The Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival runs on the life blood of its extremely dedicated staff. Each year as the festival grows, the Orlando Fringe is able to add more staff members to its fabulous family.

Michael Marinaccio – Festival Producer

Mike’s love affair with Fringe began in 1997, when he and a group of UCF Theatre friends decided to break free from the bonds of educational theatre and produce a show at Orlando Fringe. That show, “The Zombie Doorman” by Tod Kimbro, was his introduction to the Fringe, and It began a relationship that has spanned 17 shows over 15 consecutive festivals. In those years, he has produced, acted, directed, designed, and volunteered at the Fringe, seen hundreds of amazing shows from all over the world, housed artists from across the country, and watched the Fringe grow into the oldest and best Fringe in the United States. Now, he is thrilled and honored to have the opportunity to pay it forward as Festival Producer, by helping other artists develop the art of their dreams.

Mike holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from UCF, and has been working professionally as an independent theatre artists for almost 20 years. As a producing artist at Fringe, he has received numerous awards and “Patron’s Pick” honors. Some Fringe projects of note include: Suckers (1998 and 2011), The Karate Guy (2009), The Blue Room (2004) and Farrago (2002). Originally from Long Island New York, Mike is a die-hard Yankee fan and baseball stat geek. He has lived in Central Florida on and off since 1994, and now lives in Orlando with his wife Deedee and two little boys, Mattingly and Xander.

George Wallace – General Manager

George began volunteering for Orlando Fringe in 2003 and in 2007 won the prestigious Mary Lou Rucker Volunteer Excellence Award and returned in 2008 as Volunteer Coordinator and was nominated for the United Arts A+ Award for his efforts in spearheading the Friends of Fringe Program in 2009. Later that year, George accepted the position of Director of Operations and is in charge of the year-round daily operations.

George grew up in New Hampshire and attended UNH where he received undergraduate degrees in Business Management and Behavioral Science before moving to Orlando in 2002. In 2009, George received his Masters in Public Administration from Troy University.In 2011, George was named Executive Vice President of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF) and looks forward to celebrating 21 years of Orlando Fringe in 2012.

Nicole Ledbetter’s – Office Coordinator

nicole@orlandofringe.org Nicole began her Fringe experience thanks to her mother (and father) almost 15 years ago when mom wanted to go see independent theater and couldn’t convince her husband to take her. Since then, she’s seen a lot of shows and looks for any excuse to be involved in the art community. After volunteering in 2009 because she wanted to see more theatre than she could afford, she decided Fringe needed to be an integral part of her life and began to take vacation during Fringe so it could be. After winning the Mary Lou Rucker award last year, she jumped on the chance to make Fringe a part of her every day life.

Nicole graduated from Agnes Scott College with a degree in Psychology and Spanish so she can listen to your problems in more than one language. She likes sunshine, coffee, family, friends, and art, though would never describe herself as an artist – rather the best patron you could ever know.

She is thrilled to be a part of Fringe for more than just the festival and looks forward to the day her friends just come and see shows if for no other reason than she stop harassing them.

Carla Davis – Box Office & Ticketing Manager

Carla Davis’ longtime love of theater began in 1982 when she visited NYC for the first time, and was able to see “Chorus Line” at the Shubert Theater. Upon returning home, she enrolled in theater class at L-SCC, and spent many happy years on stage.

Carla had attended nearly every Fringe Festival by the time it suddenly occurred to her in 2003 that nearly everyone involved in Fringe was a volunteer. She made a vow that she would take the week off for Fringe in 2004, and volunteer. Sadly, it slipped her mind until she saw in the paper that Fringe 2004 was about to begin. She promptly wrote the dates for Fringe 2005 on her calendar, and fulfilled her vow. Carla signed up for almost every volunteer duty that year except Cashier and Venue Captain…then ended up cashiering for nearly the entire festival (except for the two times she was Venue Captain). She was thrilled to win the “Stand Up Volunteer” award that year, and in 2006 she was “promoted” to Box Office Assistant Manager. Expertly trained by Cid Stoll and Mike Garvey (both of whom she loves dearly), Carla was asked to return to the next year’s Fringe as Box Office Manager, and was honored to do so.

In “real life”, Carla works at a preschool, and spends time with her friends, family, and her soulmate, Rob.

Amy Hadley – Technical Director

Amy Hadley is proud to make this her seventh year as a staff member of the Orlando Fringe Festival. She was introduced to the festival in the same way that many others of the staff have been. She started attending shows as a patron and fell in love with the atmosphere, art, and sense of community that you always find at the fringe. She soon began to help friends with the sound and lights for their shows and in 2005 finally became a venue tech for the Orange Venue. In 2007, she took over the Technical Director position and has truly enjoyed being a member of this fantastic family. She is very excited that we have made it to the 20^th Anniversary of the festival and hopes to see it grow stronger for many years to come.

Amy was born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana and can’t remember a time when theatre was not a part of her life. She started performing in high school, but it wasn’t until college that she discovered her love for tech. She moved to Orlando in 1995 and is a graduate of the University of Central Florida. When she is not working on the Fringe Festival, she spends her time as a Lighting Designer for many of the local theatres. Her favorite role to date has to be that of mother to her beautiful daughter, who loves the festival and has been adopted by the staff as one of their own.

Jae Nale – Outdoor Events Coordinator

Jae Nale has been with Fringe since 2005 and is a Sick Twisted Freak as a result. She has been a part of Orlando’s event community since 2000. Jae has a full time job at Orange County, a part time job traveling around the world installing educational exhibits in Zoos, Science Centers, and Children’s Museums, and of course keeps the outside area of Fringe up and running. She loves her animals, fishing, camping, and working in the yard. She hates snakes, bigots, and pouring-down rain during an outside event.

