Core Purpose:
Art is for everyone and thrives without limits. Our mission is to amplify voices, foster creativity, and connect audiences with bold, new works.
Accessibility
Ensuring art is open to all.
Creativity
Encouraging bold and
artistic expression.
Community
Building connections to foster a collaborative, vibrant culture.
Core Values:
Meet The Team
Lara Marsh
Artistic Director
Lara is a very active Omaha/Metro area Director and Theatre Practitioner with her Master of Arts in Theatre Direction from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She has directed for multiple theatres in the Omaha/Metro area. Favorite credits include "The Clearing", "Brilliant Traces", "Operation Crucible", "Mary Stuart", and "Lost Boy Found at Whole Foods". In her continued education, she completed a graduate assistantship in stage management. Lara has stage-managed plays, musicals, festivals, and events. Some of her favorite stage management credits include: "Richard III", "Othello", "Mister Roberts", and "The Sound of Music". Over the years, Lara coordinated the national tours of "A Christmas Carol" for the Nebraska Theatre Caravan, while also coordinating the apprenticeship program for the Omaha Community Playhouse. As Director of Production, Lara has worked at Opera Omaha and the Nebraska Shakespeare Festival. In the Omaha Fringe, Lara's directing credits include "On the Line" and "The Real Professor". Lara has been involved in the Omaha Fringe since its first year, and is proud to be a part of working with theatre experiences that tie with local partners and communities, while attracting the national scene to our thriving city of Omaha. Bringing new theatre to life, ensuring new voices and new stories are heard, are what make the world go round. We must never forget the very essence of performance art – humanity and storytelling.
Nic Jansen
Board President
Nic Jansen is an Omaha local stage manager, actor, and playwright. Nic holds a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. They are the resident stage manager and patron services manager at the BLUEBARN Theatre and also serve as Board President for The Circle Theatre. Nic is passionate about the healing power of art and making all art and art spaces accessible to everyone. As president of the board, Nic strives to lead Omaha Fringe towards becoming a more widely cherished and impactful part of the community, knowing that some of the best art comes from those on the fringe.
Board of Directors
Erica Lohman
Vice-President & Volunteer Coordinator
Erica Lohman is a dancer and choreographer from Indianapolis, Indiana. She graduated summa cum laude with a B.F.A. in Dance Performance and Choreography from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory. She is currently in her third season with American Midwest Ballet (AMB) in Omaha, Nebraska, where she has danced multiple roles in their ballet productions and was featured in works by guest choreographers Frank Chaves, Monique Haley, and Ray Mercer. She also serves as the Assistant Director of the Ensemble and the Regional Solo Program Director for the AMB School. Erica has previously performed with De La Dance Company, Kansas City Ballet, Wylliams Henry Contemporary Dance Company, and Albany Berkshire Ballet, and she has danced at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the American College Dance Festival, and the Kansas Dance Festival. As a choreographer, she has set works for the AMB School, Seiche Dance Collective, Ballet INitiative, the inaugural Indy Dance Festival, and Omaha's early music ensemble Cantare!. Recently, she both choreographed and performed in a touring show with pianist Mia Vassilev and produced an original, full-length production for the 2024 Omaha Fringe Festival. As a Certified Yoga Instructor, she also enjoys sharing the joy of movement and dance throughout the Omaha Metro Area in conjunction with AMB’s Outreach programs.
Dwayne Brown
Treasurer
Dwayne Brown was born and raised in Omaha and is a registered architect, co-owns Slate Architecture w/offices in Omaha and Helena, MT. Dwayne is a comedian and board member of Big Canvas Comedy, a local not-for-profit organization that believes in comedy for everyone. Dwayne owns the Blackstone Theater, a small intimate venue for comedy, story telling, and many other performance art shows. Located in Omaha’s newest Blackstone neighborhood. Happily Married to Amy Brown with two grown daughters ages 28 and 33. Dwayne currently lives just north of Council Bluffs in the Loess Hills of Iowa.
Maddison Poling
Development
Maddison Poling is an award-winning performer, educator, director/choreographer, & multi-hyphenate artist originally from Shreveport, Louisiana. She is currently a full time teaching artist at The Rose Theater and has previously served as the Director of Education at Omaha Community Playhouse, Director of Education at Stage Center & Stage Center School of Performing Arts, as well as a teaching artist for many theaters. Maddison has been commissioned by multiple organizations in the performing arts sphere and beyond to pilot new programs, build departments, and bring order to existing chaos. As a director & choreographer, her recent credits include "Into the Woods" (Stagedoor Manor), "Spongebob Squarepants the Musical" (Youth Actors Academy Lincoln), "Finding Nemo Jr." (Omaha Community Playhouse), "Fractured Fairy Tales" (Circle Theatre/Ollie Webb), and "Addams Family" (Stage Center). As a performer, her favorite credits include "Newsies" (Katherine) with Stage Center, "Legally Blonde" (Elle Woods) at Marjorie Lyons Playhouse, "The Wizard of Oz" (Dorothy) with Birmingham Children’s Theater, and "Seussical" (Mayzie) with Stage Center Touring Co. Maddison has taught multiple subjects Kindergarten through 12th grade and has been a private voice & acting coach for 15 years. At the heart of everything she does is the passion for creating access to the arts for everyone. She is thrilled to join the Board of Directors for the Omaha Fringe!
