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.

Melissa Williams, Executive Director

Melissa Williams is the Executive Director of Riverside Theatre Works and has been working at Riverside Theatre Works since 1996. She teaches private voice and directs The Broadway Kids, all while overseeing the daily business of Riverside Theatre Works. Melissa holds a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado and studied at the Boston Opera Institute with Sharon Daniels and Phyllis Curtin. Melissa is the founding director of an early childhood music program called Tiny Tot Tunes, and she also lectures and leads workshops for educators in the benefits of early childhood music in the development of young children. Melissa co-developed Riverside’s outreach program – Stages of Discovery – which brings multi-cultural theatre to the schools in Massachusetts. Besides teaching, Melissa is an active performer debuting her one woman cabaret Mirror, Mirror on the Wall 2006. Other stage roles include the title role in Mame, Joan in The Guys, Annie in Annie Get Your Gun, and Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods. Operatically she has sung the roles of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Mother Marie in Dialogues of the Carmelites and Gretel in Hansel and Gretel.

Tara Brooke Watkins, Artistic Director

Tara Brooke Watkins is the Artistic Director and musical theatre instructor of Riverside Theatre Works (RTW). An Oklahoma native who has made her home in Massachusetts, she joined Riverside in 2004 and has since founded the teen stagecraft program, co-founded the educational outreach program Stages of Discovery, and fostered a partnership between RTW and the national educational initiative Citizens Schools. She holds a BA in theatre from Eastern Nazarene College where she received the Betty Rice Award for Most Promising Director. Watkins has been teaching acting and musical theatre classes for over 10 years and directing for five. Her directing credits include: Anne of Green Gables, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Duck Variations, The Tempest, Beauty and the Beast, The Music Man, Putting it Together, Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Bye Bye Birdie, and the show she grew up with, Oklahoma! In addition to directing and teaching, Watkins is a public speaker and playwright.

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.

Mae Stroshane was born in Hong Kong and raised in the US. Mae Siu-Wai Stroshane majored in piano at Stanford. In the late 70's, began to perform original songs and instrumentals at community festivals, coffeehouses, and on radio and TV in the Bay Area. In 1981, Mae and her husband Rich moved to Boston, where she has performed on college campuses and on the Esplanade, as well on radio and in concert. She teaches piano privately and specializes in piano improvisations. A published writer, Mae has been a featured guest speaker at the Boston Writing Project at UMass/Boston since 1988. In July 2006, Mae made her professional acting debut in Felicia, a short film written and directed by Henry Clark, produced by the CDIA Filmmaking Program at Boston University.

Voice/Music Instruction

Liane Grasso holds a bachelor's degree in voice performance from the Eastman School of Music and a master's in voice from Florida State University. Her musical studies began at a very early age with the piano, then progressing to violin and voice, eventually leading her to earning a scholarhip to attend Interlochen Arts Academy to complete her high school studies. In addition to teaching private voice at the Riverside Theater Works, Liane is also the music director for The Next Generation performance group; she also teaches at the Boston Center for Adult Education. An active opera and musical theater performer, her most notable roles include Anne in A Little Night Music (Lyric Stage Company of Boston), The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute (Longwood Opera), and Johanna in the New Repertory Theater's IRNE and Elliot Norton award-winning production of Sweeney Todd.

Shadi Ebrahimi, soprano, has appeared with Coro Polifonico, Saint Paul Choir, Longitude, and Longy Chamber Choir in New England area and National Baha’i’ Choir in Iran. She has also performed new music by contemporary composers John Howell Morrison, Paul Brust, Eva Kendrick, and Nikan Milani and has premiered new song cycle by composer Gregory Wollenman. On the concert stage, she has appeared as a soloist in the Poulenc’s Gloria, with Coro Polifonico, Handel’s Messiah with Saint Paul Choir, Music on Henry Purcell’s death by Clarke and Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Longy Chamber Choir. Miss Ebrahimi received both her Undergraduate and Master of music degrees in vocal performance from the Longy School of Music. She also holds music degrees from the Baha’i’ University and Trinity College London. She is a member of the faculty at Allegro Music School and MJ’s Music School.

