Trel Sha'Vega

Trel Sha’Vega (born Trevor Rigby) is an American film director, writer, and former orchestra conductor whose work blends emotional realism with mythic, psychological, and symbolic storytelling. Originally from Mission Viejo, California, he trained as a musician at the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida, earning degrees in music education and orchestral conducting. His early career included performing with-and later instructing-the world-renowned Blue Devils Drum & Bugle Corps. Before turning to film, Sha’Vega built a reputation as a dynamic musical storyteller. He directed numerous theatrical productions, including Inertia - The Musical, winner of Best National Musical at the 2010 Orlando Fringe Festival. In 2015, inspired by a desire to merge classical orchestration with contemporary sound, he founded the Hollywood Light Orchestra, a hybrid ensemble combining strings, brass, and vocals with EDM and hip-hop. The group appeared on America’s Got Talent and performed at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Sha’Vega’s transition into filmmaking marked a shift toward more intimate, mythopoetic work. When the 2020 pandemic halted production on his first planned feature, he turned inward and wrote Morgan’s Mask, a deeply personal psychological drama created to be filmed entirely in isolation. The film became his directorial debut and signaled the emergence of his signature voice-one that fuses emotional vulnerability, symbolic imagery, and a conductor’s sense of rhythm and structure. He continues to develop films that explore identity, transformation, and the mythic dimensions of the human experience.