"Brother Nat: Rise. Revolt. Redemption. A Concert Performance” at Emerson/Paramount Center’s Robert J. Orchard Stage

Lead Performers:
Duane Adolph Moody (Brother Nat) is a Professor at Berklee College of Music, has expounded on a career of international proportions for over three decades. After receiving degrees from The Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University and Boston University he has made debuts at The Royal Festival Hall, Tel Aviv Opera, Hamburg Staatsoper, Alte Oper, Des Moines Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, DaytonOpera, New York City Opera, The Kennedy Center, The Boston Pops, with Keith Lockhart, The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra, The Indianapolis Symphony, The Spokane Symphony, The Reading Symphony and The Frederick Symphony.

Sirgourney Cook (Cora/Ensemble), a Chicago native, completed her graduate education at Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, earning a Master of Music Degree in Opera Performance, May 2016, where she studied with Bass-Baritone, Robert Honeysucker. Prior to her time at Longy, Sirgourney toured as the soprano background vocalist for Jennifer Hudson for over three years. She is a member of the Boston Lyric Opera Chorus. In 2017, she debuted her one-woman show What Am I Doing Here?, at the Central Square Theatre, in Cambridge, MA, in production with The Boston Opera Collaborative of which she was member for two years.

Lovely Hoffman (Vyrie/Ensemble) is an IRNE Awards Winner, Broadway World Award recipient, and a respected, multi-talented performer and educator. Lovely’s favorite theatre roles include Gary Coleman in Avenue Q, Crystal in Little Shop of Horrors and Celie in The Color Purple. Since releasing her single, “@My Black is Beautiful,” Lovely has been featured in multiple media outlets including CNN, BET, ESSENCE, The Boston Globe, Teen Vogue and The Tom Joyner Morning Show. Lovely’s mantra, “Creativity takes Courage,” inspires her to embrace art that encompasses the wide spectrum of the human experience, from love, to pain, to hope and justice.

Neal Ferreira (Master Turner/Ensemble), praised for his "rich, powerful voice" and "bravura-filled stage presence," is receiving national recognition as a promising lyric tenor on the rise. Dubbed a “Boston mainstay” by The Boston Globe, he most recently appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in La bohème at Tanglewood Music Festival and with Boston Lyric Opera in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti. Upcoming engagements include Tamino in The Magic Flute with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras at Symphony Hall, the tenor solos in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, and Captain Macheath in Benjamin Britten's version of The Beggar's Opera with Emmanuel Music.

Mark Linehan (Pierre Sans-Souci/Trader Bob/Thomas Gray/Ensemble) is an award-winning Boston actor. A Massachusetts native, he has performed in theaters across New England as a professional actor, dancer and singer. Mark specializes in musical theater and performs regularly in plays, television commercials, industrials and film. Mark received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Musical Theater from Emerson College in Boston. Mark works year-round as a costumed historical guide on Boston’s Freedom Trail. He most recently appeared with Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston as Lord Evelyn Oakleigh in Anything Goes and Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man. Mark currently resides in Malden, Massachusetts with his wife Amanda and four-year-old daughter Georgia.

Other Featured Cast Members include:
Joshuah Brian Campbell (Plato/Ensemble) is a singer, songwriter, composer, ministry worker, and actor originally from Cheraw, South Carolina, a small hometown he proudly shares with Dizzy Gillespie. His performance practice trots the lines between genres and does not shy away from using music as a tool for social justice. In Boston, he played Man 1 in Brown Box Theatre Company’s production of Songs for a New World. He believes music is church and home and bodies in motion and people trying to change things with the power they have been given. Joshuah lives in NYC and studies at Union Theological Seminary.

James Dargan (Atlas/Ensemble) is a creative artist and authenticity addict from the Southeastern US; he has played the violin and sung since he was a child, and he is a composer, essayist, poet, and polyglot translator. James lives and works in NYC. Recent artistic highlights include his first Schubert's Winterreise; multiple performances (past and upcoming) of his social justice-oriented recital “Oh, Glory!”; a Manhattan solo debut as the baritone soloist for Musica Viva NY's April 8th 2018 concert, "Infinite Hope"; two NYC premieres of songs for which James was lyricist, composer, and performer; and the in-progress writing of his first opera: “The Legend of John Henry".

Edwin Jhamal Davis (Will/Ensemble) is a native of Utica, MS. He is an alumnus of Jackson State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology Pre/Med with minors in Chemistry & Music. At Jackson state, he studied voice under the tutelage of soprano, Phyllis Lewis-Hale. In the Spring of 2014, he made his first professional debut with the Mississippi Opera as Simone in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. He is a Master's Degree recipient of the Manhattan School of Music where he studied with baritone, Mark Oswald, and has participated in a number of professional engagements in concert and opera repertoire.

