Staff

Mary Rice

(Founder/ MT Instructor)

Mary is a veteran arts educator whose passion for theatre education has shaped the lives of young performers for nearly three decades. As Director of Education, she is the backbone of our educational programming, bringing exceptional leadership, organization, and deep classroom expertise to every class, camp, and production. Her thoughtful approach ensures that every program is engaging, developmentally appropriate, and rooted in best practices for arts education.

For over twenty years, Mary has been a faculty member at Poly Prep Country Day School's Lower School, where she co-founded the Musical Theatre program and continues to serve as Head of Lower School Drama. In addition to directing and producing numerous productions with the Poly Players, she developed and implemented an original drama curriculum that has become an integral part of the school's arts education. Her decades of experience teaching students of varying ages, abilities, and learning styles allow her to create lessons that are both highly structured and joyfully creative, meeting each child where they are while encouraging them to grow.

Mary's impact extends well beyond the classroom. Many of her former students have gone on to pursue professional careers in theatre, television, and film, including performances on Broadway and in national productions such as The Lion King and Disney's Frozen. She takes great pride in helping students build the confidence, creativity, and communication skills that serve them both onstage and throughout their lives.

Mary earned her teaching degree from Brooklyn College and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Educational Theatre at New York University. She is deeply committed to lifelong learning and continually incorporates current research and innovative teaching practices into her work. Her educational philosophy emphasizes collaboration, imagination, inclusion, and the belief that every child deserves the opportunity to experience the transformative power of theatre. Whether she is leading a classroom drama lesson, directing a production, mentoring fellow instructors, or developing curriculum, Mary creates an environment where students feel supported, challenged, and inspired to do their very best.

Rebecca Rice

(Artistic Director/ Ballet, Tap, MT Instructor/Special Needs Consultant)

Rebecca has been immersed in the performing arts since childhood, making her Broadway debut at the age of nine and cultivating a lifelong passion for theatre, dance, and education. She trained extensively in ballet, tap, jazz, musical theatre, and Irish step dancing for more than fifteen years, experiences that shaped both her artistry and her belief in the transformative power of the performing arts.

Rebecca earned her Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Literature and Theatre from New York University and her Master's Degree in Education from Brooklyn College. A proud member of Actors' Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA, she combines professional performance experience with more than twenty-five years of teaching dance, musical theatre, and creative movement to children of all ages.

In addition to her work in the performing arts, Rebecca is an English Language Arts and Literacy teacher at Bay Ridge Preparatory School, where she also directed and choreographed several school theatre and dance productions before co-founding Park Slope Performing Arts with her mother and sister. Her extensive classroom experience informs every aspect of her teaching, allowing her to thoughtfully balance creativity with structure while meeting students where they are developmentally. She believes the best learning happens when children feel safe, supported, and excited to take creative risks.

Rebecca is certified in Special Education and has more than fifteen years of experience working with neurodivergent and differently-abled students in both performing arts and academic settings. She is passionate about creating inclusive learning environments where every child feels seen, valued, and capable of success. Through differentiated instruction, positive encouragement, and individualized support, she helps students discover their unique strengths and build confidence both onstage and beyond.

Rebecca's teaching philosophy emphasizes joy, collaboration, and personal growth. Whether introducing a preschooler to their first dance class, directing a musical, or coaching older students in performance and literacy, she strives to foster curiosity, resilience, and self-expression. She believes that the performing arts teach skills that last a lifetime—including confidence, empathy, communication, teamwork, and perseverance—and her goal is for every student to leave her classroom feeling empowered, inspired, and proud of what they have accomplished.

MARIEL BLATT

(Acrobatics/Ballet/Tap/MT/Adult Fitness instructor)

Mariel Blatt is one of our teachers who hails from Brooklyn herself and has always had a passion for dance. She began training in tap and ballet from the age of three, and in subsequent years, studied the disciplines of jazz, modern dance, and theatre dance (for 15+ years). She holds a BFA in Drama from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied the disciplines of musical theatre and learned the importance of not just mirroring choreography, but breathing true, complicated life into it in order to tell a specific story with a clear point of view. Just as Mariel knew she loved dancing from a young age, she knew she wanted to inspire the love for dance in wee ones. As a young dancer, she helped assist countless ballet and tap classes at J's New School of Dance for children aged 4 through 10, helping them grasp the vocabulary of movement, proper form and alignment in order to strengthen and increase flexibility in developing bodies, and the remembering of choreography in a way that makes sense in the head and the heart. Each year of assisting would culminate in helping the children prepare for sensational seasonal dance recitals. She brought this experience and knowledge to her more recent position this past year as a Drama and Dance Specialist with Kids Orbit, an after school program that brings creative thinking and play to children all over NYC. Above all, Mariel strives to help children find joy, love for the self, and love for the creative process all while strengthening the body and mind through the art of dance. Mariel is also a certified Acrobatics instructor.