Presenters are listed in alphabetical order by last name

Chad Burris

Broadway: Mean Girls, Frozen. Other credits include: Original Cast, Almost Famous at The Old Globe; The Muny; Cleveland Playhouse; Cape Playhouse; and Arkansas Repertory Theatre. He is also an accomplished writer and producer, having created the critically acclaimed web series, “City Boyz.” https://www.broadwayworld.com/people/bio/Chad-Burris/ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9298890/

Dr. Erin Clair

Dr. Erin Clair is Director of General Education, Director of Operations for the College of Arts & Humanities, and Associate Professor of English at Arkansas Tech University. She is also a registered yoga teacher (RYT-200), certified meditation teacher, and a certified Ayurveda lifestyle coach. At ATU, she founded the Well-Being Series for faculty and staff, which offers year-round events, classes, and workshops to help academics find work-life balance (https://www.atu.edu/cetl/wellness.php ). You can learn more about Dr. Clair at https://www.erinclairyoga.com/ or https://www.atu.edu/worldlanguages/profiles/eclair.php

Robert Frost

Robert is an NYC-based music director, pianist, and educator. Select MD credits include Half the Sky (5th Ave Theatre/Theatre Latte Da); Minor Character (New Saloon/Under the Radar); (An Audio Guide for) Unsung Snails and Heroes (Manhattan Theatre Club); Miss Blanche Tells It All (NYMF); We Live In Cairo and Cardboard Piano (O’Neill Theater Center); Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady (Arkansas Shakespeare Theater). As a pianist and music director, Robert has also worked with Ogunquit Playhouse, Arkansas Rep, The Cher Show Lab, Berkshire Theater Group, New Georges, NYU, Celebrity Cruises, New Dramatists, and Lincoln Center. As an educator, Robert has worked with Brown University, Hunter College, and Connecticut College. Robert serves on the voice faculty of New Studio on Broadway at NYU and The O’Neill Theater Center’s National Musical Theatre Institute. Website: https://www.rfrostmusic.com/

Keely Futterer

Soprano, "KEELY FUTTERER, a native of Arkansas, is charging up the ladder of vocal-music prominence." Keely Futterer has taken leading roles across the world, including her principal debut as Marie in Opera Saratoga's La fille du régiment, the title character in Suor Angelica in her Italian debut, Elle in La Voix Humaine, Carmela in Mese Mariano, and Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. She has performed an array of new opera, in addition to the classics. Her debut with the Rochester Lyric Opera was as Isabella Beecher in Victoria Bond's Mrs. President. Ms. Futterer has also portrayed The Witch Mother in the American premiere of Philip Glass’s The Witches of Venice with Opera Saratoga, and in 2017, she was part of the New Works Forum in NYC with American Lyric Theatre, premiering the role of Sara Turing in The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing. Ms. Futterer has also had success in competition; she won 3rd place out of over 70 competitors in Pheonix Art Network: Bologna International Voice Competition in Bologna, Italy, and was awarded an additional, discretionary prize by the Varna State Opera. She was a semi-finalist at the Midwest Regional MET Auditions, won first place in the Friends of Eastman Opera Competition in, placed 4th and won the Audience Favorite Award in the Rochester Classical Idol Competition, and took 2nd place in Opera Saratoga's Aria Showcase Competition. Recently, she won first prize in Lyra New York's Mozart Competition, in both the aria and art song categories. A passionate interpreter of concert work, Ms. Futterer has covered Renée Fleming for the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ Letters from Georgia with the Eastman Philharmonic, was soloist for Mahler’s Symphony IV also with the Eastman Philharmonic, and performed Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. She has also sung numerous other oratorio and concert engagements such as the Mozart Requiem, Mozart Missa brevis, Handel's Messiah, Orff's Carmina Burana, and Brahms' Deutches Requiem, as well as scenes and aria concerts around the United States, Italy, and China. In 2019, Ms. Futterer had the great honor to work the Lynx Project on their Autism Advocacy Concert Series, where she performed the world debut of two song cycles, both written expressly for her voice. Ms. Futterer is an alumna of fine training programs such as Opera Saratoga’s Young Artist program, Tulsa Opera's Filstrup Resident Artist Program, Opera Naples' Coaching Intensive with Renata Scotto, and Si parla, si canta, where she had the great pleasure to work with opera greats, such as Benton Hess, Chris Merritt, the late Mira Zakai, Patrizia Ciofi, Enza Ferrari, and Jennifer Johnson Cano, to name a few. She took her BA from Arkansas Tech University and her MM's in Voice Performance and Opera Stage Direction from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Kathryn Cowdrick. In 2020, Ms. Futterer finished her doctoral degree in Vocal Performance and Literature, also from the Eastman School of Music, and will walk as Dr. Futterer in spring of 2021.

John Gale

John Gale, Associate Professor of Film, at the University of Central Arkansas is active in film and in state communication arts education. Gale is a copyright scholar and has presented at international, national, regional and state venues. In addition, Gale is a former Director of the UCA School of Communication, the UCA Department of Mass Communication and Theatre, and the UCA Department of Speech and Public Relations. Also, he served as the Chair of the Arkansas Tech Department of Speech, Theatre and Journalism and as the Director of the ATU Crabaugh Communication Center. Gale resides in Russellville Ark. with his wife, Prof. Holly Ruth Gale.

