Launchpad

Geoffrey Simon Brown

Geoffrey Simon Brown is an award-winning Albertan playwright, actor, director, and theatre creator. He is a founding member of the Major Matt Mason Collective where he has produced small-scale independent theatre since 2010. Productions of his plays have been staged across the country and internationally, including productions at Alberta Theatre Projects, Theatre Calgary, Tarragon Theatre, Pyretic Productions, Common Ground Arts Society, The Globe (Regina), and the National Theatre School of Canada. His plays include Static, Michael Mysterious, The Circle (which was published by Scirocco Drama in 2017), Night, Progress, Still Still Still, Control, Air, Destroy, If I Could Tell You Everything (written alongside the Theatre Junction high school mentorship ensemble), and the most recent adaptation of A Christmas Carol for Theatre Calgary. He has received two Betty Mitchell Awards, a Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award, and Tarragon’s RBC Emerging playwright award.

Gerald Osborn

Gerald Osborn – Grizzled old theatre veteran Gerald Osborn wrote and directed his first Fringe play in 1986 to a glowing first review: “If tedium is your thing…”. Not to be dissuaded, he soldiered on writing and directing numerous Fringe plays like ALBERT EAT POO, Scream Play, Epic Tragedy, Bed Bug Bossa Nova, Pest Control, Gossamer Feast and on and on. His work has been performed in such exotic locales as Vancouver, Calgary, Medicine Hat, Grande Prairie, High River, Camrose, Whitecourt, Leduc and Edson. In 2017, Gerald made his first foray into directing something he hadn’t written choosing dazzling plays by some of his favourite playwrights: Cut! by Lyle Victor Albert, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls by Christopher Durang, Andre’s Mother by Terrence McNally, 2B (Or Not 2B) by Jacquelyn Reingold, A Little Something for the Ducks by Jean Lenox Toddie and Something’s Wrong by G.A. Northrup. Gerald is currently the moderator for the Fringe Playwrights’ Table on Wednesday afternoons.

Jessica Peverett

Jessica Peverett (she/her) is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg and arts administrator located in amiskwaciwâskahikan. Her work has been produced at the Varscona Theatre, Fringe Theatre, University of Alberta, SERCA Festival of Irish Theatre, and Nextfest. As a playwright, she loves adapting and sewing together devised/collaborative pieces. Jessica has taught creative writing programs at the Edmonton Remand Centre as part of the Greater Edmonton Library Association’s Prison Libraries Project and mentored youth playwrights through Next Nextfest’s High School Theatre Series.

Gina Puntil

Gina is a proud Filipino-Canadian based in Amiskwacîwâskahikan on land referred to as Treaty 6 colonially known as Edmonton Alberta. She is always trying to expand the relation space on the venn diagram of Community, Workers’ Rights, Arts Practice, Social Justice, and Basic Life Needs. Currently, Gina is the Artistic Director and Program Coordinator for the Alberta Workers’ Health Centre’s Work Plays Schools Program which brings the important message of Work Place Safety and Workers’ Rights wrapped in a professionally sculpted live theatre production to students and new workers.

Mac Brock

Mac Brock (he/him) is a proud prairie queer playwright/producer. He has self-produced his own works (Boy Trouble, Tracks, Dry) and worked as a touring producer with other great prairie shows (I Don’t Even Miss You, Smoke – Tiny Bear Jaws; The Adventure of Young Turtle – So.Glad Arts; Re:Construct(ion) – Donkey Dog Theatre). His newest play, Project Andromeda, was commissioned by the Citadel Theatre and will premiere with the Citadel Theatre Young Company in May 2026. As an administrator or consultant, he has worked with Edmonton Fringe Theatre, Nuit Blanche Edmonton, the Edmonton Heritage Council, and more including his main gig as Managing Producer with Common Ground Arts Society. In 2024, he received the Legacy Sterling Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre in Edmonton.

