Douglaston Resident Seeks New Home for Theater Company

A Douglaston theater company owner said he is looking for a spot in northeast Queens where borough thespians can perform on weekends after having recently ended his partnership with Queens Theatre in the Park.

Ronald Hellman, who lives in Auburndale but operates his own private law practice in Douglaston, is seeking a new home for The Outrageous Fortune Company, a theater company he founded that has performed 50 plays during the past 17 years at Queens Theatre in the Park.

But Hellman, who acts as producer for the outfit, said his former venue became too expensive and he now plans to open a new theater in northern Queens.

"The Outrageous Fortune Company is homeless," he said. "Queens has about 2.5 million people, but there is no year-round theater in the borough."

He said he is looking for a 4,000 to 5,0000-square-foot building or space that he could lease or own to house a 99-seat theater. The site would also include storage, rehearsal and office space.

Hellman plans to collaborate with other local theater groups and share space with them at the new site, where plays would be performed every weekend.

Several of the groups with which he is already in discussion include a Shakespearean troupe, a company that presents original works, a children's theater group and a staged reading outfit.

Outrageous Fortune primarily presents contemporary plays, such as David Henry Huang's "Yellow Face," Orson Pendleton's "Orson's Shadow" and Stephen Adley Guirgis's "Our lady of 121st Street."

"The kinds of plays I do are about something, plays of substance as opposed to something frivolous," he said. "People will enjoy them, but they will also think about them for a long time."

The theater company has never presented the work of any playwright more than once since it started performing in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.  It performed it final play, "The Blue Room," in May at Queens Theatre.

Hellman said his company would retain its identity upon its move into a new space, but that the theater itself could likely have a different name. Once launched, the group will hold open auditions for its plays.

Outrageous Fortune will operate as a non-profit.

"Theater is a tough sell," Hellman said of his ongoing search to find a permanent home for the company. "If we provide it on a regular basis, we'll draw an audience. Ticket prices will be reasonable – certainly less than you would pay in Manhattan. And it will be quality work."