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Peter Schneider will direct the new musical Norman's Ark, featuring music and lyrics by Glen Roven and a book by Jerome Kass. The production will play the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre, May 27-June 8.

Featuring a gospel/rockabilly score, the production retells the Noah's Ark story of hope in a post-Katrina world that takes place on a roof in the middle of a devastating flood.

The musical will feature a cast of 200 including a 100-voice gospel choir. The creative team will include Jerome Sirlin (set) and Ann Closs-Farley (costumes).

Roven, a four-time Emmy Award winner, just had his violin concerto based on the Runaway Bunny, released on Sony/BMY with Brooke Shields doing the narration. His new musical The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T is planned to premiere on Broadway next season. He contributed music to the Off-Broadway hit, A...My Name Is Alice, and wrote the scores for Lydie Breeze, Gardenia, Mastergate, A Meeting by the River, and Got to Get Away.

Kass was an Emmy nominee and Writers Guild Award winner in 1975 for his CBS special, Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, and was Tony nominated for the stage adaptation, Ballroom. Additional theater work includes Monopoly and Saturday Night.

Schneider's directing credits include Sister Act: the Musical, The Breakup Note Book, Regina, Grand Hotel, and a Live action / Animation short staring Julie Andrews celebrating the 40th anniversary of Mary Poppins.

For more information, visit www.FordTheatres.org.