30th Anniversary Celebration

Join us at Nicholas Music Center on April 30, 2006 as we celebrate the school's 30th anniversary with a reception and showcase performance featuring distinguished alumni, faculty, and students of the Departments of Dance, Music, Theater Arts, and Visual Arts. Acting alumni Avery Brooks (15 Minutes, American History: X, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and Tim DeKay (My Name is Earl, Seinfeld, Carnivàle, Everwood) are set to host.

The celebration begins at 3 p.m. with a reception featuring original music by the Rutgers Jazz Ensemble, the top jazz ensemble at Mason Gross. Under the direction of Ralph Bowen, the group will perform compositions by students in the master of music in jazz studies program.

The festivities will continue with a performance inside Nicholas Music Center at 4 p.m. The program will include a stirring mix of innovative beats by the Rutgers Percussion Ensemble, directed by She-e Wu; dance excerpts from the acclaimed Cleo Mack Dance Project and award-winning student choreographer Blair Ritchie; a dynamic screening of student artwork; a vivid scene from the Rutgers Theater Company’s The Scams of Scapin; and a rousing string trio featuring faculty pianist Min Kwon, faculty cellist Jonathan Spitz and graduate violinist Ilmar Gavilan.

Nicholas Music Center is located at 85 George Street in New Brunswick on the Douglass College campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. For tickets and more information, call the Mason Gross Performing Arts Center ticket office at 732-932-7511. Tickets for the reception and performance are $20 for the general public, Rutgers alumni and employees, and seniors, and $5 for students. Complimentary valet parking will be available.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 732-932-7511.

Avery Brooks is a seasoned stage and screen performer who is perhaps most widely known as Benjamin Sisko from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Hawk from the popular 1985 television series Spenser: For Hire. His film credits include 15 Minutes, American History: X and The Big Hit, and his many acclaimed stage performances include two Broadway revivals and numerous nationwide productions of Philip Hayes Dean’s one-man play, Paul Robeson. He recently completed a run as the title role in Othello at Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C.

Tim DeKay played the leading role of Clayton Jones on HBO’s Carnivàle. His long list of television credits includes recurring roles as Hank Lange on My Name Is Earl, Rev. Keyes on Everwood, Kevin (“The Bizarro Jerry”) on Seinfeld, and Dr. Paul Thomas on Party of Five. This May, he stars in the world premiere of Beth Henley’s Ridiculous Fraud at McCarter Theatre in Princeton.

Please keep checking this site for additional details, and don't forget to check the Calendar of Events for performances and exhibits happening every week of the year.