HUDSON VALLEY IMPROV HOUSE TEAM

Tina (Polacco) Chambers is a Kingston native with 2 adult children.  She has worked in the advertising/marketing business for over 26 years,  and has recorded many radio commercials for several local businesses,  so she may sound familiar.  When she exercises she likes to take boxing classes, and when she cooks she rarely uses a recipe so nothing she makes can be replicated easily! Tina is also a squirrel nut collecting anything with a squirrel on it, much to her dog's annoyance.

Patrick is from New Paltz, NY. He started acting, improving, and LARPing in high school. He studied Human Services and Creative Writing in college and graduated with a BA from SUNY New Paltz. Patrick runs on the four cylinders of work, karate, improv, and D&D. He does social work-y things for a living and is an instructor at the New Paltz Karate Academy, where he has studied for over 20 years. He discovered HVI one night, and after one of their shows decided to jump in!

Kyle grew up in a small rural community in Alabama called Bug Tussle.After college, he moved to NYC where he studied improv with Samantha Jones and The Magnet Theater. While in New York, he found an affinity for musical improv and was cast in various period pieces set in the 1950s and 1960s. Now, he lives in Los Angeles where he continues to study and perform improv. Kyle hosts podcast  "Not For Nothing..." in which he explores the conversations by which he navigates his life.

Philip performs and directs on the HVI House Team. He began his acting training at LaGuardia School of the Arts.  He has done community theater, television commercials, sung at Carnegie Hall and was recurring on PBS's Live From Off Center. He created  The Truth About Splatter which ran in the Hudson Valley and was a member of Uncle Cannibal.  A licensed social worker, Philip provides direct counseling and  systems work in health care settings. He relies on his husband and 2 daughters for sanity.

 Lynda received a B.F.A. in theatre from Ithaca College and an M.S. from SUNY New Paltz. She played classical piano, plays folk guitar and most recently, the ukulele. Lynda was a preschool teacher, a floral designer, an acting teacher, and a special ed teacher. She co-produced two short play festivals. Several of her short plays have been produced locally and she has acted in many area productions. Lynda is happily married and has two talented adult children and one amazing grandchild. 

James began his acting career in Kingston, NY as Santa Claus in the JFK Elementary School 4th Grade Holiday Play and then immediately retired from acting.  36 years later he "un-retired" and joined HVI’s training program in 2017.  James has sung in Carnegie Hall with Ulster Choral Society and St. Cecila Chorus & has acted in several scripted plays in Hudson Valley STICKY  and in HVI's The Truth About Splatter. James lives in Saugerties, NY with his amazing wife Jen.

Cricket started working in technical theater and stage managing for Hudson Valley Improv at 12 years old. She has worked on many different productions as stage-manager, props master, board operator and more. She also wrote and directed a short play for Stagedoor Manor’s Dramafest and multiple commercials for HVI. She is going to college in the fall of 2021 and will study Theatre Management. 

Michael is original company member of HVI. Acting and directing credits include Half Moon Theatre’s 10-Minute Play Festival, 20-Year Gala, and A Christmas Carol, All My Sons/VOICE Theatre, Hudson Valley STICKY & new works for Howl Writer's Group. He is a company member of The Voice Theatre. While studying design and acting, he began performing at the Summer Repertory Theatre “After Show Cabarets”.  He was also a member of The Baker’s Dozen Improv Troupe , directed by Samantha Jones.

Raffaela minored in Theatre and Communication and then obtained a Master’s of Science in Communication Disorders from SUNY New Paltz.  She's a Speech/Language Pathologist in Cornwall, NY.  She's performed in multiple live improv shows and HVI's production, The Truth About Splatter. She's worked in film and appeared as herself in a recent episode of  The Doctors on CBS. She now uses it improv in therapy with her students and clients and while raising her actress daughter Victoria. 

Beth moved to the Hudson Valley from Brooklyn in 2017.  She studied vocal music at the acclaimed "Fame" high school in New York City, History and Acting at SUNY Potsdam & improv at The PIT – NYC.  At age 30, Beth finally got her driver’s license and moved out of NYC to the wonderful world known as the Hudson Valley where she continues her love of improv, studying at the Hudson Valley Improv where she is now a founding member of one of the first house team: Por-Q-Pine.