Faculty Bios

	Jackie Borck Jackie has a Masters in Performing Arts and Theater Education from Emerson College. She taught drama in the curriculum at the Pierce and Heath Schools in Brookline. In 1999 she co-founded Artbarn Community Theater where she now works as Executive Director. Jackie continues to put the role of muse back in amusement.
	Matthew Kossack Matthew has taught dance and drama for a variety of organizations throughout the Boston area including Chelsea Youth Theatre, Creative Arts at Tufts University, and Arlington Center for the Arts, and his choreography has been seen on the stages of The Longwood Players, Open Door Theater, Newton Country Players and The Performing Arts Connection. Matthew is a regular performer with Theatre Espresso, a touring educational theatre company, and in his younger days was a competitve ice dancer and member of Team USA Figure Skating. These days he is most often found dancing through the streets of Boston, to the music in his own head.
	Mica Richards Mica graduated from the New England Conservatory with a Bachelor’s degree in Music and Jazz Piano Performance. She has taught music to children in a variety of camp and school settings including the Creative Arts at Park. Mica teaches piano privately and has two CD’s out entitled Properties of Motion and Mica Richards Live. Mica writes her best songs driving down the freeway, singing into her tape recorder.
	Kirsten Opstad Kirsten graduated from Emerson College with her BFA in Theatre Design and Technology. In addition to her work with the Ducks, Cats, and Rafters, Kirsten freelances as a scenic and lighting designer in Boston. She has designed for the A.R.T. Institute, The Theatre Offensive, Company One with the Phoenix Theatre, 11:11, Green Street Studios, and the Open Road Theatre. When not cutting cardboard, she's doing improv comedy at ImprovBoston and Improv Asylum or singing songs to anybody who'll listen.
	Euridice Rivas Euridice graduated from Berklee College of Music in Songwriting. Involved with music since her childhood in Caracas, Venezuela, she is a vocal instructor at Jeannie Deva Voice Studios in Boston. Visual arts design has been her hobby, as her nickname suggests. Ms. Fix It enjoys pulling things apart and putting them back together again.
	Kerry O'Donnell Kerry's experience ranges from coordinating the scenery design for the Pirerce School theater program and developing a social studies curriculum incorporating multicultural folk tales and art history. Kerry loves the fact that she can see unusual patterns through her kitchen window, where the sunlight shines.
	Adam Brooks Adam has composed for, directed for and played with many productions throughout Boston and Cleveland, including Second City, Habitat for Insanity, and ImprovBoston. He has also taught and composed for kids in various capacities, including the Charles River Creative Arts Program in Dover. He is currently studying film scoring at the Berklee College of Music. Adam hopes to continue his passion of writing silly music for silly people for years to come.
	Ali Aiman Abdul Hamid Ali graduated from Berklee College of Music with a B.Mus. in Contemporary Writing and Production. Outside Artbarn, Ali works as a arranger and recording engineer at a music production house in the Boston area. With a little spare time left, he also enjoys doing freelance work, which includes visual media scoring, orchestration, composition and arranging. Ali’s ultimate dream as a child was to be a professional soccer player (which is still the case, sometimes).
	Bryce Read Bryce graduated from Salem State University with a B.A. in theater performance. Since then he has spent most of his time working with children, or reveling in the world of improv comedy, or both at the same time. When not working with the Split Hares, Field Mice, Sprouts, and Horses, Bryce performs in the Mainstage cast at ImprovBoston, where he also teaches in the Comedy School and directs the award-winning Family Show. He also moonlights as a jedi knight. Really, what doesn’t he do?
	Rachel Bertone Rachel graduated from The Boston Conservatory with a BFA in Dance. She choreographs, teaches, and performs all throughout the Boston area--some of these theaters and studios include The Lyric Stage Company, The Reagle Music Theatre, The Boston Ballet, Jeannette Neill Dance Studio, and The Dance Inn. Kids look up to her for her big presence, heart, and personality and Rachel looks up to them because she is literally the same size as they are....if not smaller.
	Stephanie Tham Stephanie is a graduate from the Berklee College of Music with a Bachelor's Degree in Contemporary Writing and Production. Besides Artbarn, Stephanie also spends her time arranging for musicals around Boston as well as scoring for film. She enjoys working with kids except when she is mistaken for being one of them.

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