”, “War Brides”, “Dads in Bondage”, “West Side Story”, “Guys and Dolls“, “Pajama Game”, “Hello Dolly!”, “Oliver!”, and the Ottawa premier of “Anne and Gilbert”. Theresa is currently the Piano Accompanist for the Ottawa Bach Choir and the Atlantic Voices Choir, the Organist at Emmanuel United Church, and the Music Director for GOYA Theatre Productions’ October 2009 Centrepointe Theatre presentation of the musical “Gabriel” by Gord Carruth.
Marie Helene Fortin
Marie Helene graduated from the professional Modern Dance program at L’Ecole de Danse de Quebec in 1999. She is now a dancer, choreographer, teacher, director, stage manager, fitness instructor & coach. She was the resident Choreographer for the pre-professional Dance Company “Les Petits Ballets” situated in Ottawa for 5 years. She toured with “Up With People” to over 100 locations in Canada, USA and Europe during which time she performed in over 100 shows as a lead dancer & lead rehearsals as the company’s Dance Captain.
Natalie Fraser Purdy
Natalie Fraser-Purdy has a degree from Concordia University in Theatre Performance and has had specialized training in directing, English literature and technical theatre. She has been performing, teaching and coaching professionally in Ottawa since 1995, working for companies all over the city. Trained in voice, dance and emotional development, Natalie also utilizes theatre to teach workshops on leadership, professional development and anger management.
Sylvia Larrass
Sylvia Larrass grew up in France and Germany where she began her music education in piano and voice. She is a graduate of the University of British Columbia and holds a diploma in vocal performance, as well as the Silver Medal of excellence from the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. Over the past few years Sylvia has developed special techniques to bring out the best in the voice, sung and spoken and has coached over a thousand people in France, Germany, the US and throughout Canada, helping them to gain success in performing and speaking in public. Sylvia also performs actively as a soloist, as well as with the Opera Lyra Chorus and Tourmaline vocal ensemble. Recent credits include a performance at Carnegie Hall in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New York Metropolitan Opera.
Amélie Langlois
Collaborative pianist Amélie Langlois enjoys the busy life of an accompanist. She received her bachelor’s degree from Sherbrooke University and went on to study at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she was the first to graduate with a Master’s degree in collaborative Piano from this institution. Her teachers throughout that period included Allison Gagnon, Michel Fournier, Marie Fabi and Brigitte Poulin. Amélie was the pianist for the National Youth Orchestra in 2000 and has participated in a number of music festivals, including the Brevard Music Center in 2001. In the summer of 2002, she took part in the Cours International de la Musique in Morges, Switzerland, for which she received a grant from the Canada Arts Council. This year, she is active with music studios at Carleton University and Ottawa University, and she has been the accompanist for Le Choeur Classique de l'Outaouais from 2004-2007. Over the past few years, she has performed across Canada, the United States and Europe. In 2007, the duet Donkin/Langlois won a second prize at the International Bradshaw and Buono Piano Competition and was invited to play in the winners concert in November 2007. In 2008, the duet won a first prize at the same competition. This past September, the duo played in Norway as semi-finalists at the International Grieg Piano Competition.
Nick Miller
Teaching drama and physical theatre is an important part of Nick’s life. He has taught and performed coast to coast, including Neptune Theatre School in Halifax N.S. and Kaleidoscope Theatre in Victoria B.C. Other great opportunities included teaching at London England’s Circus Space, Ottawa’s Spring Action, Festival Antigonish’s Summer Workshops and London Ontario’s International Children’s Festival. Nick feels fortunate and privileged to be a part of the OSSD team.
Colleen Sutton
Colleen has an extensive and varied history with OSSD. Since 2003, she has taken several classes in the adult acting program, worked as an administrator in the office and graduated from The Acting Conservatory Program. In the short time since her graduation from Ottawa Theatre School in 2007, Colleen has performed in numerous professional productions with several of Ottawa’s professional companies including Third Wall Theatre, The Great Canadian Theatre Company (GCTC), SevenThirty Productions and The Gladstone. Colleen has also appeared as the narrator in the world premiere of Maya the Bee with the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy. Colleen is a member of Third Wall Theatre’s Shakespeare Ensemble and has received two Rideau Award nominations for Best Emerging Artist. An occasional teacher with the Ottawa Carleton District School Board since 2005, Colleen is absolutely delighted to be teaching at OSSD.
Emmanuelle Zeesman
Emmanuelle graduated from the University of Windsor in 2004 from the Musical Theatre Performance Program. Selected Theatre Credits: 'Lady MacBeth' in MacBeth (Slamander Theatre), 'Titania and Hermia' in A Midsummer Night's Dream (A Company of Fools), 'Morvan' in Beckett's Shorts (G.C.T.C. Late Night Series),'Spirit' in Tales of Hoffman (Opera Lyra), 'Referee' in Never Swim Alone (People's Choice Winner), 'Lead Volcalist' at La Rochelle Festival (France) and 'Dancer' in the 2006 Rolling Stones Video. Musical Theatre credits include; 'Adelaide' in Guys and Dolls, 'Narrator' in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, 'Mrs. Walker' in Tommy, 'Witch' in Into the Woods and 'Julie Andrews' in Forbidden Broadway. Don't miss Emmanuelle as 'Olivia' (choreograoher and musical director) in A Company of Fools' Twelfth Night touring parks this summer. Emmanuelle would like to thank her beautiful family, all the wonderful people at O.S.S.D. and especially the amazing kids who make teaching so much fun and help bring her dances to life!