The People

Directors

Marietta Phinney, Founding Director

Marietta Phinney is a graduate of Nazareth High School in South Boston. During her youth she studied classical piano with Mary Walter of the New England Conservatory. Ms. Phinney was the Musical Director of St. Anne Parish in Readville from 1959 through 1981. She was church pianist and choir director and produced a series of variety shows as part of parish activities. In 1981 St. Anne School asked her to direct a Cultural Arts Program. This began four year's of music and drama that would culminate each year with a community performance by the students: Godspell, Annie, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown, and Fiddler on the Roof. During this period of time Marietta also gave private piano lessons while she pursued her own piano education with Robert Chestnut of Berklee College of Music. Mrs. Phinney began Riverside Media Workshops in 1983 working with Steve Ruggere who is currently the Music Director for Bose Corporation. Starting with 15 students learning music and drama, Ms. Phinney expanded to French's Opera House in Cleary Square and opened Riverside Theatre Works School of Performing Arts in 1988. The School now has an annual enrollment of 300 young people.

Julie Beckham, Program Director (ext. 102)

Julie Beckham spent 10 years acting and teaching in New York City. She has taught drama at the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan and improvisational workshops for Arts Genesis and Camp Broadway. She has also worked with more than 3,000 children in more than 25 cities through BRAVO Television's "Bravo On With the Show," a national campaign to promote arts education in local communities. Julie is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts where she received the CAP 21 Award for the Greatest Achievement in Musical Theatre. She is a member of Actor's Equity and has performed in workshops of new plays at The York Theatre, The Connelly Theatre, The Goodspeed Opera House and the CAP 21 Theatre in New York and has performed a number of times at The Forestburgh Playhouse in the Catskills. Julie produced and starred in Cy Coleman's I Love My Wife at the Off-Broadway CAP 21 Theatre and is a co-founder and artistic director of Fourth Interval Productions, a not-for-profit theatre company in New York. Julie founded the Greater Boston Drama Studio in 2004, is a member of the Canton Cultural Council and lives in Canton with her husband Scott, son Adam and daughter Charlotte.

Faculty

Piano Instruction

Jenny Tsai is a pianist, accompanist, teacher, improviser and music arranger. She received her Master's Degree in Music and Music Education from Teacher's College, Columbia University in 2004. Jenny is the music director, music arranger and the pianist of a musical As The Flowers Grow. She also music directed Annie, The Wizard of Oz and The Music Man at Riverside Theater Works in 2004 and 2005. Jenny has been active as both a solo and a collaborative pianist. She has been giving many recitals, chamber music concerts for the past 8 years in both Taiwan and the States. She is also a dedicated teacher. She has been teaching piano and music theory lessons for 8 years.

Michael Becker is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, where he earned a Master of Music degree in Collaborative Piano. He also holds a BA and MM in Piano Performance from Towson University in Maryland, and additionally has studied at the Eastman School of Music.

While in Baltimore, Michael was the staff pianist at Colgate Baptist church, an accompanist for Towson University Opera Workshop, a keyboardist for the Maryland Arts Festival, and was on staff at the Carver Center for Arts and Technology. During his time in Rochester, Michael was staff pianist at Browncroft Community Church, accompanied at Blackfriars Theatre, and was on staff at the Hochstein Music School. In the Boston area, Michael has worked as a pianist for the Boston Pops, Boston Conservatory, Boston University, New England Conservatory, North End Performing Arts Center and Suffolk University, and he has served at numerous area churches, including Calvary Baptist Church in Ashmont, Church of the Covenant in Boston, Old South Church in Boston, Somerville Community Church, St. Francis Chapel at the Prudential Center, St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Weston, and the United Methodist Church of Newton.

Michael is currently a music director and piano instructor at Riverside Theatre Works in Hyde Park, MA. He accompanies the Arlington-Belmont Chorale of the Philharmonic Society of Arlington, and he performs regularly with Urban Voices, an educational outreach program of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Michael is presently on staff at the Boston Conservatory and is also on the piano faculty of the All Newton Music School.

Voice/Music Instruction

Liane Grasso, a native of South Carolina, began her musical studies at a very early age with the piano, then progressing to violin and voice, eventually leading her to earning a scholarship to attend Interlochen Arts Academy to complete her high school studies. In addition to teaching private voice and piano, Liane is also the music director for Mixed Emotions and Next Generation performance troupes. An active opera and musical theater performer, she has appeared in productions with the New Repertory Theatre, North Shore Music Theater, the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, New England Light Opera, Opera Boston, and Longwood Opera. She holds a bachelor's degree in voice performance from the Eastman School of Music and a master's in voice from Florida State University.
 

Soprano Shadi Ebrahimi has appeared as Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème and Suzel in Mascagni's L'amico Fritz with Orient Heights Music, Fiordiligi in Mozart's Così fan tutte with Longfellow Chamber Opera, as a soloist in Brahms's Requiem with Masterworks Choral, Mahler's Symphony no. 2 with Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, Vaughan Williams's Dona nobis pacem with Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus, Poulenc's Gloria and Handel's Messiah with Coro Polifonico, and Haydn's Missa in Angustiis (Nelson Mass) with Longy Chamber Choir. She has performed new music by contemporary composers including John Howell Morrison, Paul Brust, Eva Kendrick, and Nikan Milani; she also premiered a song cycle by Gregory Wollenman. Ms. Ebrahimi, who holds B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Longy School of Music, won third prize in the Annual Peter Elvins Vocal Competition in both 2007 and 2008. She is currently on the faculty at Allegro Music School, MJ's Music School, and Riverside Theatre Works. 

