By Kate Bobby
It's the Tuesday of Christmas week in the basement of Douglaston Community Church, and while it's a nice enough basement, it's a basement all the same. A stark metal rectangular table rests at the head of the room. Fluorescent bars of light beam steadily and starkly overhead. The room's pallid color scheme has no crayon box equivalents. An empty aluminum chair begs for your attention.
Then, seconds later, three actors – a man and two women – find their marks, take their cues and rehearsal begins for “Kissing Christine,” a one-act play by Oscar award-winning writer John Patrick Shanley (“Moonstruck”) about three strangers – a married man, his unmarried female dining companion and their waitress – heading for Flushing Town Hall on Sat., Jan. 15. Within moments, quite magically, the actors line by line, laugh by laugh, memory by memory, convince you that the basement is Shanley's cozy restaurant. The glaring overhead illumination is replaced by the hypnotic allure of candlelight. The alchemy of sexual attraction between the man and woman, virtual strangers, on the impromptu date in “Christine” – is envisioned and embodied by the Queens-based theater company, Outrageous Fortune.
“Christine” is intended as a third installment of Flushing Town Hall's premiere season of Cafe Society, a series of Saturday evening soirees featuring performance art, literary readings, film screenings, theatrical performances and other scheduled entertainment programs. Each performance is then followed by a reception for both the performers and audience members, allowing for interaction and feedback. The chance to play a key role in this premiere provocative theatrical venue proved too great an opportunity for the busy producer Ron Hellman to pass up.
'I think Jo-Ann Jones (creative director of Flushing Town Hall) is bringing top-notch talent to Flushing Town Hall, entertainment that ticket buyers would gladly head for Manhattan to see,” said Hellman, sitting off to the side during “Christine's” rehearsal. It is a rare quiet moment for this Queens-based attorney whose theater company has shared a similar mission since its founding, seven seasons and 18 productions ago.
“The mission of Outrageous Fortune” is to produce contemporary plays of significance for contemporary audiences, to stage productions theater lovers would expect to find only in Manhattan,” said Hellman whose past seasons have featured well-received, well-attended productions of “Agnes of God,” Brian Friel's “Dancing at Lughnasi,” Harold Pinter's “Betrayal” and Beth Henley's “Miss Firecracker Contest.”
“I chose plays that have a track record, plays which avid theatergoers are bound to know and appreciate,” said Hellman, continuing, “But by the same token, I select plays which also stand out among the usual fare, the expected selections of regional theaters.”
Along these lines, therefore, the Outrageous Fortune Company has staged cutting edge works such as Lanford Wilson's “Burn This,” “Coastal Disturbances” and this past October's “As Bees in Honey Drown” – all critical successes far removed in tone and content from your mainstream Broadway blockbusters.
“There is nothing wrong with shows like “Cats,” like “Chorus Line.” There is an audience for it, most definitely. But, there is also an audience for the shows I like to do,” said Hellman.
And that audience, in Hellman's view, can be found in Queens.
“After performances of “Loose Knit,” last year, we distributed a survey to audience members asking for their response to what they saw and it was favorable,” said Hellman, paraphrasing his favorite bit of feedback.
“In particular, there was a woman who said our productions reminded her of Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in the early days, in the 1970s, which is quite a compliment,” said Hellman of his company's comparison to Papp's legendary Manhattan troupe. “Not only did our productions seem fresh and new, she also said the atmosphere was a friendly one and that, until us, she never thought she'd see theater of its kind again.”
One of a kind theater is a tall order Hellman & Company have been filling from the get-go when Outrageous Fortune debuted at a then recently-renovated Queens Theatre in the Park back in 1993. Now, seven years later, this regional theater company will be breaking in a new theater space at the newly-renovated Flushing Town Hall.
“The renovated Hall is beautiful. Its theater space is really rather intimate and should be perfect for the production of “Christine” that we're planning,” he said, with “Christine” just one show in a season that included the fall production of “Bees” and will include two future productions: a March 2000 production of “Eleemosynary,” a play about three generations of one family's women and May production of Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize winning comedy, “How I Learned to Drive.”
