Meet
The
Team
Artist Coordinator
Beth Shepard
Beth makes her living in administration but also occasionally sings, dances, acts and directs. She is proud to be GFF Artist Coordinator and excited for a stupendous festival.
Appreciation Coordinator
Milwaukee Baker
Milwaukee is an award-winning choreographer and performer. He has been seen on stage in high heels, flippers, tap shoes, and with an extra set of legs. He has lived in Guelph since 2018 and aspires to create and promote community through events like the Guelph Fringe Festival.
Awards Coordinator
Philip Sullivan
Philip has appeared on local stages with RCMPI, Guelph Little Theatre, The Downtown Theatre Project and Ayr Community Theatre. He is a graduate of UofT’s Theatre & Drama Studies program, and has performed at the Toronto Fringe Festival.
Billeting Coordinator
Amy Estill
Amy is an enthusiastic supporter of the performing arts in Guelph. Taking on both on stage and behind the scenes roles, Amy is passionate about using her skills to create more opportunities for performing artists in our community to share their art.
Communications Coordinator
Trevor Smith Diggins
On the Guelph theatre scene for decades as an actor, director, producer and adjudicator, Trevor is an alumnus of Theatre Ontario Talent Bank, and he has earned eight awards for Best Actor. Trevor is a founding producer of the Downtown Theatre Project, and works as an independent communications consultant at smithdiggins.com
Festival Assistant
Marcela Echeverri
Marcela is a musician, anthropologist, and improviser. She is an interdisciplinary artist who believes in art as a medium to develop a sense of community. She is involved with multiple arts organizations in Guelph and she is committed to increasing access to the arts for local audiences.
Festival Coordinator
Paul Barson
Paul has been active in the Guelph theatre community for over 15 years as an actor, writer, director, technical director and producer. Paul is co-owner of The Downtown Theatre Project and is half of the musical duo The Pantsuit Fridays with his partner Jen.
Fireflies Coordinator
Dunja Lukic
Dunja started drinking coffee and going to see plays at a very early age. She believes in the magic of live theatre and people making art together. Dunja is excited for another Fireflies summer at Guelph Fringe.
Financial Coordinator
Jen Cornish
Award-winning actor/producer Jen C has been many things, including a touring Fringe performer with a 90-minute solo show. Unicorn Superpower: professional actor with a bookkeeping degree. (Please send her the paperwork when she asks!)
Front Of House Coordinator
Kimberly Wattam
Kimberly clearly stays in her lane as her day job is also Front of House Coordinating. For several years she's worked various backstage roles with different community theatres. She also believes there's a board game out there for everyone, and will obtain true happiness when she adopts a cat.
Marketing Assistant
Ariel Oleynikov
Ariel (she/her) is a theatre nerd who has been performing since she could talk. As a passionate community member, Ariel is also the organizer of Queer Night Out and part of the Guelph Queer Crawl team. She’s also a proud mother of 2 cats, an occasional piano player, and big fan of lemon lavender anything.
Sponsorship Coordinator
Matt Steffler
Matt has precious little experience in directing, acting, singing, teching, or producing theatre, but what he lacks in credits, he makes up for in old-fashioned gumption! Matt works for Habitat for Humanity, teaches physics, and likes stopping to smell the roses (not pictured).
Technical Coordinator
Alex Punzalan
Alex, a Toronto-born musician of Filipino heritage, blends diverse musical genres. He has collaborated with artists like Jessie Reyez and Dylan Sinclair. Passionate about his Filipino roots, he produced Han Han's album and co-produced his Filipino Gong project High Blood by DATU. He documented his exploration of Filipino Kulintang music. His solo project, Lex Junior, features global collaborations in Funk, electronic, and pop, with music featured on Apple, Netflix, and HBO.
Volunteer Coordinator
​
​
Website and Art Coordinator
Jen Barson
Jen is an award-winning actor, producer, director and one of the four owners of The Downtown Theatre Project. Her passion for theatre was born in high school where she first performed as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. Founder of the Guelph Film Office, Jen also develops the GFF website.