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������ý���� will present the musical A New Brain December 8 through 11 in the Bart Luedeke Center Theater on ������ý����’s campus in Lawrenceville.  A preview performance is scheduled for Thursday, December 8 at 7 p.m. and performances will be Friday, December 9 at 8 p.m., Saturday, December 10 at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday, December 11 at 2 p.m.

Nathan Hurwitz is director and musical supervisor, Alex Harrington is musical director and Kate Swan is choreographer. 

By William Finn and James Lapine, the Tony-award winning authors of Falsettos, A New Brain is an energetic, sardonic, often comical musical about a composer during a medical emergency. It tells the story of a talented young composer, Gordon Schwinn, whose life is suddenly interrupted by a life-threatening illness in his brain. Gordon, who has been dealing with writer’s block, is forced to face the realization that he could die with all his greatest songs still inside him. His thoughts are interrupted by the arrival of a cast of colorful characters, including his neurotic best friend, care-free lover, overbearing mother, two competitive nurses, and his tyrannical boss – who stars in a children’s television show as a giant singing frog named Mr. Bungee! With an exciting contemporary score and a witty comedic script, A New Brain explores making the most out of life in the face of tragedy and finding salvation in the healing power of art!

“I have been a fan of William Finn's writing for a long time.  It is funny, brave, brutally honest and it makes me laugh and cry because it touches on humanity more than any other dramatist I know,” says Nathan Hurwitz.  “And although I laugh easily, it takes a lot to make me cry. A New Brain is autobiographical, which makes it just about the bravest thing I can imagine.“

Nathan Hurwitz is in his second year on the faculty of the Department of Theatre and Dance at ������ý����’s Westminster College of the Arts.  He has been a director and musical director for more than 30 years. His career as a musical director/conductor spans from Broadway to regional theatres to the concert halls of the world. His Broadway credits include Blood Brothers, Dream and Phantom of the Opera. International tours include Phantom, West Side Story and The Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber. US tours include Blood Brothers with Petula Clark and David Cassidy, Funny Girl with Debbie Gibson, The Sound of Music with Marla Schaffel, Company, The Who's “Tommy,” Annie, Leader of the Pack and the 25th Anniversary all-star Nunsense tour with Kaye Ballard, Mimi Hines, Georgia Engle, Lee Merriwether and Darlene Love, and many more.

Kate Swan, originally from Dallas and a Northwestern University theatre department alumna, was in the original Broadway company of  Disney's Beauty and the Beast and served as the associate choreographer for all of its official domestic and international productions for 14 years.  She has directed and choreographed for many regional and New York theaters including Merry-Go-Round Playhouse (Auburn, NY), Fireside Theatre (Wisconsin), Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, Lyric Stage (Irving, TX), Wings Theatre (Off-Off-Broadway), and for Theatreworks USA.  She is the artistic director for 4th Wall Theatre in Bloomfield, N.J.  She has also taught and choreographed at Muhlenberg College and at Purdue University. 

Alex Harrington is a junior at ������ý���� earning his degree in Musical Theatre/Piano. This past summer he served as the associate musical director for the MUNY in St. Louis, Mo., where he worked on Legally Blonde, The Little Mermaid, Little Shop of Horrors, and Bye Bye Birdie. His Broadway credits include Lysistrata Jones, The Addams Family, and Avenue Q.  A New Brain marks his mainstage musical directing debut at ������ý����, although he conducted Striking 12, and Rent, as well as in the orchestras of The Drowsy Chaperone, and She Loves Me.  Last spring, Alex music directed and arranged an original cabaret; I Wish! that premiered on the Yvonne Theater stage.  

Tickets for the December 9 - 11 performances are $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. For tickets call the box office at 609-896-5303 or e-mail ticketbooth@rider.edu. Tickets for the preview performance on December 8 are $9 and available only at the door.  ������ý���� students may purchase one ticket for $5 for any performance with valid ID.