Teacher Opens Performing Arts School in Croton
Carol Arrucci has shown her dedication to the community with 23 years as a teacher in the Hendrick Hudson School District. Her love for the arts has taken her from theater in Pleasantville all the way to Broadway. This past weekend, she combined both her dedication to community and her love for the arts with the grand opening of The Cortlandt School of Performing Arts in Croton.
“This has been my dream for a long time,” said Arrucci. “The core of any school is the quality of teaching. All of our teachers are either conservatory trained, recording artists, and/or professional educators who love to teach music and unravel inner creativity.”
When asked about when she got the idea to open and teach at a performing arts school, she replied, “I have already been doing this but traveling all over. I just wanted to have a home base.”
Arrucci has partnered with production groups such as PMT productions and the old Chappaqua Drum Group. “I am very involved in community theatre.” she explained. Some of her shows include, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”, “The Baker’s Wife”, and “Who’s Tommy”.
Her most famous work came as a director on Broadway of the both The Dream Coat Singers and Jenna’s Dream Choir.
Arrucci attributes her love for singing to an instructor she had when she was 14. “In my teen years, I had a private teacher named Dorothy Visca, from Pleasantville,” said Arrucci. “She really inspired me.”
Her firm belief in good and strong teaching has caused Arrucci to hire some of the best teachers around.
Allison Tupay, of Ossining, will be one of the piano as well as the voice teacher at the school. According to the schools website, Tupay has performed the role of Der Trommler at the Spoleto Music Festival in Italy with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New World Symphony and the Houston Grand Opera. She has also performed the role of Hansel in Hansel and Gretel.
Tupay is looking forward to the school’s opening.
“It will be most exciting to get a lot of people in the community interested in the arts. There’s a real excitement in getting people together that love the arts and want to explore more,” she said.
John Arrucci, the percussion teacher and brother-in-law of Carol, has performed all over the world. He has performed with household names such as Michael Brecker, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Mariah Carey.
Arrucci tells of the effort that his sister-in-law has put into the performing arts school. “She has been putting a lot of work into the organization and concept of the school.”
Carol Arrucci is excited for the many opportunities her school will provide, one being the family classes that the school will offer. These classes allow families, of all ages, to come in and do everything from drumming together to learning how to sing. Arrucci believes this and many other things make her school unique.
“There is nowhere in this general vicinity that offers what I offer,” she said.
By Robert Christie
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
