Company

Martin Chodorek (founding member)
Martin is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School’s acting program who has Monkeyman Productions to thank for his love of directing. The jury is still out on whether it’s a Tevye/Golde love or something more akin to Conan’s feelings on the lamentations of his enemies’ women. Martin first proved himself sufficiently simian while directing the original incarnation of Godzilla on Sundays in March 2008 as part of the New Ideas Festival at the Alumnae Theatre and the rest, as they say, is this timeline’s version of history. He’s proud to serve the company as its Artistic Director. Born and raised in Toronto, Marty enjoys two slices of lime in his club soda and has an exceedingly high pun tolerance. He honours the Eurovision Song Contest in his heart, and tries to keep it all the year. Other ongoing fanatical projects include cheering for the Buffalo Bills, gaining a comprehensive knowledge of The Doctor’s eleven incarnations, and trying to find English-dubbed, Region 1 DVDs of “Ryōri no Tetsujin”.

Linn Øyen Farley
Linn first got involved with Monkeyman Productions in a roundabout, almost-didn’t-happen kind of way. Since that fortuitous project, she’s sat behind (and Googled instructions for) a variety of lighting & sound boards in the name of geek theatre. Linn happily fills the role of Monkeyman’s token Norwegian, and is probably a lot nerdier than you think she is (see: fanfiction). Linn is a recent graduate of the UC Drama Program at UofT, where she specialised in lighting & set design. When she’s not working on her vitamin D deficiency in a dark theatre, she’s coding and/or designing websites.

 
Leeman Kessler
Leeman Kessler née Tarpley is a Nigerian-born American who has been acting and acting up for as long as he can remember. He’s trained everywhere from the jungle gyms of Nashville to the soybean fields of Ohio to the very boards of London, England and now finds himself stranded on the cold, black stages of Toronto with his wonderful and way-smarter-than-him wife. The Monkeymen were the first souls brave enough to let Leeman act North of the 41st Parallel. For their sake he has portrayed King Kong, a werewolf, HP Lovecraft and even a mountie. Outside of their warm embrace he has also been President Eisenhower, a golem and various medical practitioners for instructional videos. Available for parties.

Timothy Nussey (founding member)
Tim was born in the city of Toronto and is a graduate of the Ryerson Theatre School. He has been involved in performance, including theatre, music and film for over a decade in the city, but it is with the forming of Monkeyman productions that Tim has truly found his love for the theatre and especially for acting. Tim has appeared in many Monkeyman shows, with highlights including Dead Man’s Party, and Godzilla on Sundays. He has also taken on the mantle of producer for some shows, and enjoys it, even if the learning curve can be pretty steep. Tim is a big video game geek, and Optimus Prime is one of his childhood heroes.

Brad Rowe (founding member)
Brad is a classically trained performer with a strong background in the stage, his roles have been varied from war criminal to singing plant enthusiast. His role within Monkeyman is affectionately referred to as ‘the pretty one’, however he works hard to prove himself as more than a chiseled jaw line and melt-inducing dimples. While not quite as well versed in all things sub-pop, he strives to learn the finer points of D&D, Sonic the Hedgehog and Star Trek. Brad is looking forward to a long and prosperous future with the Monkeyman Productions team as things can only get better from here. Also, Brad is the tallest. Which makes him way cool. Or not.

D.J. Sylvis (founding member)
D.J. has been active in theatre for over 20 years in both the United States and Canada as an actor, technician, director and playwright. With Monkeyman, he’s wound up also getting his feet wet as a producer and the company’s General Manager. And while getting one’s feet wet may be an invitation for colds, he’s happy to have the chance to expand his horizons — but it’s always the most amazing to be one of the writers putting words in the Monkeymouths. He believes in Bigfoot but not aliens, loved Buffy, Angel and Firefly but hated Dollhouse, and had a huge crush on Debbie Gibson when he was a teenager. He still refuses to watch the Star Wars prequels and thought The Dark Knight wasn’t really a Batman movie.
 

Member-At-Large

John Jones
John prefers to avoid the fiery kiln of theatrical creativity, but his dramatic flair is a constant source of inspiration to his fellow company members. Often described as “out of this world” or something along those lines, John has yet to attend a company meeting. He is comforted, however, by the knowledge that a seat at the table awaits him when he’s ready to take time out from righting wrongs and whatnot. John spends part of each day contemplating the dark side of the moon.
 

Past Company Members

Hannah Barnett-Kemper, Scott Clarkson, Jessica Nelson, Phil Rickaby

Past Collaborators