THE Team
BRUCE BRONSTEIN
Founder & Producer, The New Musicals Lab
Cast as an orphan in a community theatre production of Oliver! more than 40 years ago, and singing the solo line “cold jelly and custard” in “Food, Glorious Food,” Bruce Bronstein was hooked.
After graduating with a BA in Theatre and Communications from New Jersey’s Trenton State College, Bronstein began his professional career off-stage as a booking agent with The Booking Group in New York City, representing performing artists and touring productions of Broadway shows, from David Copperfield and George Carlin to Jesus Christ Superstar and Damn Yankees. Then, like many one-time aspiring performers, he saw an opportunity and ran away to join the circus – the Big Apple Circus, where he served as director of marketing, managing East Coast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest engagements. Following a successful tenure with Big Apple, he headed to the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts at Michigan State University – one of the nation’s largest and most successful university-based performing arts presenters – to serve as director of communications, where he oversaw marketing, advertising, ticket operations and assisted with programming.
In 2005, he joined the staff of Christopher Newport University’s Ferguson Center for the Arts as director of communications, opening the Concert Hall and building the center’s brand during its first three seasons. Then, in 2008, he was tapped by university president Paul Trible to lead Christopher Newport’s Office of Communications & Public Relations, overseeing all marketing, communications and brand management for the university.
In 2015, Bruce returned to the Ferguson Center as the Executive Director, and has continued to build upon the center’s previous success while elevating existing community programs like Arts for All and creating new initiatives with Christopher Newport’s Theater and Music departments.
“I know the transformative power of live theatre. It is my mission to create opportunities and remove obstacles so everyone can participate in the soul-nourishing experiences that are only possible through the arts.”
COLIN RUFFER
Artistic Director, The New Musicals Lab
Colin Ruffer, Assistant Professor of Theater at Christopher Newport University, specializes in Musical Theatre singing. He received his MFA in Voice Pedagogy for Musical Theatre from Penn State University, where he trained with Mary Saunders-Barton. Ruffer also holds an MM in Voice Performance from The Boston Conservatory of Music and a BME in Music Education from Winthrop University where primary vocal teachers include Jerry Helton Rebecca Folsom.
As a music director/vocal coach/accompanist, Ruffer has worked with Penn State NuMusicals, The Boston Conservatory Vocal/Choral Intensive, Penn State S.T.A.T.E., The Boston Conservatory of Music, Penn State Centre Stage, Matthews Playhouse, Central Piedmont Community College, Theatre Charlotte and The Edge Theatre Company.
Performance highlights include Into the Woods, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Falsettos, Cinderella, Fiddler On the Roof, Oklahoma!, Lil’ Abner, Anything Goes, Once Upon a Mattress, Die Zauberflöte, La Bohemé, Transformations, the Rape of Lucretia, Carmen, Our Town and the Cunning Little Vixen. Ruffer has also performed as a soloist with the Toledo Symphony, Troy Symphony, and at Boston’s Symphony Hall.
Most recently, Ruffer wrote, directed and performed a solo cabaret that explored the trope of “Heroes and Villains” as portrayed in traditional American Musical Theatre. Portraying well-known characters ranging from Princes & Princesses to evil dentists and sassy sea witches, the material showcased Ruffer’s work with vocal cross-training and defied the norms of voice type, gender and musical limitations.
Laura Parsons | Marketing Manager
Lauren Kosteski | Consulting Brand Director