This year’s Fringe Awards Ceremony will take place on August 18th at 5 pm in the Capitol Centre’s Martini Lounge. We have five awards to give out, three of which will be adjudicated by our amazing 2024 jurors! This year’s jurors are Rod Carley, Francis Hanover, and Stephanie Kast, and the three awards they will be handing out are Outstanding Production, Outstanding Original Work, and Jurors’ Choice. You can find out more about each award on our Fringe Awards page or by clicking the button below.
Now let’s meet this year’s jurors!
ROD CARLEY
Rod is an award-winning director, teacher, actor, playwright, author, and humourist. He has directed/produced 150 stage productions to date ranging from the classics to the development of new Canadian work. He is recognized nationally for his directorial adaptations of Shakespeare and was the winner of TVO’s 2009 Big Ideas/Best Lecturer Competition for his lecture “Adapting Shakespeare within a Modern Canadian Context.” He was the Founding Artistic Director of the Acting for Stage and Screen Program at Canadore College (2005-2023) and was a part-time English Professor for Nipissing University (1999-2022). A few directing highlights include King Lear (Watershed Shakespeare Festival), the Ontario premiere of Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Berkeley Street Theatre, the Canadian premiere of Talking to Terrorists (GTG), The Othello Project (DORA nomination – Outstanding Direction), Henry V (Go Leafs go!), and Maureen Cassidy’s one woman show Eighteen Degrees (ON THE EDGE Fringe).
He was the Artistic Director of the Nipissing Stage Company (1999-2005) where he directed 25 mainstage productions including the Ontario premiere of McDonagh’s The Cripple of Inishmaan and the Northern Ontario premieres of Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Stones in his Pockets as well as serving as co-author and director on 2 Northern Ontario musicals, Train Town and Wanted. During the early years of his career, Rod served as Assistant Director for the Stratford Festival (2 seasons) and was the first recipient of the Festival’s Jean Gascon Director’s Award and received 3 Tyrone Guthrie Awards. He was inducted into the Brockville and Area Music and Performing Arts Hall of Fame in 2018 and the North Bay Entertainers Hall of Recognition in 2015 and has been nominated for the K.M. Hunter Award for Theatre in Ontario, the John Hirsch Director’s Award, and the Pauline McGibbon Award.
He is the award-winning author of 4 books — RUFF (coming September 2024), GRIN REAPING (2022), KINMOUNT (2020), and A Matter of Will (2017) – all with Latitude 46 Publishing. His work has been long-listed twice for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, received the Independent Publishers Book Awards Silver Medal for Best Regional Fiction and Foreword Review INDIES Bronze Medal for Humour. He has been a finalist for the Next Generation Indie Book Award for Humor/Comedy, the Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Prize, and the Northern Lit Award for Fiction. Check out his website: www.rodcarley.ca.
Rod is delighted to be returning as a Judge for ON THE EDGE Fringe.
Francis Hanover
Francis (Fran) Hanover was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and moved to Northern Ontario in the 70’s. She currently resides in Callander, Ontario.
The adopted child of German immigrants, and having re-connected with her biological family, her subjects revolve around the African diaspora in the Americas. Fran’s primary artistic focus centers on the human form and portraiture, as she finds this subject matter rich with intrigue and complexity, capable of conveying profound emotions, stories, and individual personalities through expressions, gestures, and postures. This exploration allows her to delve into themes of identity, cultural context, and the passage of time, resulting in artworks that deeply resonate with viewers on personal and universal levels. Occasionally incorporating surrealist elements, Fran transforms each portrait into a unique narrative, offering viewers a captivating canvas for exploration, interpretation, and emotional connection.
As a visual artist, Fran Hanover defied convention by cultivating her skills entirely through self-discovery and dedication, without the guidance of formal training or schooling. Drawing from a deep-seated passion for capturing the essence of human emotion and personality, Fran has honed her craft through practice and a keen observation of life around her. Her journey into visual art began with a fascination for the human portraiture and a desire to convey the stories etched into each expression. Through her self-directed exploration and education, she has produced works that translate inner worlds onto canvas, creating portraits that resonate with authenticity and emotional depth. Fran’s unconventional path underscores her belief in the transformative power of art.
Striving to bridge the gap between history and identity, Fran explores a wide variety of mediums such as oil, watercolor, acrylic, charcoal, and ink. Pieces may include the use of patterned textile surface, collage, glazing and processes such as cyanotype printing. Works may, on occasion, include found objects, recycled materials, resins and epoxies. This versatility fosters a dynamic creative process, encouraging experimentation, innovation, and the synthesis of different techniques. Moreover, switching between mediums continually inspires a fresh perspective and a break from creative blocks, leading to richer, more nuanced artworks that resonate on multiple levels with viewers.
Inspired by Gaudi, Middle Eastern architecture, 19th Century Orientalism, and artists such as, Kenyan photographer, Thandiwe Muriu, South African artist, William Kentridge, and African American portrait artist, Kehinde Wiley, Fran refers to these influences as a method to continuously expand her creative visual expression.
“Through my art, I strive to bridge the gaps of history and identity, weaving together stories that resonate with both personal introspection and universal themes of belonging and diversity. Embracing the complexities of my biological heritage and my upbringing fuels my creativity, guiding me to create works that speak to the interconnectedness of our shared human experience.”
Visit her website: www.franhanovermultimediaartist.com
Stephanie Kast
Originally from Dorchester, ON, Stephanie Kast moved to North Bay to pursue a career in the arts, graduating from Canadore College’s Theatre arts program in 2017. Steph has appeared as Prissy Andrews in Anne of Green Gables, Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd: The String of Pearls, and a bride of Dracula in Joshua Bainbridge’s adaptation of the classic novel of the same name. Steph played the role of Alex in both the Canadore College production of I Live with Him Every Day: The Tragedy of David and Dave and in the show’s professional premiere with the Proscenium Club, which toured in fall of 2016.
She directed the world premiere of her original script The Bonds That Hold Us for the ON THE EDGE Fringe Festival in 2017. That same festival, she also appeared as Lady Macbeth in Macbeth which won two Best of Fringe Awards – Jurors’ Choice and Audience Choice. In the Proscenium Club’s 2017/2018 tour Steph appeared as Joan Marshall in The Life and Death of John the Milkman, and in winter 2017, she appeared as Balthazar in the Watershed Shakespeare Festival Collective production of Romeo and Juliet. At the 2018 ON THE EDGE Fringe Festival, she directed One Man, All Woman, as well as the her original work The Cavewoman.
Stephanie played Mercy Lewis in the Sun Dog Theatre Festival production of The Crucible in March 2019. She also played Beth in the Proscenium Club’s 2018/2019 tour of Sit, James. At the 2019 ON THE EDGE Fringe Festival, Steph wrote and directed Artemisia, which went on to win the award for Best Original Work. Steph then appeared as Teresa in the Proscenium Club’s 2019/2020 touring production, Barefoot on the Moon. Steph appeared in the 2021/2022 touring production of Happy Jack’s Motel as Alice. She was also in Gerry Mendicino’s FIVE: The musical, about the Dionne Quintuplets in 2022 and 2023. In the fall of 2023, she played Bonacieux in the Proscenium Club’s production of Three Musketeers, and then directed 12 Angry Jurors for the Gateway Theatre Guild in June 2024.
Steph’s first novel, Little Joe, was published in November 2023.