Group: Designers & Production Artists

Tao Wang is an Assistant Professor and David and Rebecca Pardue Fellow, serving as a Media and Lighting Designer in the Department of Dramatic Arts at UNC, Chapel Hill. With over 15 years of successful experience in designs and productions, his expertise spans multiple continents, with work in Japan, South Africa, France, China, and the United States.

His recent projection design credits include significant productions such as “ Narnia,” “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” “The Lightning Thief,” “The Parchman Hour,” “Hamlet,” “Inherit the Wind,” “Shaming Jane Doe,” and “Intimate Apparel.” Tao’s lighting design contributions further enrich his portfolio, with credits in “Misery”, ”Why I live at the P.O.,” “Emma,” “Jelly’s Last Jam,” “Accidental Death of an Anarchist,” “Memphis Silhouettes,” “New Voices Dance,” and “Peter and the Starcatcher.”

Beyond theater, Tao has served as a lighting and set designer for TV shows and has created event lighting designs for significant celebrations, such as the Chinese New Year at Bird’s Nest, Beijing, and the Twelve Women Music Show in China.

His scenic design accomplishments add to his robust profile, with credits including “Twelfth Night,” “Peter and the Starcatcher,” “Violet,” “Falstaff,” “The Mystery of Edwin Drood,” the main stage at the USITT 2019 National Conference, and the “Kite Girl” segment in the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

Tao’s involvement extends to global events, having served as a design assistant for the Special Olympics World Games Opening Ceremony in Shanghai, and “Turandot” in Paris, France. He is a proud member of the USA 829 and USITT, reflecting his commitment to excellence and innovation in the field of dramatic arts and design.

You can find more on him here.

Iris Ponce Lloyd is a local Latina costume designer and arts professional who has collaborated with numerous organizations and productions throughout North Carolina, including North Carolina Theatre, Carolina Ballet, North Carolina Opera, and many others. Since the beginning of the enVISION initiative, Iris has helped bring SDW’s artistic vision to life through thoughtful costume design, contributing to the development of each chapter of this evolving disability-led performance series. She is honored to continue her collaboration with ShaLeigh Dance Works and to support work that embraces creativity, accessibility, and human connection.

Iris also brings a personal connection to the work. Having had access to vision care from a young age, she recognizes that without it, she would be legally blind, which deepens her appreciation for the perspectives and experiences shared through the enVISION process. She is deeply grateful for the love and support of her children, Caden, Charlotte, and Jackson; her mother, Felicita; and the enduring encouragement of her late father, Alfonso, whose belief in her artistic pursuits continues to inspire her work.

“Being given this opportunity to work with and design alongside these community members has deepened my care and understanding. These moments are rare in my experience in the professional arts, and I truly value this experience.”

Nicholas F. Jackson is a Designer, Technical Director, and occasional Choreographer. Most recently Nicholas was an assistant professor at the University of Houston and head of the MFA Technical Direction program. Nicholas received his MFA from the University of Memphis and BFA from the University of Wyoming; both in theatrical design and production. Nic is returning to the triangle area after being the Technical Director for ADF in 2018. Nic is very happy to be a part of the work of ShaLeigh Dance Works and its importance as an accessible performance for a traditionally underserved part of the community.

Omar Ruiz-Lopez (he/him) teaches viola and violin, and is a chamber ensemble coach and conductor with Kidznotes. He is also a bilingual songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founder of the original Americana group Violet Bell. Omar was born in Panama and raised in Puerto Rico with Spanish as his first language. His love of music began at an early age thanks to his father’s frequent vocal renditions of traditional Caribbean folk songs.

Omar is a composer at heart, and a true example of American diversity manifesting through music. He is experienced in music business, production and engineering, and as a virtual cultural diplomat, demonstrating his commitment to music education over decades of teaching. The diversity of his own experience as a multi-genre musician and Latine immigrant helps him connect with diverse international audiences.

Omar is a gifted, experienced, and encouraging teacher who believes that a well-structured music and arts education is essential for the development of a growing mind. He has taught with the El Sistema-based program Kidznotes in Durham since 2011.

