The Creative Team - Past and Present

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Eric has been acting on stage since he was four years old.   Eric has performed in the musical roles of John Wilkes Booth in Assassins, John Jasper/Clive Paget in The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Jimmy Ray Dobbs in Bright Star, Benny Perkins in Hands on a Hardbody, Albin/Zaza in La Cages aux Folles, Max Detweiler in Sound of Music, Whizzer in Falsettoland, Sancho Panza in Man of La Mancha, and twice in the role of Edward Rutledge in 1776. In the world of Opera, he has taken on many lyric tenor roles and has participated in opera apprenticeship programs with companies such as The Santa Fe Opera.  Eric has performed on stage as Ian in Shining City, Ralph Wantage in Frozen by Bryony Lavery, Lt. Kendrick in A Few Good Men, and Renfield in Dracula. Eric is a chief technical architect for a consulting company and holds an MBA from Notre Dame.

Mark has been involved with theatre in Western North Carolina and Virginia for the last 35 years. Some of his favorite acting roles include: Buddy Holly in BUDDY: The Buddy Holly Story, Jack in Into the Woods, Pete in Pete 'n' Keely, John in john & jen, Corny Collins in Hairspray, Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors, Lurch in The Addams Family, Robert Anne in Nunsense, A-Men and the Tinman in The Wizard of Oz. Mark has also directed many productions, including: The Great American Trailer Park Musical, Seussical, Ghost: The Musical, Zombie Prom, Legally Blonde: The Musical, Little Shop of Horrors, Mamma Mia, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Bright Star, We Will Rock You, Thrill Me, Xanadu, and Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe. 

Laura is a Stage Manager with a broad range of experience in theater. She has worked on productions like Xanadu at Dogged Utopia, and Spamalot, A Month of Sundays, The Great American Trailer Park Musical, and The Story of My Life at HART. Laura has also worked as an Assistant Stage Manager for Big Fish at HART and Matilda at ACT. She enjoys the challenge of keeping everything running smoothly behind the scenes and is always eager to collaborate with talented teams to bring a production to life. 

Sara is thrilled to be Stage Manager for Dogged Utopia Productions. She has Stage Managed 16 productions at Hendersonville Theatre. Favorites include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Rock of Ages and Terms of Endearment (all at HT) and Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Montfort Park Players). Thanks to Mark Jones and Eric Martinez for the opportunity to work with such a talented group of people! 

Misty is a multifaceted musician based in western North Carolina where she is professor of woodwinds/music education at Mars Hill University.  A tireless advocate of contemporary classical music, Rondeau has given the world premiere of several compositions commissioned by and dedicated to her. With her ensemble FUJIN she has toured throughout the country, lectured at the 2020 New Music Consortium Flute Festival, and performed at the 2026 North American Saxophone Alliance Conference. EVERGREEN and Fujin: The 10th Anniversary Album, her two new albums, are available for purchase on her website.

In addition to flute and piccolo, Professor Rondeau is a proficient performer on all clarinets, saxophones, and oboe. She utilizes these skills in her steady work as an orchestral musician for several regional theater companies and provides lessons at Mars Hill University and area high schools.

Misty Rondeau received degrees from the University of Southern Mississippi in Music Education and Music Performance.  Follow her on Instagram at @fluteplusreeds

Kelly is a retired music and theater educator who relocated from the metro Atlanta area to Sylva, NC in 2022. She received her B.M. (Music Education) from Furman University, M.M. (Choral Conducting) from Eastman School of Music, and Ph.D. (Music Education) from Northwestern University. For over 30 years, she has been sharing her love of the performing arts as a music director, accompanist, pit musician, voice/piano/theory instructor, adjudicator, conference presenter, and onstage performer. Kelly is an advocate for collaboration within and across the arts, and currently serves as music director/pianist at HART Theatre, working with both youth and adults. In addition to her work in music and theater, she is also a Master Trainer and content creator for the international music and movement drumming program Drums Alive. Kelly thanks Mark and Eric for bringing her into the Dogged Utopia world, and is excited to collaborate onstage with the Tonya and Nancy cast, crew, and band!   

Leonidas serves as Assistant Professor of Piano and Piano Pedagogy for the WCU School of Music. His main duties include Applied Piano and coordinating the Class Piano program. An emerging leader in piano pedagogy research, Dr. Lagrimas serves on the editorial board of American Music Teacher, the official journal of Music Teachers National Association, and also currently serves as Editor of the North Carolina Music Teacher Association Journal. He has been a regular webinar contributor and clinician for the Frances Clark Center, and a featured workshop presenter for NafME and Music Teachers National Association. He is a frequently invited guest lecturer, competition judge and masterclass clinician throughout the country and serves on the state Executive Board for NCMTA. He is a regular presenter at local, state, regional, and national music conferences for College Music Society, MTNA, NCKP, and NafME, and serves as Vice-President and board member of the Asheville Area Piano Forum.

