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ARKAI is an award-winning, electro-acoustic duo that has captivated audiences around the world with their creativity and cutting-edge string music. Classically trained violinist Jonathan Miron and cellist Phillip Sheegog, both graduates of The Julliard School, transform the beautiful tones of the violin and cello into epic soundscapes that resemble a rock band backed by a full orchestra. ARKAI’s signature sound has led them to hundreds of shows around the world.
Their engagements include Grammy's On The Hill, Carnegie Hall, Culture Summit Abu Dhabi, the United States Air Force Academy, and TED. Other highlights include opening for Grammy and Oscar-winning musician Jon Batiste, collaborations with celebrity photographer David LaChapelle for Milan Design Week, and joint recording projects with viral piano sensation Tony Ann. They recently opened and performed with Tony Ann at the legendary Troubadour club in Los Angeles for back-to-back sold-out shows. As songwriters and performers, their creative versatility has led to collaborations with Grammy-award winning music producers, Hollywood trailer houses, Cirque du Soleil acrobats, Olympic gymnasts, contemporary dance companies, chart-topping musicians, and full-scale symphony orchestras. In an article appearing on Grammy.com after a performance in Washington, D.C., ARKAI was described in these glowing terms:
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“The genre-defying electroacoustic duo ARKAI took the stage…Like any exceptional musical performance, it hit like a gale force of humanity. It also showcased how human creativity has always embraced new technology with stirring and inspiring results.”
As proud Asian Americans, ARKAI has helped raise awareness and support for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander causes in partnership with the Museum of Chinese in America, Asian American Arts Alliance, the World Trade Center, and United States Department of State. During a time of increased division and hostility within the world, their artistry represents a beacon of possibility for the Asian American community and an example of the power of the arts to bridge cultural and societal divides. ARKAI’s artist-activism and commitment to advancing the future of music has led to top awards from Astral Artists, radio station WQXR in New York, Juilliard, and the McGraw Family Foundation. In collaboration with Grammy-award winning producer Jonas Karlsson, ARKAI’s highly-anticipated debut album Crossroads was recently released across all platforms.
GO! Contemporary Dance Works presents ALICE: A Revolutionary Ballet based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. GO! re-imagines this Lewis Carroll classic in a whimsical style that blends classical ballet with contemporary dance forms. Directed by Lisa Hall McKee, the production follows Alice down the rabbit hole and narrates the world of wonderland with eye-popping characters and larger-than-life scenes. The performance includes chasing a rabbit into the swirling smoke of Absolem, the crazed Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts. Featuring the choreography of seven Tennessee-based choreographers and a cast of twenty dancers, ALICE: A Revolutionary Ballet will bring this story to life through its powerful and emotionally driven choreography, visually stimulating costuming, and diverse array of music.
About GO! Contemporary Dance Works
GO! Contemporary Dance Works is a non-profit dance company established by artistic director, Lisa Hall McKee in Knoxville, Tennessee. GO!'s mission is to elevate enthusiasm for the performing arts within the community through daring, innovative, and adventurous choreography that defies the boundaries of classical norms. Their more than three hundred performances have merged the movement vocabulary of classical ballet, contemporary movement, and aerial dance. GO! is known for challenging its audience with both thought-provoking subject matter and choreography, while providing elaborate and adventurous performances, appealing to dancers and non-dancers alike. Artistically linking history and dance, GO! uses the medium of dance to uplift education, elevate enthusiasm for the performing arts, and magnify young artists' voices.
About the Director
Lisa Hall McKee, the founding artistic director of Studio Arts for Dancers and GO! Contemporary Dance Works in Knoxville, Tennessee, has developed a rich, diverse dance education program and performance dance company. In a teaching and choreography career spanning three decades, McKee has written, choreographed, and produced more than seven original full-length ballets with thought-provoking and historical subject matter. She pursued a professional dance career but now focuses on exposing both artists and audiences to the current developments and innovations that define 21st century dance. McKee is the recipient of the Outstanding Teacher Award from the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts and the Tennessee Association of Dance Outstanding Teacher Award which includes recognition for mentoring young artists.
Get ready for a high-energy, thirty-minute showcase featuring scenes and songs from three crowd-pleasing hits from the 2025 season at Cumberland County Playhouse! From the heartfelt Southern charm of The Miss Firecracker Contest, to the toe-tapping joy of Hairspray, to the powerhouse anthems of 9 to 5, this mini revue brings you a triple dose of theatrical fun—all in one spotlight-stealing performance! Cumberland County Playhouse artistic director Bryce McDonald will introduce each piece with comments, context, and background on each show. This production will be a bite-sized Broadway experience, packed with personality, heart, and a whole lot of talent.
About Cumberland County Playhouse
The Cumberland County Playhouse is the only major non-profit professional performing arts resource in rural Tennessee, and one of the ten largest professional theatres in rural America. It serves more than eighty thousand visitors annually with both indoor and outdoor stages, young audience productions, a comprehensive dance program, and a concert series. Combining a resident professional company and a full time staff with more than a hundred visiting professionals, guest artists, and volunteers, the playhouse draws professionals from across the country and volunteers from a dozen Tennessee counties. Creating accessibility to the arts for all is key to the mission of the Cumberland County Playhouse.
