The Creative Team

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Eric Martinez 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 Jones 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, Thomas Weaver in The Story of My Life, 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, and Matilda. 

Dominic Michael Aquilino is thrilled to reunite and collaborate with his dear friend Eric Martinez and Dogged Utopia for this production of Wuthering Heights and Nevermore in 2025.

Dominic hails from Lake George, NY and “grew up” performing in the renowned Lake George Opera Festival. He is a merit scholar with a Master of Music and Professional Certificate from The Manhattan School of Music.

Since moving to Western Carolina 18 years ago a few of his local performance credits include: Music Man, The Bridges of Madison County, The Fantasticks, Ring of Fire, Light in the Piazza, Million $ Quartet (Johnny Cash), to name a few. Some of the local theaters he has collaborated with are HART, SART, Asheville Lyric Opera, Brevard Music Center, ETSU Frank Bud Theatre, Montford, in addition to the Asheville, Hendersonville and Brevard Symphonies.

A few more Professional credits: Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, Dayton, Cleveland and Cincinnati Operas, Orlando

Opera, Opera Omaha, Lees McRae Summer Theatre, Utah Opera and Musical Theatre, Disney MGM, Theater Three and

The Broadhollow Theater and several productions in NY On and Off Broadway. He’s starred throughout the US in over 250 shows.

Some of his favorite performances include: Carousel (Billy Bigelow), La Boheme (Marcello & Shaunard- Nationally),

Pirates of Penzance (Pirate King- Nationally), Oklahoma (Curly), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Oberon), Pride & Prejudice

(Mr. Darcy), Phantom of the Opera (Phantom), The Fantasticks (El Gallo-Nationally), The Denim King (Moses Cone), Mary Poppins, Mama Mia, Dracula, and Robin Hood.

As a Director, Dominic has been at the helm of productions of Spamalot, Little Shop of Horrors (as well as designing and

creating several Audrey IIs), Stage and Music Directing Rent, All Shook Up and Million Dollar Quartet in addition to starring in it and directing his adaptation of Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol.

He has been a Professor of Voice and Drama and on faculty at Mars Hill University, Emory and Henry, East Tennessee State University and over 20 years at Western Carolina University.

He also teaches voice and acting from his private studio in Canton, NC as well as making and selling his Rustic Creations out of his “mad workshop!”

He thanks his Muse, Clara Ray Burrus, his amazing little actress, Vivienne and their menagerie of animals.

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. 

Dr. Leonidas Lagrimas 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 Dominguez 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 R. Crawley 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 Garland Lowe 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 Daniel 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!