Isabelle Fleming
Marketing
Isabelle is a dancer and community-collaborator from Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated from Creighton University with a degree in Art History & Economics and minor in Dance. Deeply invested in arts and culture, Isabelle currently serves on the Joslyn Art Museum’s Young Advocates Leadership Committee and has performed with Vōx Dance Collective at the 2024 & 2025 Omaha Fringe Festival- their performance won the Outstanding Dance Production Award at the 2024 Omaha Entertainment & Arts Awards. She integrates her love of the arts and community development in her work at Omaha by Design and recently graduated from the Nonprofit Association of the Midland's Rising Leaders Institute. Isabelle is excited to bring her creativity and communications experience to the Omaha Fringe Board.
Kenzie Jensen
Secretary
Kenzie Jensen is excited to be working with Omaha Fringe in this new capacity! Kenzie has been working with the Fringe for the past two years, and loves to bring new and unique works to Omaha. Some of Kenzie’s other recent shows/work include stage managing "LIZZIE" at Shelterbelt, "Wizard of Oz" at Nebraska Community Playhouse, "5 Lesbians Eat a Quiche" at SNAP! Productions, and currently working on "Waitress" at OCP.
Ransom Buda
Patron Services
Ransom is a local costume designer, house manager, wardrobe specialist and technical theatre educator, working mostly from the Rose Theater. He is thrilled to be returning to the Fringe as a board member after volunteer house managing last Fringe. Ransom is passionate about the art and opportunities Omaha Fringe brings to the community and looks forward to working to make the arts accessible for all always.
Naomi Bates
General Administration
Naomi Bates is a Multidisciplinary Artist and Arts Administrator from Northwest Arkansas and Pennsylvania with BA degrees in Dance and Theatre Arts Management from Slippery Rock University. She is proud to serve on the Omaha Fringe Festival board, and is excited to see the Fringe continue to grow in the years to come! In addition to serving on the board, Naomi recently produced an audiovisual movement piece, alongside Luvenia Kalia, titled "Voice notes only, please" at the 2023 Omaha Fringe Festival. In the area of Arts Management, Naomi has worked in Stage Management, Marketing, Production Management, and various production team roles. Naomi has had the privilege to work for Nebraska Shakespeare (Marketing and Social Media Specialist; Merchandise Manager), Florida Repertory Theatre (Stage Management Intern; Equity Stage Manager; Assistant Production Manager), and Center for the Arts at Bonita Springs (Stage Manager; Choreographer). From 2022-2023 Naomi served as the Assistant Production Manager at Florida Repertory Theatre and is currently serving as Fine Arts Administrator at Ouachita Baptist University and as a Dance Instructor for Natural State Dance Company. Through all artistic and administrative roles, Naomi hopes that all her work is shaped by listening, empathy, and resilience which are the most vibrant human qualities that art can and should reflect.
Ash Tointon
Student Liaison
Ash Tointon is super excited to join the Fringe after a summer working with them as an artist. Currently a UNO Theatre student, Ash loves acting, stage managing, writing, and directing. They are super excited to continue meeting artist from Omaha and beyond!
THE FRINGE
Theatre fringe festivals have a long tradition, starting in 1947 in Edinburgh when eight artists, not invited to perform at an arts festival showed up anyway and performed on the fringes. From that beginning artists all over the world have gravitated towards festivals that celebrate the arts in a similar way. A Fringe festival derives its name from those performers who began on the fringes of a recognized festival and is simply a place where artists of all types can come together and perform or show their art. The works are generally performance based, self produced and self funded. The roots of Fringe are located in open access festivals, where all performers are given an opportunity free of adjudication. The heart of Fringe Festivals is performance and sharing new works of art in the community. They are often unique experiences where the variety and organic nature of the festival creates an atmosphere of discovery and adventure. For audiences it allows them to experience a wide variety of shows; for artists it gives them a low stakes platform to try new things.
After Edinburgh, Fringe festivals began to show up all over there world. Currently, the World Fringe website states there are over 250 Fringe festivals in countries from Europe to Africa to Asia to America. They estimate that, “19 million people see approximately 170 thousand performers in 60,000 free and ticketed events. Over 8 million Fringe tickets are sold in over 6 thousand venues across the globe.” That’s a lot of brand new theatre being created and performed for audiences to enjoy.
The Omaha Fringe was created based on this long tradition of Fringe festivals. We felt that that there was a need in Omaha for this type of festival. In the true spirit of Fringe festivals, our festival allows anyone to apply and our applicants are chosen by lottery, so everyone has an equal shot at getting a performance slot. Our first year festival produced ten different performances in two different spaces at the University of Nebraska, Omaha. We had over seven hundred audience members from all around the Omaha community come and celebrate the different productions our artists created. Since then we have continued to grow, hosting 20 local and national artists in four spaces, and welcoming thousands of audience members over the years and we are excited to see where Omaha Fringe goes next!
News & Reviews
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Platte River Bard Podcast: 2024 Omaha Fringe Festival with Tamar Neumann and Lara Marsh!
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Omaha Magazine: On the Fringes- Omaha Performing Arts Festival Emulates Larger Iterations
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Platte River Bard Podcast: Get ready for the 2024 Omaha Fringe Festival!
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KVNO: Omaha Fringe Festival 2023