Erik Ramquist is a Raleigh native whose passion for music began at an early age through piano and guitar lessons. Over time, his love of music evolved into a fascination with how sound can shape an experience, leading him to focus on live sound reinforcement and audio production. For nearly 20 years, Erik has worked regionally and nationally in sound, creating immersive audio experiences for audiences ranging from intimate performances to major touring productions.

Erik served as Head of Audio for DPAC from 2008–2018, where he spent a decade developing expertise in large-scale system tuning, sound reinforcement, and live performance production. During his time at DPAC, he worked on productions ranging from The Lion King to performances by Elvis Costello and had the opportunity to collaborate with the American Dance Festival, supporting artists and companies ranging from Paul Taylor Dance Company to Pilobolus. Other notable projects include coordinating production for the Creedmoor Music Festival and mixing sound for Iyanla Vanzant‘s 2019 Acts of Faith Tour.

Today, Erik travels extensively as a member of the Hamilton touring sound team, working closely with the band in the pit and occasionally mixing performances for thousands of audience members across the country, while getting to explore the unique food cultures of the cities he visits along the way.

Erik is grateful to continue collaborating with the talented artists and creative experts who have helped shape the enVISION initiative. Working with ShaLeigh Dance Works has inspired him to think deeply about vibration, sound, communication, and the many ways people experience the world. He has been particularly moved by the stories shared by the project’s creative experts and has sought to honor those experiences through immersive soundscapes that invite audiences into perspectives beyond their own.

Through his sound design, Erik strives to evoke movement, atmosphere, and emotional connection while highlighting the sensory experiences at the heart of enVISION. He hopes audiences leave with a deeper understanding of the universal experiences that connect us all—love, loss, longing, joy, and nostalgia.

In his free time, Erik enjoys cooking, playing, and experimenting with live music, and exploring other musical projects. He would like to thank everyone who continues to support the arts and arts access.

Eric Hirsh is a restless and ambitious musician whose growing, genre-crossing body of work is finally being showcased in “Distillation,” his debut album as a bandleader.

For the past 16 years, Hirsh has lived in Durham, NC where he co-creates as a founding member of progressive hip hop quartet The Beast and as a director of Orquesta GarDel, a large-format salsa band. Increasingly, he has focused on writing and performing with a jazz quartet comprising longtime friends and Beast rhythm section Pete Kimosh (bass), Stephen Coffman (drums), and Aaron Hill (saxophone).

Hirsh is a 2012 recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council Composer Fellowship, and a four-time winner of the Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award. Residencies at the Kennedy Center’s Betty Carter Jazz Ahead, Chicago’s Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and Brooklyn’s School for Improvisatory Music each pushed Hirsh closer to the material on “Distillation.”

An enthusiastic collaborator, Hirsh has performed or recorded with the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra, Nnenna Freelon, Jim Ketch, Shana Tucker, Emily Musolino, Greg Humphreys, and The Community Chorus Project. He has performed at Duke Performances, North Carolina State University Center Stage, The Stone (New York), the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the North Carolina Art Museum, UNC Center for the Study of the American South, Lake Eden Arts Festival, Shakori Hills Grassroots Music Festival, and The Art of Cool Project. For more information, visit https://www.erichirsh.com.

Jeremy Kumin has designed the lighting for plays, musicals, opera, dance, video, fashion shows, and many other events.  Starting with a BA in Drama from Duke, he went on to get an MFA from Brandeis in Lighting Design, and then to nearly 2 decades of freelance design work based in New York City.  He designed and programmed Off Broadway productions, tours, and assisted on Broadway shows, but one of the highlights for him was any opportunity to collaborate on lighting dance, which came to include stints with the American Indian Dance Theater, Carlota Santana, Nai-Ni Chen, Laura Dean, and Amanda Selwyn/Notes In Motion.

Through his company Tri-Luminary, Inc. he applied his design and production management skills to numerous special events in NYC from 1999 to 2007. For the decade following that he was handing North American Sales/Marketing for a lighting manufacturer based in Australia. It was during that phase, he was able to return to Durham and reestablish connection with this community.  Jeremy works now as a freelance lighting designer/programmer in NC, and a consultant on marketing and product development for a select group of manufacturers in the entertainment technology field.  An article he wrote was recently published in the Winter 2019 issue of Protocol Magazine. For more information, visit tri-luminary.com.