Talley Gale

Talley Gale is an NYC-based actor. She's originally from Arkansas, where she competed in NATS as a high- schooler. Talley holds an MFA from The Old Globe/University of San Diego Shiley Graduate Theatre Program and a BFA from Ball State University. Professional credits include: Hamlet, Love's Labor's Lost, Macbeth, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, Red Velvet (The Old Globe); This is Our Youth (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); Proof (Oldcastle Theatre Company); Antony and Cleopatra, Private Lives (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Company). Talley can be seen in the web series Queen's English and an upcoming project to be released on Amazon. Talley has volunteered in an artistic capacity in Rwanda, the UK, rural America, and NYC She is an avid mental health advocate. www.talleygale.com

Ashlee Hardgrave

Ashlee Hardgrave has been characterized as a "vocal powerhouse" (Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times) and "well sung" (Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune). She is a musician, writer, cat mom, politics wonk, recovering arts school administrator, and current law school administrator (same issues, less clarinet and theatre majors).

She trained as a classical musician (M.M. Roosevelt University, B.A. Arkansas Tech University), and has spent the last two decades making art on her own terms. You'll find her singing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus, premiering new musicals/chamber/orchestral works, performing in churches for various divinities, writing for the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus, performing live literature with You're Being Ridicuous at Steppenwolf Theatre, lobbying for equity and access in arts education, and managing a vocal ensemble, Vox 3 Collective. She also consults for music schools, nonprofits, and private clients on ways to change the arts education game.

She can be heard on three albums (Green Genes, Spirit Within and New Song), and has been broadcast on WBEZ, WFMT, WGN Television, WLUW, and WOCH. She is a proud member of Vox 3 Collective, Liederstube, Chicago Symphony Chorus, and Mode Ensemble. When she's not working, she's actively attempting to be a better human, breaking molds and stereotypes, and supporting others doing the same. Cliff Hicks

Cliff Hicks was certified as a teacher of the Alexander Technique in 1992 after completing a 1600-hour training course at the Alexander Technique Training Center in Charlottesville, VA. He has been a member of the American Society for the Alexander Technique (AmSAT) for over 20 years. Cliff has worked with performing artists and others from all walks of life throughout the United States and Europe. Born in North Carolina and raised in Tennessee, he has had private practices in Michigan and Germany and taught for over a decade at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Cliff has held private workshops for many music organizations and universities, including the Little Rock Symphony Orchestra, the Osnabrück Theater Orchestra (Osnabrück, Germany), Henderson State University and Ouachita Baptist University. Cliff conducts annual workshops at Arkansas State University and Southern Arkansas University and the Hot Springs Music Festival. Cliff currently teaches private and group lessons around central Arkansas, through The Adventures in the Arts at Pulaski Heights Methodist Church in Little Rock, The Community School of Music at the University of Central Arkansas, The Radiance School of Massage in Hot Springs, and his home in Benton where he lives with his wife, Bethany, and his three children Ben, Sam and Emma.

Jimmy Lewis

Jimmy Lewis is an international performer who started performing at a young age. Growing up in Baltimore, Maryland, Jimmy fell in love with Music, Theatre, and performing. Performing in musicals all around Maryland, he studied vocal music with the Peabody’s Children Chorus and graduated from Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts with a concentration in Vocal Music. After high school, Jimmy received his B.M. in Musical Theatre at Westminster College of the Arts of Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ. While studying at Rider, Jimmy performed in several productions including Max Bialystock in The Producers, Roger in A New Brain, and even Assistant Directed the musical Nine. In addition to performing and studying, Jimmy was also President of the Rider’s Alpha Psi Omega Theatre Fraternity chapter. Since graduating, Jimmy has performed regionally as well as internationally over the last few years. Some of his favorite regional credits include Rooster in Annie, Barfee in Spelling Bee, Will Parker in Oklahoma!, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family, The Big Bopper in Buddy, and Amos in Chicago. He also toured the East Coast, Mid-West, and Virgin Islands with TheaterWorksUSA bringing live theatre to children in schools. In addition to regional theaters across the country, Jimmy has also been lucky enough to work with Disney on several occasions. In 2018 Jimmy went sailing through Europe working on Disney Cruise Line performing on the Disney Magic. On the Disney Magic he performed in Rapunzel’s Royal Table as Hookhand from the movie Tangled. In 2016 and most recently in 2019, Jimmy performed with Disney On Classic, a Disney concert tour in Japan. As 1 of 8 American Singers, Jimmy toured the country with a live 60-piece Japanese orchestra as Olaf in Frozen in 2016 and singing “True to Your Heart” from Mulan in 2019. This past year, Jimmy took on the role of Assistant Artistic Director at the Highlands Playhouse regional theater in Highlands, NC. Having been a performer in the resident acting company since 2013, Jimmy is excited to use his knowledge and skills to help lead the playhouse into the future and to continue its growth in the theater community.