Press & Reviews

Press from:

Small Press Bookwatch: January 2015
James A. Cox, Editor-in-Chief
Midwest Book Review
278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575

The Audiobook Shelf

" Flawless productions values underscore deftly crafted and performed original storytelling that is impressively enhanced with music. Solid entertainment from beginning to end, "The Divine Cactus Tea Cantina RV-Mare"...
is highly recommended for personal and community library audio book collections, as well as anyone taking a long haul road trip. "

Comments From our CD Baby Web Page

Tom
Love these two CDs
My wife and I love this CD set! We have a house in New York and a motor home that we travel with so we really enjoyed this and can't wait for more titles to be released. My wife has been to the Rio Grande Valley and recognized many of the areas in the show and now I have the bug to go down here too. The informational CD that comes with the show really brought it all together for us and connected the dots. Very fun and learned a few things! Can't wait to have our friends listen at the RV park this summer. Tom Maybank

Kathy

The Divine Cactus Tea Cantina, RV-Mare
I highly recommend this entertaining and must have CD for the “true nomads” of life’s open road travels. It made my cross country road trip to Arizona feel more like an adventure.
The true lost art of storytelling lives on with the brilliantly written and performed work of “the Divine Cactus Tea Cantina” by Rene Risher- Kelly. Bernie just peak my interest in traveling to the big of land of Texas. In particular, South Padre Island!
I was so excited to hear about the new release of Rene Risher Kelly’s Maritime Productions CD, as I have been a long standing fan of many riveting live performances on sailing ships in both Kennebunkport and Bar Harbor, Maine. Yet again, the performance, writing and music deliver!

Angela
For a great time....
get yourself a copy of the Divine Cactus and hit the road for a fun filled trip of great story telling in the old fashioned sense of the word - great writing, wonderful music, entertaining effects and an all around experience that will leave you laughing, loving, and dancing under the stars!

Peter
Divine Cactus Tea Cantina is unique...
This On the Road style collection of vignettes is unique and enjoyable. It captures a slice of the country (Texas coast) and makes you feel its pulse. Now I want to go there.

Since 1994 we have had critical acclaim all over New England ... we have never had anything but rave reviews ... which is rare!! There are so many we can't post them all however here are just a few of the many quotes...

Some of our many Press Reviews from our live shows:

• Provincetown Magazine..." Rene has put together an awesome dossier in her innovative, intriguing storytelling saga "Legends, Haunts & Folklore". I was truly impressed... Risher's sensuous story-telling." "A must see adventure...feel the true magic of a Provincetown evening."Pilgrim Monument /Provincetown Museum, Cape Cod's highest point. Jackie Freitas 8/18/1994

• The Cape Codder News... " Cape Historian has flair for witch costumes and salty ghost stories. She weaves dozens of Cape Cod and pirate facts that, if you could remember them would really impress your friends at parties." KC Meyers July 26th 1994

• The Bar Harbor Times... “A wonderful storyteller who relishes inhabiting a shifting cast of characters-the hunchback pirate, the crying child washed out to sea, the wizened old codger who's seen it all."

• Bangor Daily News...  Laurie Shreiber July 9th 1998 ... "Entertaining tales as chilly as the sea, Bar Harbor show a spine-tingler for bay cruisers."

• Portsmouth Herald ...   Catherine Ivey Sept 4th, 1997." all the ocean's their stage".

• Tourist News...    Russell Boyd Dame June 25th 1998 ... “a revelation for the audience, a true coming to life of the way of life that once prevailed on the high seas". ..."ocean sets scene for unique theater company.. guaranteed to send chills down the spine of the biggest skeptic."

• Tourist News...   Susan McLaughlin July 2, 1998 "  a superb job spinning the tales and uses whatever voice, gesture or physicality necessary to convey a female pirate, a lost child, or a man driven "to desperate measures".  "A warm inviting persona and all the necessary acting skills to bring these stories alive. She's interesting and fun to watch. "

• Tourist News... Susan Garrett August 6th 1998 "High drama on the high seas, a rollicking performance created by Maritime Productions.

• Portland Press Herald...    " the ability to switch gears in mid-performance bespeaks her professional talent. Maritime Productions brings sea lore to life!" Carol Lynn Wilson July 20th 2000

• Tourist News...   “Maritime Productions has it's awed audience all at sea!" Kathy Labuski June 11 1998

• Portland Casco Bay Weekly... “Ship of fear, what could be scarier than pirates? Tourists!"  "they give you some sense of what it must have felt like a couple of centuries ago to live isolated on the sea, constantly at its mercy." "the ocean is a source of recreation for us now, but it's a matter of life and death for sailors and fisherfolk, and its vastness still has the power to terrify-especially when you are listening to spooky lore on the deck of a boat at night.  It's like boarding a transatlantic jet and discovering that your in-flight movie is "Fearless"."   " There's nothing like the Maine Coast and a good scare, combining the two in a terror cruise was a canny idea." Jason Wilkins

Southern coast of Maine

maritime@maine.rr.com