(LAWRENCEVILLE, NJ) --Rider University’s Musical Theatre program will present the Olivier Award-winning Once on This Island, in the Yvonne Theater on the campus of Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ from April 5 through April 9.  From the Tony Award-winning songwriting team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who wrote Seussical and Ragtime, Once On This Island is a Caribbean adaptation of the popular fairy tale The Little Mermaid.  It tells the story of Ti Moune, a peasant girl who falls in love with the well-born Daniel and is aided by the gods of earth, water and love in her quest to be with him.

A preview performance will be Wednesday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m., and performances will be Thursday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, April 7 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 8 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, April 9 at 2 p.m. Trent Blanton is director and Louis F. Goldberg is musical director.  Abbey Sierakowski is choreographer. The production will be performed by Rider University students.

Trent Blanton is associate professor of Theatre at Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts.  His directing credits at Rider include The Penelopiad, Metamorphoses, The Crucible, The Laramie Project, Anatomy of Grey and Striking 12, as well as Westminster Opera Theatre’s production of Falstaff.  A member of Actor’s Equity, Blanton’s professional acting credits include Young Frankenstein, Les Misérables, A Christmas Carol, 1776, Fiddler on the Roof, A Christmas Carol, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, and Masada. He played virtually every major city in North America in the Broadway National Tour of Les Misérables. He was also in the Chinese premiere of Les Miz in 2002 with Colm Wilkinson at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.  At Rider he teaches acting and movement.  He received an award for excellence in directing from the Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival for his direction of Rider’s productions of The Crucible and Metamorphoses. He is an associate artist with the Forestburgh Playhouse, where he directed A Murder is Announced and Oliver this summer.

Louis F. Goldberg is an adjunct assistant professor in the musical theatre program at Rider University’s Westminster College of the Arts. At Rider he has directed the musical revue Cole, and has served as musical director for White Christmas, A Little Night Music, Merrily We Roll Along, The Full Monty, The Wedding Singer, The Light in the Piazza and Rent. Louis has conducted over 300 musicals across the United States and Europe, including tours of Man of La Mancha starring Hal Linden, Cabaret, Chicago and 42nd Street. Recent projects include a four-month stint off-Broadway at the York Theatre playing Ted Shapiro in Red Hot Mama: The Sophie Tucker Songbook, a role he premiered at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, followed by engagements at the Players’ Club in New York City, the Plush Room in San Francisco, Santa Fe Stages and at London’s Greenwich Theatre. He is currently the resident music director for Gretna Theatre in Mt. Gretna, Pa., a job he has also held at Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Auburn, N.Y. He has served on the musical theater faculties of Syracuse University, the University of Oklahoma and the University of the Arts.

Rider University’s Theatre program has a rich tradition of preparing students for successful careers in all aspects of the theatre. Graduates of the program are working with national theatre companies, in film and on television. Our campus productions have earned critical praise for more than 50 years and offer the community the opportunity to see aspiring actors in the early stages of their careers.

Tickets for Once on This Island performances are $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors. They can be purchased at the door, through the box office at 609-896-7775 or online at www.rider.edu/arts. General admission preview tickets are $9 and are only available at the door. 

Rider University is located at 2038 Lawrenceville Road in Lawrenceville, N.J.

PHOTO:  The cast of Rider University’s production of Once on This Island pauses for a photo during rehearsal. Pictured (from left): Javon King, Lancelot Douglas, Essence Williams, Abeba Isaac, Micah Bowser (child in center), Sheldon Steele, Charlene Jean, Devon Wheeler, Terrie Goins.