Hello there...welcome to our website! Waterfront locations can be directly on the water on a boat or at waterfront hotels, maritime museums, points of land with water views etc...we have performed in many different settings...indoors or outside! To find out more please feel free to drop me a line or give me a call. The following is a Professional Biography to give you an idea as to my personal background and fields of expertise.
All my best,
Rene
Founder/Artistic Director
Rene Risher-Kelly Professional Biography...
Education… An adventurer and early protégé in the entertainment business … while in her final semester at S.U.N.Y New Paltz…Rene was recruited by professors from the Theatrical Department and was chosen over two hundred applicants from around the USA to be groomed as an agent at one of the leading Theatrical, Television, Commercial, and Literary Talent Agencies in NY and LA… J. Michael Bloom. (1981)
Television… This eventually led Rene to write scripts, cast commercials and sell television airtime, as an account executive at Group W Cable Television (a subsidiary of Westinghouse) in NY. She then moved into a management position for Cablevision Industries as the regional and co-op advertising director where she performed at the same capacity on a management and regional level. Most recently, Rene held an account executive position for Time Warner Entertainment where she developed and implemented marketing plans and advertising for businesses of all sizes on 48 cable channels. She wrote, cast, directed and performed voice-overs for hundreds of television commercials. She also narrated, wrote and promoted feature stories on “Your Guide to the Seacoast” and “The Southern Maine Dining Guide,” two very popular tourism shows on The Maine Cable Network. To compliment these marketing plans she also developed internet advertising on Road Runner and AOL. Rene’s television experience totals more than 30 years.
News Production… After J. Michael Bloom, Rene decided to diversify and explore the production end of the business and entered television news as the only woman Videotape camera and deck operator for News Media Associates. This job entailed running with heavy equipment, driving 120 mph in a company car, videotaping death and destruction as well as having been shot at and almost stabbed in some of New York’s worst areas, and writing a summary of the story to accompany the tape when dropped off at the networks.(ABC, NBC, CBS). She never saw another female press person, police officer, or freelance photographer for an entire year having been one of the first women to work in electronic news gathering in that capacity in the early 80’s.
Publishing… Rene’s experience in publishing, once again, is both on a creative as well as business level working for Entertainment New York Magazine as the Advertising Sales Manager and then as a travel writer on two books in the Best Choice series for GNG MON Publishing (a subsidiary of Gable and Grey). This job consisted of traveling, interviewing, and writing stories about the best attractions, restaurants, lodging and shopping. The pre-selling of these books and setting up retail distribution before publication went to print was also part of the job. Rene also became an account executive for a chain of award winning, weekly local newspapers encompassing all of north and southeastern Queens NY. She was one of the first to create the “advertorial.” Full-page ads that were in the style of a feature article/interview with a photo. It was called “In the Spotlight” and became the most successful promotion the Times/Ledger Newspapers had during that time.
Dance/Choreography… Having studied dance for 22 years (Ballet, Modern, Ballroom) including with the famous Modern-Alwin Nicolais/Murray Lewis dance company at the Henry Street Playhouse in NYC… Rene has choreographed commercials, shows at Roseland in NYC, and numerous performances in the theatre. She even taught ballroom at Arthur Murray’s in NYC during the disco era and performed at many of the top clubs…Studio 54, The Red Parrot, The Ice Palace, The Limelight etc…
Theatre… Rene moved about an hour an a half out of NYC to Pennsylvania where she became the Director of Subscriptions and Marketing at the Pennsylvania Stage Company (a lort-c theatre), the largest professional theatre in PA at that time.