Hudson Valley Radio Theatre is owned by Murder Cafe, an entertainment company dedicated to producing original comedy, murder-mysteries.
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Murder Cafe has been killing audiences one laugh at a time since 1998.
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Murder Cafe
845.475.7973
About Us
​​As we make our way through the Covid pandemic we have made some changes to our business model. Since we will not be performing live for the foreseeable future we believe we have found a way to stay engaged with our fans and followers. Radio theatre is “theatre of the mind”. It relies on dialogue, music and sound effects to help you, the listener, picture the characters and story. Instead of performing in a dining room, banquet room or theatre, our actors have taken to Zoom. Once we record our dialogue our sound engineer, Kenny Drao, works his magic in the editing room by adding sound effects and musical cues.
Our programs consist of a combination of original Murder Café whodunits, suspense dramas from the golden age of live radio, classic works from famous authors and variety shows with comedy and music. Consider them diversions and options to your home video and cable choices. Stay safe and healthy and enjoy “theatre of the mind”.
The Front Office
FRANK MARQUETTE (Producer/Artistic Director) Frank is the owner/operator of Murder Cafe and Theatre on the Road. As an actor he has appeared with many theatre groups in New York, Nevada and New Mexico. As a director Frank has collaborated with the Manhattan Repertory Company in New York City. As a playwright his original scripts, have been produced by Mohonk Mountain House and many other venues. Frank's on-camera work has included national commercials for Konica, a featured role on "Unsolved Mysteries", dozens of local and regional commercials and a key role in the PBS original production, "The Greatest Man in the World". Frank was recently scene as a cook in season 2 of "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" on Amazon Prime.
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JESSICA BOYD (Actor/Writer/Director) graduated from Bard College with a BA in English Literature and a Masters in teaching. She has been teaching English Composition at Dutchess Community College since 2018. Jessica began working with Murder Cafe as an actor in 2017. Her first show, Murder at the Speakeasy, got her hooked on comedy and interactive dinner theatre. In addition to being in murder mysteries, Jessica played two roles in Dracula and the role of Elaine in Arsenic and Old Lace. More recently, Jessica has used her background in writing to compose scripts for Murder Cafe’s affiliate companies: Theatre on the Road and Hudson Valley Radio Theatre. Her most recent scripts include a radio adaptation of Poe’s Masque of the Red Death, an original murder mystery titled Murder on the Air and monologues for “Living History” Cemetery tours in Rhinebeck and Kingston.
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KENNY DRAO (Tech Director/Sound Engineer) graduated from SUNY Ulster (Department of Theatre Arts) and then stayed on at the college as a Coordinator of Technical Services & Videographer. Over the past 10 years he has held similar positions with Celebrity Cruise Lines, Ringling Bros. and Jellystone Campgrounds. Kenny is a freelance Entertainment Technical Director and he began working with Murder Cafe in 2015.
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The Cast
Hudson Valley Radio Theatre employs the most professional and experienced actors available and our current troupe includes Jessica Boyd, Dan Anderson, Lauren Thayer, Marisa Gorsline, Nanette Ayers, Jim Keenen, Crystal Tweed, Ellen Pavloff, Tom Roberts, Frank Petruccelli, David Britton, Luke Latorre, Andrew Woltman, Cindy Denise, Wil Anderson, Lydia Pidlusky, Lisa DiBlasi and David Smilow.
