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The
Miss Firecracker Contest,
March 1999; Patrick Tarpey, Pam Wilterdink, Diana Carpenter,
Jennifer Courtade, Traci Hovel, Peter Owen
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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.
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The
Beard of Avon, March 2005;
Dean Schildkraut, Mary Lynch, Joseph Hamel
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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.
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