Jacquelyn Cardinal

Jacquelyn Cardinal is a sakāwithiniwak (Woodland Cree) entrepreneur and Indigenous technologist from the Sucker Creek Cree First Nation in northern Alberta. As Founder & CEO of Naheyawin – a storytelling and education social enterprise based in amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton) – Jacquelyn builds bridges between Indigenous knowledge systems and contemporary innovation. Her work spans technology, business, and the arts: she’s received an Esquao Award for Achievement in Business, a SHEInnovates Award from the UN Women’s Global Innovation Coalition for Change, and the 2019 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding New Play for Lake of the Strangers, co-written with her brother Hunter Cardinal. Through all these mediums, Jacquelyn is guided by a singular vision – to realize the promise of our treaties by creating spaces where diverse ways of knowing can be woven together to build the future our ancestors dreamed for us.

Kat Evans

Kat Evans (she/her) is a freelance professional Artist, Designer, Creator, Producer, PM/TD, Technician and Stage Manager based in Amiskwaciy-Wâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta) on Treaty 6 Territory, Metis Regional Council 4. She holds a BFA in Theatre Design from the University of Alberta, and is the Co-Founder of The October People Productions. She specializes in practical SFX and immersive design for theatre, film, and escape room experiences.

In addition to stand-alone productions, Kat is involved in several festivals and presentation series throughout the year, including The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, RISER Edmonton, and DARK. She is a core creative team member of the Dead Centre of Town Collective, with Catch the Keys Productions. She is honoured to have multiple Sterling Awards nominations for her Design work and in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Production (Production Manager). She is the recipient of the 2025 Sterling Award in this category.

Even Gilchrist

Even Gilchrist is a Sterling-award winning, queer and trans scenic designer and theatre creator based on Treaty 6 territory (Edmonton). He was trained through the University of Alberta’s MFA Theatre Design program, which focuses on set, costume, and lighting design. He loves whimsy and colour and love stories and is completely honoured to design for a personal pivotal theatrical touchstone as Countries Shaped Like Stars with this incredible team.

Previous credits include: The Master Plan (Globe Theatre), A Midwinter Night’s Dream (Caravan Farm Theatre), Lucky Charm (Defiance Theatre), I Don’t Even Miss You (Tiny Bear Jaws), Ecos (Diaspora Diaries Collective), Brick Shithouse (fenceless theatre), and Re:Construct(ion) (Donkey Dog Theatre). For more information, you can look at his website: evengilchristdesign.com.

Liv Bunge

Liv Bunge (They/Them) is an Albertan Freelance Production Manager and Technical Director with a love for new works. They are passionate about creating cool and heartfelt shows. The abundance of the amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton) Theatre community has kept them engaged all year long. Recent Technical Direction credits include; Tough Guy (Persistent Myth), Lucky Charm (Defiance Theatre), Brick Shithouse (Fenceless Theatre), R.A.V.E. (Outside the March), The Hooves Belonged to the Deer (In Arms Theatre Collective), I Don’t Even Miss You (Tiny Bear Jaws).

Kat Evans

Kat Evans (she/her) is a freelance professional Artist, Designer, Creator, Producer, PM/TD, Technician and Stage Manager based in Amiskwaciy-Wâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta) on Treaty 6 Territory, Metis Regional Council 4. She holds a BFA in Theatre Design from the University of Alberta, and is the Co-Founder of The October People Productions. She specializes in practical SFX and immersive design for theatre, film, and escape room experiences.

In addition to stand-alone productions, Kat is involved in several festivals and presentation series throughout the year, including The Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival, RISER Edmonton, and DARK. She is a core creative team member of the Dead Centre of Town Collective, with Catch the Keys Productions. She is honoured to have multiple Sterling Awards nominations for her Design work and in the category of Outstanding Individual Achievement in Production (Production Manager). She is the recipient of the 2025 Sterling Award in this category.

Even Gilchrist

Even Gilchrist is a Sterling-award winning, queer and trans scenic designer and theatre creator based on Treaty 6 territory (Edmonton). He was trained through the University of Alberta’s MFA Theatre Design program, which focuses on set, costume, and lighting design. He loves whimsy and colour and love stories and is completely honoured to design for a personal pivotal theatrical touchstone as Countries Shaped Like Stars with this incredible team.

Previous credits include: The Master Plan (Globe Theatre), A Midwinter Night’s Dream (Caravan Farm Theatre), Lucky Charm (Defiance Theatre), I Don’t Even Miss You (Tiny Bear Jaws), Ecos (Diaspora Diaries Collective), Brick Shithouse (fenceless theatre), and Re:Construct(ion) (Donkey Dog Theatre). For more information, you can look at his website: evengilchristdesign.com.

