What is Kitten Marlowe?

Founded in 2025 by Kim Dalton and Robert Merkel, Kitten Marlowe is a podcasting collective dedicated to telling engaging stories through the medium of table-top role-playing games. Our shows toe the line between traditional actual play podcasts and audio drama, combining improvisational storytelling with tight editing, rich soundscaping, and professional caliber performances. In doing so, we hope to create something that can be enjoyed by both long-time RPG veterans and those who have never thrown dice.

Our current flagship show is Shadows in the Smoke, which uses Jason Cordova's The Between to tell the tale of a group of monster hunters in Victorian London. Filled with horror, heroics, and heartbreak, this multi-award wining show is a modern twist on the conventions of gothic literature. However, Smoke is not our only show! Following the conclusion of season 1, we are running several miniseries using different systems. It is important to us to showcase a diversity of games, genres, and performers, and we have plans to expand that even further in the future.

If you want more Kitten Marlowe and can't wait, check out our Patreon. There you can find bonus podcasts, talkbacks with the cast (coming soon), access to our exclusive Discord, and the games that we are designing, all for only a few dollars a month! Kitten Marlowe is entirely listener supported, artist owned, and equitably operated, so we appreciate any support that you can give us. Most of us come from a background in the entertainment industry, so we are proud to be entirely human-made, without the use of generative AI, and strive to always put our people first. Beyond that, we are constantly expanding the Patron exclusive content, so you have hours of entertainment waiting for just the cost of a coffee or two a month!

Who are we?

Kim Dalton (she/her)

Kim is an award-winning GM, a lifelong storyteller, and a would-be Broadway Baby. When not behind a microphone at her desk, she is a fixture on the Los Angeles stage, having appeared in over 30 world and regional premieres of new musicals, as well as countless cabaret, barroom Shakespeare, and burlesque gigs in what seems like every tiny bar in town. In her spare time (what's that?), she loves nothing more than sitting on the couch with her cats and getting lost in a video game. Ask her about showtunes and Shakespeare.

Credits:
Founder
GM - Shadows in the Smoke
Iryna - Coffin Drop

Beverlee Jean (she/her)

Beverlee Jean is an avid TTRPG actual play performer and a comedic actress. She's been doing improv as long as she could say the phrase "yes and" and has been on a UCB House Team as well as a long standing one player D&D podcast 1PDnD with co-host Tea Wade. She loves getting to create heartfelt poignant moments in games between goofs, petting every dog she sees, and singing bawdy and nerdy Renaissance Faire tunes with Pick Your Poison Pub Sing in the Los Angeles area!

Credits:
Nicole - Coffin Drop

Robert Merkel (he/him)

Robert is a multi-disciplinary artist, if you're feeling kind, or a dilletante, if you're not. He is a published poet and writer, is trained in traditional media from oil paint to sculpture, has designed for film, theater, television, new media, and themed/immersive entertainment, and even performed on occasion. If he had his way he would spend his days building models, puttering around the garden, watching movies with his cats, and playing games with his friends and family.

Credits:
Founder
Morgan "Rabbit" Lloyd - Shadows in the Smoke

Natalia Montgomery Fernandez (she/her)

Natalia is, above all things, a nerd. She earned that tag in middle school and didn’t really learn to love it until she got to college. Now, she thrives in her obsessions with musical theater, genetics, tabletop roleplaying games, and Shakespeare (to name a few). When not acting, Natalia likes to spend time crafting, baking, traveling (especially back home to Spain), and talking endlessly to her friends about her passions (see above). You can find her on Instagram @natimonty and check her out on YouTube playing Daggerheart with DiceTold Stories or playing DnD with Total Party

Credits:
Maesie Douglas - Shadows in the Smoke

Cassandra Parker (she/they)

Cassandra Parker is a multidisciplinary storyteller whose work spans musical theatre, voiceover, and writing. With over two decades of experience on stage and behind the mic, she brings emotional depth, humor, and precision to every performance. A passionate advocate for character-driven narratives, she thrives on connecting with audiences through authentic, compelling stories. Her voiceover work includes audiobooks, commercials, and interactive media, while her theatrical roots continue to inform her creative process. When she’s not performing, Cassandra is writing her first novel, channeling her love of storytelling into a new medium and expanding her artistic voice.

Credits:
Ena Thanero - Shadows in the Smoke

Cameron Rose (he/they)

Cameron is an avid cardboard enthusiast, who after many years of bouncing around the arts world has begun studying environmental and agricultural science at Moorpark college, and hopes to one day operate a pollinator preserve, as well as grow a potato via aeroponics. Hopefully many! Cameron would like to thank Stanley, without whom none of this would be possible. 

Credits:
Flint - Coffin Drop

T. Wade (they/them)

On the 23rd day of the month of September, in an early year of a decade not too long before our own, the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence. And this terrifying threat surfaced, as such threats often do, in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places: Nevada City, CA. This rich cultural incubator gave room for The Horror that is T to mature into the phantasmal voice over artist you hear today. They studied improv at UCB and Reckless Theatre in New York. They have performed their solo shows CLOWNFISH and MANDRILL in 44 states and 4 countries. They hold a BFA from UC Santa Barbara. In 2025 they became the Executive Artistic Director of the Second Best Theatre Company. They enjoy the music of The Decemberists and other modern old-timey things.

Credits:
"One-Shot" John - Shadows in the Smoke
GM - Coffin Drop