John O'Neil - One of New England's finest cabaret actors (Niagara Falls Gazette), John O'Neil began his musical studies at age eight and continued through his college years. A veteran of Television, Stage, Screen and Radio, John can be heard on film in short subjects for the American Cancer Society and on the Compact Discs: "If You're Irish, Come Into The Parlor", "So: Kaye The Songs of Danny Kaye" and "Freedom Merriment and Joy" produced by AFKA records. John performs regularly across the country and has been recognized by the Boston Globe as one of New England's best-known cabaret artists. John's show "Back to Enniskillen" was nominated for a 2003 IRNE AWARD (Independent Reviewers of New England) and his show: 'So Kaye: The Songs of Danny Kaye was nominated for a 1999 IRNE AWARD. Reviewers have called John's newest show Not That You Asked "a perfect mix of standup comedy, song and personal anecdote" and "hands down the best cabaret of the year." Not That You Asked was also nominated for a 2005 IRNE award for BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE.

John O'Neil began his piano studies at age eight and continued through his college years. A veteran of Television, Stage, Screen and Radio, John can be heard on film in short subjects for the American Cancer Society and on the Compact Discs: "If You're Irish, Come Into The Parlor", "So: Kaye The Songs of Danny Kaye" and "Freedom Merriment and Joy" produced by AFKA records. John regularly performs in locales throughout Massachusetts and across the United States. 

Jan Zimmerman, mezzo-soprano, holds a Masters degree in vocal performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music and a Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ms. Zimmerman has appeared numerous times on the operatic and musical theatre stages; some of her roles include Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss, Jr's Die Fledermaus, Rosie in Bye Bye Birdie and Rizzo in Grease!. She was also the featured soloist with the Boston Conservatory Chorale in their performance of Aaron Copland's chorale masterpiece, In the Beginning. In addition to teaching private voice and piano at Riverside Theatre Works, Ms. Zimmerman is on faculty at Dana Hall School of Music and Arlington High School. Ms. Zimmerman is also an accomplished cellist and pianist.

Guitar Instruction

Matthew Wright is a Native of Maryland. There, he attended the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, and studied classical guitar with Ray Chester and lute with Mark Cudek. Upon moving to Cambridge in 1999, Matt began concentrating on the lute, studying with Douglas Freundlich at The Longy School of Music, subsequently receiving a MMus in Early Music. Matt has performed solo lute and continuo for various ensembles and soloists. He is a founding member of Seven Times Salt, a consort specializing in 16th and 17TH century English music. Other performances with Renaissonics, Amherst Early Music, The Vox Consort, Boston Secession, NEC Opera Theatre, and Ensemble Al Verso. Matt has also appeared on WGBH, Allston Free Radio, and Emerson Radio. Matt is former choir director of Church of the Incarnation, Cambridge, where he incorporated rare sacred works for lute and voice. To enhance the repertoire of lute and voice, Matt has arranged several works that transcend tradition. As an accomplished electric bass player, Matt does freelance work in rock bands, as well as teach the instrument. A teacher of guitar, Matt currently has students at The Sparhawk School, Amesbury, and Indian Hill Music School, Littleton. As a chorister, he currently functions as tenor section leader at the Eliot Church of Newton.

Acting/Drama

Toni Ruscio is a theatre director, teacher and actor living in the Boston area. In addition to earning a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communications/Public Relations from Boston University and a Master's degree in Theatre and Community/Theatre Education from Emerson College (in Boston), she has studied theatre with instructors from the Moscow Art Theatre. As founder of her own company, Athena Productions, and as a Drama Director at both Sacred Heart School and Saint Francis Xavier School (both in Weymouth), she has directed countless shows and would like to acknowledge her students as being her inspiration: "You all make me want to be a better actor, a better director and a better teacher." Toni's favorite acting roles include Mrs. Van Daan in The Diary of Anne Frank, Truvy in Steel Magnolias, Mrs. Gibbs in Our Town (Curtain Call Theatre), Gay Wellington in You Can't Take It With You! (Buckley Performing Arts Center), and Monique in La Cage aux Folles (The Company Theatre).
 

Jennifer Salvucci works for several Boston-based children's theatre and casting companies as a director, teacher and private acting coach. Before returning to New England, she received her BFA from Chapman University and spent six years working as an Improv Coach, choreographer and teacher in Los Angeles. In addition to her teaching, Jennifer is an accomplished actress, with her film work making it to Film Festivals around the world, including Cannes. She has spent numerous years pursuing theatre, film, commercial, and industrial work and has had the good fortune to work with wonderful people along the way. It is with this professional experience that she develops the curricula for her classes, making sure to include the current trends in casting (like Improv for children's commercials!) so her students will always be reading for any audition! Jennifer continues to be astounded by the amount of creativity and passion that children bring to the performing arts and is so excited to be a part of Riverside Theatre Works!

Scott Saposnik hails from St. Petersburg, Florida and holds a degree in history from Emory University. His theatrical experience began at the early age of six, and since that time has performed in and directed a myriad of shows. Having received formal dramatic training from Harvard University, Scott has directed many performances in the Boston area, and is frequently called-upon in assisting other productions throughout the South Shore. Scott is a drama teacher at Kidstock and is also a certified high school history teacher and owner of The Emerald Theatre Company in Stoughton, Massachusetts.
 

Dance

Maia Z. Laing began her dance training in ballet, tap and jazz at Roxbury Center for the Performing Arts in Boston. She began performing as a member of 'A' Major Dance company under the artistic direction of Andrea Herbert Major in 1998. In 2001 Maia became a member of the professional performing modern dance company at Hampton University, Terpsichorean Dance Company. Upon Graduation Maia moved back to Boston where she began teaching at Riverside Theatre Works. She has been teaching dance lessons in ballet, tap, modern and hip-hop for over 5 years. She enjoys the opportunity to share her love of dance.