Liv Bunge

Liv Bunge (They/Them) is an Albertan Freelance Production Manager and Technical Director with a love for new works. They are passionate about creating cool and heartfelt shows. The abundance of the amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton) Theatre community has kept them engaged all year long. Recent Technical Direction credits include; Tough Guy (Persistent Myth), Lucky Charm (Defiance Theatre), Brick Shithouse (Fenceless Theatre), R.A.V.E. (Outside the March), The Hooves Belonged to the Deer (In Arms Theatre Collective), I Don’t Even Miss You (Tiny Bear Jaws).

Megan Dart

Megan Dart (she/her) produces arts events; leads large creative teams; and advocates for the arts sector. She brings 20 years’ experience in festival and major event production, theatre creation, public and media relations, advocacy, marketing, and strategic communications. It is her great joy and honour to serve as the Executive Director of Fringe Theatre, producers of the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival and stewards of the Fringe Theatre Arts Barns. Megan also proudly serves as the President of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals, a member-driven organization that nurtures the health and sustainability of the Fringe Festival movement across North America. Megan is a sessional instructor with Grant MacEwan University’s Department of Arts and Culture Management; an honourary board member with the Old Strathcona Business Association; a member of the International Women’s Forum; an University of Grant MacEwan Distinguished Alumni; a recipient of the Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award; an award-winning playwright; and was named one of the Top 100 Women in Business by The Wanderer. When she’s not fringing, she’s creating immersive experiences in unexpected places alongside her sister, Beth Dart, as the co-Artistic Producer of Catch the Keys Productions, an award-winning scrappy indie theatre collective.

Bradley King

Bradley King (he/him) is Fringe Theatre’s Director of Engagement and Technology. He focuses on initiatives promoting audience engagement, utilizing technology and information systems, data and analytics, strategic planning, and more. With a background in academia, he approaches the arts through a data-driven lens.

Living and breathing engagement, Bradley oversees the Fringe Festival’s audience engagement strategies, reducing barriers for patrons and finding new ways to bring audiences in from across Alberta.

You can also find him doing other arts-things throughout the year, mostly around combining digital and physical theatre. He loves iced coffee and is very food-motivated.

Louise Casemore

LOUISE CASEMORE is an artist advocate, prairie ambassador, and two-time Sterling Award winning playwright. She is the recipient of the ATP/Enbridge Playwright’s Award, was shortlisted for the inaugural John Palmer Award from the Playwright’s Guild of Canada, and is an Edmonton Artist Trust Fund honoree. Original plays include OCD (Canadian tour), GEMINI (Edmonton/Calgary/Toronto), Undressed, and recently LUCKY CHARM. Louise remains active in the national community by way of dramaturgy, teaching Interdisciplinary Arts at MacEwan University, and sector research. She proudly sits on the Board of Concrete Theatre, is Company Manager for the Banff Centre Playwright’s Lab, and is working hard on a handful of new plays that do their best to keep her up at night.

Michelle Todd

Born and raised in Edmonton, Michelle has been active in the arts community for many years as an actor, writer, choreographer, director, facilitator, and producer. A graduate of MacEwan’s Theatre Arts program, Michelle was recognized in MacEwan’s Community Builders Map and was an honored to recipient of Theatre Alberta’s Michelle Dias Community Award. Her latest play Hoodies was written for Concrete Theatre’s Anti-Racism and Change project for Theatre for Young Audiences. She most recently performed in Ms. Pat’s Kitchen (SkirtsAfire Festival) and withCommon Ground Arts Society, Shadow Theatre, and Fringe Favorites – 100% More Girls and Whizgiggling Productions! Michelle successfully toured her one-woman show Deep Fried Curried Perogies in North America as well as in Fringe Festivals from Montreal to Vancouver.

Murray Utas

Murray is the current Artistic Director with Fringe Theatre. He started his career in the arts as a performer and spent most of those years on the road with stops at international festivals or with national touring productions that varied in length of a few weeks to many months. As a producer and curator, including being the co-founder of Expanse Movement Arts Festival, he has brought in artists from around the world, managing riders ranging from indie theatre to rock stars.