Christina DeVaughn (Ensemble), a Boston native received her MA, Opera Performance from the Boston Conservatory under the Music Division Scholarship. She earned her BA, Music from UMass Boston, a recipient of the Joan C. Higgins Prize in the Arts. She has performed as a soloist for Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity, Gospel Night at the Pops, The Orchestra of Indian Hill, The Key West Symphony Orchestra, Pine Valley Symphony and Cape Cod Opera. She has worked with Boston Lyric Opera, Chorus pro Musica, the Cantata Singers, Landmarks Orchestra, and The New England Spiritual Ensemble. Prizes include the 2001 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the Leontyne Price Vocal Arts Competition, First Place and Best American Song in the New England regional NATS competition, and the Encouragement Award from The Chautauqua Opera Guild.

Todd McNeel (George/Cephus/Ensemble) is a classically trained vocalist known for his musical versatility. McNeel is a member of the internationally acclaimed group, The American Spiritual Ensemble and has appeared with Wildwood Parks for the Arts', Cincinnati Opera, The Princeton Opera Festival, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, MetroWest Opera, Central Square Theatre, and Company Theatre Center for the Arts. Most recently he was awarded the prestigious Emerging Talent Artist Award from the The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music/Lotte Lenya Competition for his performances in opera and musical theatre. McNeel attends Longy School of Music of Bard College for graduate studies in Opera Performance and holds a Graduate Diploma in Public Relations from Emerson College.

Katie O'Reilly (Mistress Lillian/Ensemble) is a native of Connecticut and holds degrees from Oberlin and the Boston Conservatory. Recent classical music credits: the American premiere of Sonic Blossom at the Boston MFA, The Werewolf (WholeTone Opera,) Little Women (MetroWest Opera,) and The Queen of Spades (Lowell House Opera.) Theater: Amadeus (Moonbox Productions,) The Light in the Piazza and A Little Night Music (Next Door Theater,) and Agnes of God (Theatre@First.) Upcoming: Lost at Sea with Moonbox Productions. Katie performs regularly with Opera On Tap Boston, and is a member of the voice faculty at the Community Music Center of Boston. www.katieoreilly.com.

Tiniqua Patrick (Ensemble) is an R&B/ Jazz Vocalist. As the lead vocalist of band Tiniqua&Co, she strives to bring audiences feelings of joy and comfort through her nostalgic sets, warm vocals, and humor. Tiniqua is also a member of the 10 piece R&B/ Soul band Petrichor, where her vocal style and artistic identity blossomed. Tiniqua grew up in the military and spent 19 years traveling the globe developing a love of music, theatre, and cultures. She would like to thank her band(s), family, and friends for all the support she has received during the preparation for Brother Nat.

Pier Lamia Porter (Ensemble) is a native of Las Vegas, Nevada and a graduate of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, where she earned a B.M. In Opera Performance. Some of her favorite performances include roles in the Wiz at The Lyric Stage, Beauty and the Beast at Wheelock Family Theater, the Music Man at Reagle Music Theatre, the Color Purple at the West Las Vegas Library Center, and Chicago the Musical at Vokes Theater (DASH nominated).

Nathan Rodriguez (Overseer/Sheriff/John Armfield/Judge/Ensemble), a recent transplant to NYC, is a versatile performer, comfortable with classical and musical theater repertoire. Recent credits include the debut of PermaDeath-a video game opera with White Snake Projects. Other roles include Bonobo/David in Second Nature, Miller in El gato con botas, Mr. Lindquist in A Little Night Music, John Brooke in Little Women, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Constantine in The Seagull, Frank in Die Fledermaus, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore, Nilakantha and Frederique in Lakmé, Voltaire in Candide, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, and Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore among others. Nathan holds a Bachelor’s degree and Performance Certificate from UConn. nathan-rodriguez.com

Carolyn Saxon* (The Angel/Ensemble) Broadway/National Tours/NY Theatre: The Civil War, Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk, Hair, Purlie, Can-Can, Timmy the Great, Linda Eder: The Christmas Concert, NY International Fringe Festival Film: Sweet & Lowdown, Small Time Crooks, Curse of the Jade Scorpion Boston Theatre: SpeakEasy Stage: Shakespeare in Love, Violet, The Color Purple, In The Heights (IRNE Nomination), Lyric Stage: The Wiz, Outside the Box Festival: The Hairy Scary Regional: North Shore Music Theatre, Connecticut Repertory, Papermill Playhouse, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Weston Playhouse, Forestburgh Playhouse, Studio Arena Theatre, Artpark, MusicalFare, Struthers Library Theatre Other: Boston Pops Gospel Choir Featured Soloist, Carnegie Hall, Indianapolis Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Sharing A New Song, NEC Millennium Choir.

Jermaine Tulloch (Caleb/Ensemble), a Boston Native, attended Longy Conservatory of Music. As a performer, Jermaine’s television credits include “The Chorus” (TLC Network) and “The Today Show”. Jermaine has toured with the World Famous Harlem Gospel Choir, and can be seen as a lead in Boston’s Black Nativity every December on the Paramount Center Stage. Currently, Jermaine is a fourth grade teacher in the Boston Public Schools System. Along with teaching and performing, Jermaine is owner of Family Affair Catering and Events.