“I see a lot of New York theater,” said Hellman. “I also read a great number of plays, all the time. In fact, I never produce a play I haven't read myself first. I don't just take someone's word for it. I choose works that speak to me. So, I'll choose a lesser-known work such as “Eleemosynary” because there was something in the work that spoke to me. Because it's good and I know the company can bring something special to it. Likewise, “How I Learned to Drive” was a small-venue play and people told me I was crazy to do it. But, it's a high- quality work. I know it will find an audience.”
The remaining question is how to find that audience.
“I started 'Outrageous Fortune' because I wanted to see high-quality theater without always having to head into Manhattan,” said Hellman, a Queens boy born and bred, whose day job has been running his own law firm out of Douglaston for the past 15 years (before that, he was based in Flushing. “With Queens Theater in the Park , there is free parking, it's easy to get to, it was an intimate venue. And most importantly, the quality is there but the ticket prices are community ticket prices. It's affordable.”
“There is still this perception that Queens theatergoers will only travel to Manhattan to see shows. That they won't support their local theaters,” said Hellman. “I say if you give people a theater company with a solid track record, they will find you. They might have to look a bit at first but they will find you.”
For this same vision to translate from a stage at Queens Theater in the Park to Flushing Town Hall, Hellman took into consideration the best type of play to adapt to the stage for an intimate Cafe Society gathering. He chose “Christine” for a number of reasons.
“First, there is the name recognition factor. People know who Shanley is or if they don't recognize his name, they remember the film, “Moonstruck,” Hellman said, who also added that “Christine,” written for just three actors, creates an intimacy that should be well-served by the newly -renovated Flushing Town Hall.
“I feel audience members are going to relate strongly to this work. That it is going to elicit audience identification with the characters,” said Hellman.
Also adding to the strength of “Kissing Christine” are many other creative forces behind it. “Christine” is the 49th play for director Jegana Martin who has worked with Hellman on numerous occasions and most recently directed the musical review, “As Time Goes By,” a Theater a la Carte production that packed houses for its every performance. Also at the helm is the talented cast, featuring Corinne Obadia as “Christine”, Michael Zurik as “Larry,” her dinner companion for the evening, and Donna Jacobus as their chatty waitress. Obadia has performed throughout Manhattan, Queens and Long Island, is a past cast member with Outrageous Fortune as well as a performer with Theater a La Carte (with her stunning soprano voice most recently featured in A La Carte's production of “As Times Goes By”). Zurik is also an Outrageous Fortune favorite of past seasons, as well as a playwright whose own plays have been staged in Queens and Manhattan. Jacobus makes her company debut with “Christine” but she is no stranger to the stage, having also performed with Theatre a La Carte since 1995.
“Kissing Christine” will be performed 8 p.m., Jan. 15 at Flushing Town Hall, 137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing. For reservations, call the Hall at 463-7700, ext. 222. Upcoming Cafe Society events include: “Come Back to the Fair” on March 18; an April 15 screening of “Music on My Mind,” about the music of jazz pioneer, Mary Lou Williams, scheduled in conjunction with a Hall exhibit about Williams; a May 20 screening of Robert Altman's film, “Kansas City”; “Josephine the Hungry Heart” on June 17.
In addition, Hellman is scheduling auditions for “Eleemosynary” on Jan. 9, 1-4 p.m. and Jan. 11, 7-10 p.m. at Hellman's office, 42-24 Douglaston Parkway, Douglaston. Call 428-2500, ext. 20. The cast: three women, ranging in age from their late teens to mid-50s. Prepare a brief monologue. Bring a resume and photo. Performances will be at Queens Theater in the Park on March 3-4 and March 9-12. Tickets will be $16 with seniors paying $14. Group rates and free theater parking is available. Queens Theater in the Park is at 760-0064.
In May, the Outrageous Fortune Company will stage Paula Vogel's Pulitzer prize winning, hit play “How I Learned to Drive,” – about a woman who learns about life through drawing parallels to driving.
