Marc Ouimet. Photo by Mike Levin.

This comes from theatre people, who, Marc Ouimet  reminds us, “run the gamut of emotion on an hourly basis.” But in chatting with Ouimet and fellow actor Manon St. Jules, it’s clear that something is changing here.

They’ve returned to Ottawa as one-third of the cast in Swimming in the Shallows, Adam Bock’s 2005 farce about love and relationship issues being staged by Arts Court, at Arts Court, from tonight (August 12) to August 22. The production is part of the downtown organization’s independent summer-theatre series called Summer Fling. It’s in English, but Ouimet and St. Jules could easily do their lines in two languages.

Both are from that noted multi-phonic centre of Sudbury and are fluently bilingual; both went to the University of Ottawa, although for radically different reasons; and both left Ottawa because it couldn’t come close to offering a living from stage work.

Manon St. Jules. Photo by Mike Levin

St. Jules studied theatre at U of O (Swimming’s director Joёl Beddows was her roommate) and then four intensive years of acting at the National Theatre School in Montreal, which has become her official base But she’s hopped between English (Ottawa, Toronto) and French (Gatineau, Montreal) stages, and is now trying it with characters. “I’ve always been cast as the lovely, young ingénue. In (Swimming), I’m a 30-something lesbian who over-analyzes.”

Her father was Radio-Canada’s morning man in Sudbury; her mom was an organizer; both parents and a younger brother now live in Ottawa. The past two years have been lean for St. Jules as she raised a son, about to turn two, and she’s feeling the need to reconnect with her theatre network.

Two things about Ottawa have captured her attention. Her bilingualism is no longer a unique trait, and local theatre is no longer the wimp it used to be even 10 years ago.

“The reality (in all theatre) is that too many companies hire non-union actors or use very small casts. I think the indie thing in Ottawa comes out of frustration, the feeling that they have to do it for themselves. I have no idea how well it can work, but I think there’s no hope if you don’t have independent productions,” she says.

Ouimet is seven years older than St. Jules and spent 11 years working here. He sees the shift in Ottawa more in terms of legitimization. “My perception is that there’s a lot more consumption of arts. One year someone will have a subscription to NAC dance, the next to (Théâtre) La Catapulte. I guess now it’s more accessible.”

 The thought is consistent with Ouimet’s creative journey. He comes from a conservative family, and his first university degree, from Laurentian University, was in translation. “Growing up I played piano, danced, sang…. but then I tried to be wise.” He first came to Ottawa for translation work in the high-tech industry; corporate training and voice-over are still a major parts of his resume.

It was also his first taste of being on stage, and like any love affair, it never released its hold on his soul. He tried to stay wise: a Bachelor of Education from U of O, a year teaching English in Japan and back into corporate freelancing in Canada. His leap into acting as a career came after a summer course in New York (the Sanford Meisner technique). He settled in Toronto, but without a degree in theatre, “I’m continuing my apprenticeship.”

In Swimming, Ouimet’s role is a shark that becomes the love interest of a human, a switch on his work in Man-O-Rexic, where he was the animal chaser – not the kind of content Ottawa is familiar with. But if indie really is the new buzzword in local theatre, then there’s much to look forward to.

Carla Carla (Manon St. Jules), left and Donna (Margo MacDonald) swim in the shallows. Photo by Fred Cattrol.