About Bryce McDonald
Bryce McDonald is the producing director and CEO of Cumberland County Playhouse, (CCP). McDonald is proud to have worked on Broadway as a stage manager for numerous productions with the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Roundabout Theatre Company. Off-Broadway, he has worked with Second Stage Theater, the Vineyard Theatre, and the Lincoln Center Theater. Regional credits include his work with the Long Wharf Theatre. He has directed many productions for the CCP, including Ring of Fire, Shrek, Mamma Mia!, The Addams Family, Sister Act, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Godspell, to name only a few. McDonald is proud to serve as a chair of station WCTE Upper Cumberland Broadcast Council, president of Tennesseans for the Arts, and past-president of the Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce. He was recently honored with the 2018 Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce “You Made It Happen” Award.
Renowned for his acting work onstage and screen, fans of musical theatre best know Norm Lewis, the SAG, Grammy, and Tony-award nominated star, for his booming baritone and the magnetic charisma that has marked every step of his nearly three decades of Broadway excellence.
In his one-man show, Lewis will present a revue of songs hand-picked from his impressive resumé of the who’s-who among leading man roles, and will lend his unique and insightful vocal versatility to selections ranging from jazz and blues, to soul, pop, and classic American favorites.
ABOUT NORM LEWIS
Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and SAG Award nominee Norm Lewis can currently be seen leading the cast in the off-Broadway production of Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, for which he received rave reviews. Prior to that, Lewis starred in the national tour of the Tony Award-winning production of A Soldier’s Play and in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies. He starred in Spike Lee’s critically acclaimed Da 5 Bloods and in the groundbreaking FX series Pose. Additionally, Lewis can be seen starring opposite Hilary Swank in the feature The Good Mother, Amazon Prime's newest series Swarm, and Hulu’s Up Here. He was also seen as Caiaphas in the award-winning NBC television special Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert. Lewis returned to Broadway in the fall of 2021, starring in Chicken and Biscuits at the Circle in the Square Theatre. His many off-Broadway roles include Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (winning the Audience Development Committee “AUDELCO” Award), Dessa Rose (receiving a Drama Desk nomination and AUDELCO Award), and Shakespeare in the Park’s The Two Gentlemen of Verona (receiving a Drama League nomination).
In 2014, Lewis made history as The Phantom of the Opera’s first African American Broadway phantom. He received Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle award nominations for his performance as Porgy in the Broadway production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and appeared in London’s West End as Javert in Les Misérables and Les Misérables: The 25th Anniversary Concert, which aired on PBS. Other PBS shows include the Live from Lincoln Center productions of Showboat, Norm Lewis: Who Am I?, and New Year’s Eve: A Gershwin Celebration. Lewis can be seen recurring in the VH1 series Daytime Divas, alongside Vanessa Williams. Other television credits include Women of the Movement, Law & Order, and Blue Bloods, as well as his recurring role as Senator Edison Davis on the hit drama Scandal.
Additional film credits include Christmas in Tune (starring opposite Reba McEntire), Magnum Opus, Sex and the City 2, Confidences, and Preaching to the Choir. His recordings include The Norm Lewis Christmas Album and This is the Life.
Lewis is a proud founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization which stands together to help protect black people, black talent, and black lives of all shapes and orientations in theatre and communities across the country.
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Isaac Harlan
Musical Director
Isaac Harlan is a Pittsburgh native who studied piano at Penn State University and has worked in New York City as a pianist, music director and orchestrator. He has played concerts for Norm Lewis, Shoshana Bean, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Darius de Haas, and has also had the pleasure of working on developing musicals by writers such as Michael McElroy, Tituss Burgess, Alex Gemignani, and Black Thought. Harlan accompanies the younger generation of singers through his work with YoungArts and the National High School Musical Theatre Awards. He also works with the Broadway Inspirational Voices, a grammy-nominated gospel choir, as a pianist and orchestrator. In 2024, he was conductor, pianist, and orchestrator for Sonnets and Soul, a new musical which was produced at Howard University. Most recently he arranged music for Leslie Uggams and Renée Elise Goldsberry for the Black Theatre United Gala.
The Middle Tennessee Choral Society (MTCS) was established in 1969 to provide outstanding performance opportunities for choral singers in the Middle Tennessee region. Past MTCS conductors include T. Earl Hinton, Sandra Willetts, and Raphael Bundage, who conducted the choir for nearly forty years. Angela Tipps became the conductor in 2022. The choral society performs two concerts per year featuring major works with orchestra. Recent works under Tipps’s baton include Vivaldi's Gloria, Bach's Magnificat, and Faure's Requiem. The 2025 spring concert featured portions of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace by Karl Jenkins, Interstellar by Hans Zimmer, and Duel of the Fates from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace by John Williams.
The Middle Tennessee Choral Society holds auditions in the fall and spring, and is currently at capacity with nearly ninety singers. Although the society is not a Middle Tennessee State University alumni group, many of the choir’s recent graduates continue their choral experience by becoming part of the choral society as they leave the university. The choir includes many members who make their living as musicians, as well as people who love to sing as an avocation, and includes music educators, church musicians, and many others.
About the Conductor
Angela Tipps is finishing her twenty-seventh year as a master instructor in the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) School of Music, where she conducts the SOAL Chorale (Soprano-Alto) and TEBA Chorale (Tenor-Bass). She coordinates the music appreciation courses, and serves as musical director with the department of speech and theatre. A native of Murfreesboro and a graduate of MTSU and the Scarritt graduate school in Nashville, Tipps’s choirs have performed for the southern division conference of the American Choral Directors Association, the Tennessee Music Education Association, and with the Nashville Symphony at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. She has led several sessions on choral music for the Tennessee Arts Academy and is happy to see the Academy presented at her alma mater.
