The Miss Firecracker Contest, March 1999; Patrick Tarpey, Pam Wilterdink, Diana Carpenter, Jennifer Courtade, Traci Hovel, Peter Owen The Outrageous Fortune Company, a Queens-based regional theatre company, was founded in 1993 by Ronald B. Hellman, a Douglaston attorney and long-time local theatre actor. The company performs mainly in the Studio theatre at Queens Theatre in the Park, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Dedicated to producing contemporary plays of significance, the company has presented 41 plays to date.  Its 15th season opens in late November with Shining City, by Conor McPherson, followed by The Moonlight Room, by Tristine Skyler, and Regrets Only, by Paul Rudnick.. The company’s founding coincides with the 1993 reopening of Queens Theatre in the Park after a four million dollar renovation. The Studio theatre is an intimate state-of-the-art facility, only 99 seats, always putting the audience close to the action. Parking is free and convenient and the theatre is easy to get to, just a short distance from Shea Stadium and the National Tennis Center. Tickets are priced at $21 by advance purchase only ($25 at the door), group rates are available, and a season subscription for all three plays is a real bargain at only $54. Top actors and directors contribute their talents to the company, attracted by the company’s professional reputation and its outstanding play selection. The plays are often fresh from Off-Broadway, as well as Broadway itself, have earned good reviews and long runs, but are seldom available this side of the East River. The Beard of Avon, March 2005; Dean Schildkraut, Mary Lynch, Joseph Hamel Producer Hellman dedicates the company to the memory of his late parents, Bill and Leonore Hellman, who were avid theatregoers. A life-long Queens resident, Hellman is a graduate of Newtown High School, Columbia College and Columbia Law School. He is married to the artist Lois Hellman, and has a daughter and son who live and work in Manhattan. Major contemporary playwrights are well represented among the productions of the last 14 years, including Spinning Into Butter (Rebecca Gilman); Anna in the Tropics (Nilo Cruz); Buried Child (Sam Shepard); Side Man (Warren Leight); The Cripple of Inishmaan (Martin McDonough); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (August Wilson); Arcadia (Tom Stoppard); How I Learned to Drive (Paula Vogel); The Miss Firecracker Contest (Beth Henley); Betrayal ( Harold Pinter); Sylvia (A.R. Gurney); The Food Chain (Nicky Silver); Dancing at Lughnasa ( Brian Friel); and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (Terrence McNally). Playwrights Jerry Sterner (Other People’s Money) and Austin Pendleton (Orson’s Shadow) have attended an OFC production of their work, and other celebrities often show up.. The company has performed at Flushing Town Hall and at Landmark on Main in Port Washington. Other venues are open for consideration. The new season again promises the excitement and pleasure of live theatre that will stay with you long after the final curtain has fallen. Visit our website at www.OutrageousFortuneCompany.com, call the office at 718-428-2500, ext 20, for tickets or information, and the box office at 718-760-0064 for credit card orders.