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The Nature of ME!: A Great Unknown is an interactive, live presentation that includes music, singing, dialogue and storytelling. It is a seamless flow of professionally produced original music, driven and underscored by a simultaneous live performance. The approach to the subject material of A Great Unknown was developed in collaboration with school psychologists and counselors.

The show uncovers the fundamental truth that all of us have vast resources of imagination, creativity and universal energy within ourselves. Miko effectively delivers life lessons that strengthen character by encouraging exploration and development of who we are and the ways we influence the world around us. The show emphasizes:

• Self-confidence through personal achievement
  
• Celebration of our diversity; development of empathy
  
• Taking responsibility for the cumulative consequences of our everyday choices
  
• An examination of anger, how we treat friends and loved ones, bullying behavior, and a look at our individual "buttons" and triggers
  

These messages are imparted with the help of clever skits, outstanding musicianship, a rocking beat, and a high-energy performance. Included are guitar playing, singing, compelling stories, props, memorable characters (Johnny Rocket-Science, Bully Bullseye, English Bob the Bobby Policeman, Constance Conscience, Finnegan Whelan the Celtic Commander) and a good deal of audience participation.

Miko uses concatenated segments that are organized beforehand depending upon the targeted age groups. Elementary school students receive the same general message as middle school and high school students, but the songs and skits are different and the gravity is diluted.

Through it all, a message motif repeats: Come to terms with your own individuality. Understand your mind and your choices. Try to realize and uncover the automatic component to your behavior which may not be working in your best interest. Carefully crafted skits like "Is It Real?" "Forward to the Future!" and "Passion for Protection" give kids a chance to participate, observe, and comment on mini-dramas that illustrate common misconceptions, hidden truths, or staple values.

While many of the answers apply equally to everyone, some of the content stresses how different we all are, and how precious that can be. What is most important is that we learn about who we are, try to recognize our different behaviours, and how they affect ourselves and others. How do I fit in? What is the nature of me?

Also addressed are roadblocks. Some setbacks in life are unavoidable and severe, but your attitude and perspective when dealing with them is the difference between ending up broken or coming through it stronger. Some of the stories and characters utilize a component of honesty from Miko's own past to illustrate poor choices of behavior, reinforcing that the host of the show is far from perfect. But if we learn from our mistakes and forgive ourselves we are on the right track.

LESSONS TAUGHT WITH ENTERTAINMENT:  "A Great Unknown" is a part of a series of conceptual performances entitled "The Nature of ME!" The show addresses issues and concerns of kids today and delivers, through music, important lessons:

• Using a simple to follow scheme of A-B-C, Miko puts a keyword to each letter and stresses interwoven and related fundamental ideas through repetition.
  
• A is for Attitude. Your attitude is under your control, and so are your expectations. Do you expect the world to fall all over itself to accommodate you? A wider perspective that includes the predicament of others can be the difference between a lifetime of bitterness and a life filled with awe, wonder and learning. The frequency of your thoughts is what you will create and attract.
  
• B - Believe in Your Ideas. We often say 'believe in yourself', but it is actually our original ideas, goals and challenges that become the object of our commitment. "Passion for protection" is one way to look at it. You cannot spend all your time dwelling on negative feelings if you are motivated to chase your skills and dreams.
  
• C - Choices and Consequences. Success is no accident, but failing can usually be traced back to your everyday choices as well. If you are a slick talker but do little actual work, and spend a lot of time partying or escaping rather than applying yourself, at least realize you are using escapism as an excuse. In other words, nothing can be expected of you because you are on vacation! If you work hard at a job when someone else is paying you, but waste all your free time, don't expect to ever be anything more. The people we idolize, whether historical figures, professionals, in sports or in the arts, put in a great deal of effort to create the product, performance or result we love. They deal with failure every day. Sometimes great things happen by accident, but those accidents occur in the midst of taking action. It doesn't happen by dreaming about it.