Dr. Lagrimas is active throughout the region as a solo and collaborative performer. Recent and upcoming performances include guest artist recitals at the University of Florida, Appalachian State University, University of Alabama, Mars Hill University, and numerous faculty recitals at WCU. Past collaborative piano highlights include performances with Grammy-winning soprano Hila Plitmann, country superstar Lorrie Morgan, and multiple Carnegie Hall appearances. Active as musical theatre pianist, conductor, and music director, his recent regional credits include The Sondheim Tribute Revue at Waynesville's HART Theatre, Rock of Ages and 9 to 5: The Musical for Theatre Tallahassee, In the Heights and American Idiot for New Stage Theatreworks, and Little Shop of Horrors for Starring Buffalo! at Shea's 710 Theatre.

Dr. Lagrimas is the proud recipient of the 2024 Belcher College Faculty Teaching Award for outstanding teaching and the 2023 Faculty Scholarship Award for outstanding scholarly activity and research. He holds National Certification (NCTM) in piano from MTNA and a Ph.D. in Music Education and Piano Pedagogy from Florida State University. In addition to his teaching at WCU, Dr. Lagrimas maintains a private piano studio. His previous full-time faculty appointments include SUNY-Fredonia and Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and prior to his doctoral studies he served as a music teacher in the New York City public schools for ten years.

Kristen is honored to work with Dogged Utopia Productions as music director, working with her long-time friend, Mark Jones. She served at music director for last Summer’s production of Xanadu. Over the past 20 years, she has served as accompanist and musical director for productions at ACT, Haywood Arts Regional Theatre, and Diana Wortham Theatre with Bioflyer Productions. Kristen serves as full-time Minister of Music and Creative Worship at Hominy Baptist Church in Candler. She and her husband David are parents to a young adult son and young adult daughter. Kristen holds a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies from UNC Greensboro. She also accompanies choral groups and musicals for schools in Buncombe and surrounding counties. 

John is an accomplished collaborative pianist known for his intuitive abilities and his innate musical style. A classically trained concert pianist, he has degrees in piano performance from the Eastman School of Music and Temple University. Mr. Crawley has performed extensively throughout the Eastern United States and Europe, both as a soloist and as a collaborative artist.

He has appeared in concert at such noted venues as Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall in New York; the Maurice Ravel Auditorium in Lyon, France; the Diana Wortham Theatre in the Wortham

Center for the Performing Arts and the Asheville Art Museum in Asheville, NC; Mechanics Hall in Worchester, MA and has performed with college and regional orchestras, including the Asheville

Symphony and the Hendersonville Symphony, as well as the New York based Vivaldi Chamber Orchestra and the Lyric Theater of Oklahoma. He has also been a featured artist with the chamber music organization, Pan Harmonia. He currently holds the position of Director of Music at Asheville School where he has now taught for 27 years directing and overseeing the entire music program.

Mr. Crawley has also done extensive work in musical theatre. He has performed as pit pianist and/or musical director for over 30 shows in Illinois, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and North Carolina including "A Little Night Music", "Carousel", "Side by Side by Sondheim, "Cole", "Camelot", "Sweet Charity", How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying", "Bells Are Ringing", "The Sound of Music", "The Robber Bridegroom", "Once Upon a Mattress", "South Pacific", "Carnival", "Hello Dolly", "Lucky Stiff", "The Taffetas", "The Story of My Life", "Cabaret", "John and Jen", "Fiddler on the Roof", "The Great American Trailer Park Musical", "Spitfire Grill", "Birds of

Paradise", "Putting It Together", "Songs for a New World", "Colette Collage", "Cyrano, the musical", "Cats", "Disney's Beauty and the Beast", "Merrily We Roll Along", "Mary Poppins" "Ordinary Days", and "Into the Woods".

Jessica is so excited to be a part of Dogged Utopia Productions! Previous productions include multiple shows at Haywood Arts Regional Theatre and Asheville Community Theatre, including: Seussical the Musical (Mrs. Mayor), The Fantasticks (Choreographer), Bright Star (Choreographer), Young Frankenstein (Ensemble), and Snowbound (Edna/Choreographer). Outside of the theatre, Jessica loves her job as a Middle School Band Director. She would like to thank Mark for giving her this opportunity (they’ve worked on over 10 shows together!) and her husband Derek for being so patient and supportive. 

Claire is thrilled to be the lighting designer for Dogged Utopia Productions entire 2025 season!  She has been working throughout Asheville the last couple of years doing things like Stage Managing! Her latest lighting designs were for the shows Daddy Long Legs, and Songs for a New World at Asheville Musical Theatre. She also has been working at Land of Oz for the last 5 years! She can't wait for everyone to watch these incredible shows!  

 Jason is an actor, director and designer that works for many local theatre companies around Asheville and WNC. Recent designs include: Tonya and Nancy for Dogged Utopia, Next to Normal and The White Chip at HART Theatre, Silver in the Pines for Asheville Contemporary Dance Theatre, Appropriate for Hendersonville Theatre, and Hadestown Teen Edition for Asheville Performing Arts Academy. He would like to thank you for coming to see the show tonight. He sees theatre as a valuable life experience and an important part of the cultural fabric. If you enjoyed tonight's show he encourages you to seek out other performances in our vibrant local theatre scene, and please consider an additional donation or sponsorship to keep the area theater scene thriving.