John O’Neil – “One of New England's finest cabaret actors” (Niagara Falls Gazette), John performs regularly across the country and has been recognized by the Boston
Globe as one of New England's best known cabaret artists. An O'Neill Cabaret Symposium Fellow, John made his New York debut in Being Earnest: The Songs of Ernie Lijoi, which was named on of Boston's best shows in 2003. 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. Reviewer's 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." John's musical arrangements have been sung by the Boston Gay Men's Chorus in concert halls across the country including Boston's own Symphony Hall, and John appears with them on their CD, Freedom Merriment and Joy. John is an enterprising educator operating his own vocal studio, mounting performance masterclasses and teaching at educational institutions such as Wheelock Family Theater and Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

Leslie Comperchio recently obtained her Master's in Vocal Performance (Music Theatre) from New York University. Formerly, she was the Choral Director for Norton Middle and High Schools in Norton, MA. She has also held the positions of Choir Director for the Trinitarian Congregational Church in Norton, and Concert Chair for the 2003-2004 Southeastern Massachusetts District Festival. Leslie is the founder of the Bristol-Plymouth Youth Organization, and plans to direct their summer musical in 2007. She has also directed, Still Life with Iris, a Kennedy Center Award winning play by Steven Dietz, and Narnia, a musical adaptation of C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, both with the Bridgewater Center for the Fine Arts. Leslie currently teaches voice at Boss Academy for the Performing Arts in Hanson, MA, as well as at Riverside Theatre Works. Recent theatre experience includes the role of Sour Kangaroo in Riverside Theatre Works' production of Seussical.

Markus Hauck was trained as a classical
pianist in Germany
before studying jazz on a scholarship at Berklee College of Music. His first
solo piano album, "My Religion is Life," received extensive airplay
on nationwide German network radio, and the track "on faith alone"
was included on the Universal Music compilation "le Classique Abstrait"
(along with compositions by Debussy, Massenet, Elgar, Dvorak and contemporary
composers), which has been sold throughout Europe, Asia, and North America. Mr.
Hauck has given numerous solo concerts in Europe
and in 2004 he released his second CD, "Dancer in the Light." After
completing a Master's Degree in Choral Conducting from the Boston Conservatory,
where he studied with Dr. William Cutter and Bruce Hangen, Mr. Hauck co-founded
the Boston Opera Collaborative (www.bostonoperacollaborative.org),
a new organization dedicated to providing performance opportunities for
emerging artists in the opera field. He conducted the company's inaugural
production of Gluck's opera Iphigenie en
Aulide, and currently serves as their Executive Director. In addition, he directs the choir at Theodore Parker
Church in West Roxbury, and is active
as a conductor, vocal coach, and pianist throughout New
England. He has also lived in France
and Spain,
figured out the meaning of life, and played keyboards in a rock group while
dressed in a neon pink jumpsuit. Hey, he never said he was normal. More
information is available at www.markushauck.com.

Jan Zimmerman graduated this past May with a Masters of Music in vocal performance from the Boston Conservatory. Recently, Jan has been seen on the Boston Conservatory stage as Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus and featured soloist in Aaron Copland's In the Beginning with the Boston Conservatory Chorale. This past summer, Jan taught at the Vocal Choral Institute for High School students at the Boston Conservatory and attended the Vancouver Early Music Programme. She also spent time studying and performing in Graz, Austria in 2005. A native of Panama City, Florida, Jan received her Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Palm Beach Atlantic University in 2004.

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 16^th and 17^TH 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.

Theatre

Maureen Fish holds a Master of Arts degree in Theatre Education from Emerson College, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts/Theatre from Eastern Nazarene College. An actor and vocalist, favorite previous roles include Kate in Kiss Me, Kate, Florence Unger in The Odd Couple (Female), and Yente the Matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof. Mo is interested in the role of theatre in developing the whole child, as well as producing theatre pieces that promote social change and outreach. She especially enjoys "playmaking", the process of co-writing theatre pieces with students that both expose and challenge their perspectives on issues relevant to their world. Maureen has previously taught and directed at Hingham High and Middle Schools, Milton High School, Derby Academy, Derby Summer Arts, Thacher Montessori. Currently, Maureen teaches drama and directs at both Plymouth South High School and Riverside Theatre Works in Boston.

Primary links

Who's Who at Riverside

Meet the Directors