NEXT TO NORMAL Post-Show Discussions Announced

Charlotte, NC – Following select performances of NEXT TO NORMAL, local mental health professionals will lead discussions on how mental health problems affect families. These talks are free with admission to NEXT TO NORMAL and are in Knight Theater at Levine Center for the Arts. 
NEXT TO NORMAL tells the story of one family’s struggle with grief and mental illness.  The show focuses attention on a problem that affects many families, and Blumenthal Performing Arts is proud to continue the discussion beyond the performance with four post-show discussions.
For more information: BlumenthalArts.org/NTNTalk.
Post-Show Discussion Leaders:
Tuesday, July 12 – Dr. Susan Funk. Licensed Clinical Psychologist; psychologist at UNC Charlotte Counseling Center, and Dr. Theresa Rhodes, assistant director for training at UNCC Counseling Center.
Wednesday, July 13 – Mike Weaver, president of the Charlotte affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and consumer council director on the NAMI national board of directors.
Thursday, July 14 – Joseph Benjamin, board member of NAMI Charlotte.
Sunday, July 17, matinee – Diane Riley, board member of NAMI Charlotte.
About the show:
From the director of RENT comes the most talked about new shows on Broadway, NEXT TO NORMAL, winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and three 2009 Tony Awards® including Best Score. This tour of the highly anticipated musical features Alice Ripley, its acclaimed Tony Award®-winning star.
Chosen as “one of the year’s 10 best” by major critics, NEXT TO NORMAL is an emotional powerhouse of a musical with a thrilling contemporary score about a family trying to take care of themselves and each other. The New York Times calls NEXT TO NORMAL “a brave, breathtaking work of muscular grace and power. It is much more than a feel-good musical; it is a feel-everything musical. It is great, in ways that few Broadway musicals are.” And Rolling Stone raves, “It is the best musical of the season – by a mile. It’ll pin you to your seat.”
Explicit Language and Adult Themes.