Jackie Martinez – Volunteer Coordinator

volunteer@orlandofringe.org
Jackie Martinez is thrilled to be joining the Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival as staff. She was first introduced to the Orlando Fringe by her partner and has been a patron since 2006. She started volunteering in 2009 and won the esteemed Mary Lou Rucker Volunteer Excellence Award her first time around.

Jackie was born in Texas and raised throughout Florida. She graduated from Clewiston High School and quickly moved to Orlando to attend the University of Central Florida where she graduated with a BA in Liberal Studies. She has worked in several human services agencies since her graduation and is happy to help wherever she can. When Jackie’s not working at Mimi’s Café, she volunteers with the Orlando Local Advocacy Council and her co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, while still finding time to spend with family and friends.

Genevieve Bernard, KIDS Fringe Producer

Genevieve is a founding member of Voci Dance. She holds her Masters in Dance Education from Temple University and has received awards and fellowships for her choreography.

Genevieve also worked for Orange County Public Schools as a dance and music teacher for 8 years and spent much time creating and implementing a dance curriculum for OCPS elementary school students. She is currently the Curator of Education at The Mennello Museum of American Art, working with student from around Central Florida.

Genevieve is no stranger to Fringe. She was the former Associate Producer. Genevieve is excited about her new role and coming back to Orlando Fringe!

Vadim Malkin – Visual Fringe Producer

Growing up as a third generation artist has had some steep expectations to live up too, but Vadim Malkin has been reaching for higher ground since day one. Graduating with a BFA from the University of Central Florida in 2004, Vadim has been actively participating in various artistic endeavors. Vadim has been exhibiting in many countries around the world, as well as, countless gallery shows and festivals around the United States, which has impacted a true global vision for his art and prospects.

Vadim has been a teacher at Crealdé School of Art for the past 5 years and has been teaching high school for the last two years. His passion for art derives from bringing communities, histories, and cultures together. For the past 4 years, Vadim has been volunteering with the Orlando Fringe Festival’s Visual Fringe under the great leadership of the wonderful Anna McCambridge-Thomas and is extremely excited about carrying her vision to bridge communities together to appreciate, value, and embrace art.

Laura Lord – Assistant Outdoor Coordinator

This is Laura’s second year working at Fringe but has been enjoying Fringe for several years. Laura works for Orange County Environmenatal Protection Division as a PR/Marketing Coordinator.

She is also an Advisor for the Golden Key International Honour Society which allows her to organize and participate in service trips to Costa Rica twice a year. She enjoys camping, canoeing, traveling, and garage sale hunting.

Laura lives by the philosophy that the road to success is always under construction. She is excited to have another wild and crazy time at fringe this year.

Adam McCabe – Marketing & Creative Designer

In 2008, Adam began to work professionally in Manhattan as a Digital Artist for one of the largest distributors of online video in the country, BBE/VINDICO Group. In his time there, he has worked with a number of noteworthy names such as Coca Cola, Hewlett Packard, Paramount Pictures, and The Discovery Channel. In fact, during his first few months in the city, he was placed in charge of designing an 80-foot marquee that was later displayed in front of the Nokia Theater in Times Square.

Prior to his experience in the city, he spent three years as a freelance digital artist in Orlando, Florida. It was there that he attended college at Full Sail University, receiving a Bachelor of Science Degree in Digital Art And Design, as well as multiple awards for his work, including “The Full Sail Course Director’s Award” for outstanding leadership and devotion to the digital arts. He graduated with his degree in December of 2007.

Adam is now proudly teaching Motion Graphics to new industry professionals at Full Sail University in Orlando, an opportunity someone in his trade could only dream of. In his free time, he is actively pursuing his full-time aspiration of freelancing his creative services through a large network of friends and associates.

His goal as a digital artist is to provide creative visual support in a unique and memorable way that will clearly communicate and enhance the client’s message to their target audience. As a man who has completely integrated the digital arts into his life and work, Adam makes sure to stay current on trends and do his best to always work with tools on the cutting edge of his craft. His personal website and portfolio can be found at http://GrinDigital.com

John Spottke – Social Media Manager

socialmedia@orlandofringe.org

John is your invisible friend inside the magic computer box that talks to you about all things Fringe! He’s been wandering around and peeking in the dark corners of the Information Superhighway since it was a dirt road. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pheed, Foursquare, Pinterest, and more… these are a few of his favorite things.

When not dealing with the virtual world of Fringe, John is a Professor of Anthropology at Valencia College where he instructs the padawan learners about cyberculture, archaeology, forensics, linguistics, and the great big (real) world we live in. If you catch him at Fringe, and you can pry the ever present electronic device out of his hands, he’d be more than happy to join you at the Beer Tent for a chat.

James Wolf – Webmaster/IT Support

E-Mail

It’s been said that some are born into their position and others have it thrust upon them; however, there are others who have a wife on the Board of Directors and they are given an order. The latter is the manner by which James came to his position with the Fringe.

Actually, James is happy to help the Fringe in any way possible. James has been attending Fringe since the early days of running around downtown from one leaky (and possibly non-air-conditioned) space to the next to see shows. He has volunteered for more than ten years; and during the festival can usually be found either hawking tickets or beer. In his other life, James is the IT Manager for Metters Incorporated — a simulation and training-device manufacturer located in Orlando’s Research Park. James spends the rest of his free time, treating his wife Lisa and their four cats, like the Russian royalty that they all believe they are.

Interns

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