The next year, Haak presented a compilation of vignettes based on the comic strip, “The Wizard of Id.” In the cast was a 17-year-old named Ray Romano, a Forest Hills resident who has gone on to fame as the title character on TV’s “Everybody Loves Raymond.”
It was around the time of the latter production that platforms were built to extend the already existing stage and that Haak coined the group’s name, to coincide with that of the nearby Parkside subway station and post office.
A five-year period of inactivity followed. Then, at a meeting of a choral group in Manhattan, Haak, a Lutheran pastor, happened to meet John Soister, an ex-Roman Catholic priest, who motivated Haak to set the theatrical wheels back in motion.
“We discussed how to get the Parkside Players reborn on a different level,” Haak said. “We decided to put together a fund raiser,” which turned out to be the current group’s actual inaugural production.
“Don’t Touch That Dial,” as it was called, was a tribute to the radio programs of the 1930s. Presented with a buffet dinner, the show raised the proceeds that would be used to mount the group’s first full-scale production, Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite.”
It was during that first season that Kieran Larkin, who would become the group’s first president, came on board after seeing a newspaper ad.
Larkin recalled that four shows had originally been planned for the season. He felt the goal was overly ambitious and, when Soister moved out of town, Larkin was officially elected as the group’s leader and established the three-play-per-season policy still in practice today.
Larkin remained active through the mid-90s, when he left for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was a recent marriage and a growing family.
Still, the Larkin name remains prominent around Parkside. Kieran’s mother, Bertha, has been the box office manager for years and his nephew, Kevin Schwab, who often tagged along to rehearsals as a child, has been involved ever since.
“You get hooked by what’s going on. I’m sure I walked on stage when I wasn’t supposed to and you never want to leave,” Kevin said.
A performer since the age of four, he made his official Parkside debut five years later as young Tom in “Camelot.”
He has also stage managed and worked on sets and, with “Veronica’s Room,” he has taken his first stab at producing.
And what can provide truer testimony to the group’s success than the larger percentage of theatregoers, not to mention participants, who keep coming back show after show, season after season?
Take Glenn Rivano, president of the group since 1992. He had been asked by Larkin, a college friend, if he would care to handle the lights for “Plaza Suite” back in 1981 and he “just stuck around.”
After five years of doing lighting, he began to get involved in other aspects of production, including the sets and serving as assistant director and co-producer on various shows.
And there was the time he worked on the sound system for a production of “I Hate Hamlet.”
It was opening night. “I was trying to set up the sound, working with all the wires, when I fell off the platform, head over heels, onto the floor. The equipment and I went crashing down. I only bruised my shoulder but I took out the sound equipment.”
Luckily, he remembers, the equipment was replaced five minutes before curtain time. “The show went on and we had no problems after that,” he said.
Another longtime member is Ray Bonett, a frequent performer who most recently directed the group’s current attraction, his fifth time at the helm.
“I’ve been associated with a lot of community groups,” he said. “Most fall into the ‘we can bring coffee, gossip about people and while we’re here we’ll put on a show’ category. Parkside has always been about the show. Everyone takes a professional attitude towards what they do.
“We offer good quality theatre,” agreed Linda May, a relative newcomer whose involvement with the group dates to 1996. “It’s great that people can come and get entertained and educated without leaving Queens,” she said.
Bonett also feels the strong sense of camaraderie. “My mom passed away last August,” he said. “At the wake, I think every single member of Parkside stopped by to pay their respects.”
Alan Perkins, involved with the group for about eight years, worked his way up from usher to board member, serving as treasurer for several seasons.
“We’ve developed a reputation of consistency,” he said. “As a result, people trust us. They will come to see a show they haven’t heard of.”
As a result, Parkside was able to risk producing “Nobody Knows I’m a Dog,” a play written by Perkins himself.
The story centers on six individuals who have difficulty interacting and end up developing deceitful relationships over the Internet. The play had earlier been given a staged reading at Queens College, but Parkside offered the first fully staged version.
Bellerose students Harold and Barbara Moscow, who, over the years have returned frequently, mentioned that the Perkins play provided them with their first experience at Parkside.
“It was great. It was done so well. It impressed us,” Moscow said.
Besides entertaining audiences, Parkside has also served as an unofficial matchmaking service for its members.
“Parkside has been responsible for at least three weddings, maybe more,” said John O’Hare, a longtime member.
It was while stage managing the 1986 production of “Night Must Fall” that John met his wife-to-be, Shana Aborn, the play’s leading lady.
“The two of us had a love for the theatre and we soon found that we had a love for other things, too,” he said.
While Gordon and Rosemary Innes were married long before Parkside came into existence, they have, over the years, evolved into the Lunt-Fontanne of Queens community theatre.
In preparing for a role, “You can do an awful lot of homework at home,” Rosemary said.
Gordon, who has been acting since high school, first appeared on the Parkside stage as King Arthur in “Camelot.” He appreciates the chance not only to perform but also to design many of Parkside’s sets, a job he enjoys tremendously.
It was the production of “I Hate Hamlet” that also provided a truly memorable experience for Gordon. He recalled that during one performance he had to “cut a candle in half with a sword and it bounced off the back wall and hit a fellow actor on the head.”
For Rosemary, it was the musical, “Nunsense,” that remains her favorite.
“It was extremely special because of the people involved,” noting that it was Gordon who directed the production.
Perhaps no one is more effusive in his praise for Parkside than Monte Sternfeld, known to local audiences as the unofficial greeter at many productions.
“This show is great,” he often tells theatregoers.
Grace Lutheran Church is located at 103-15 Union Turnpike in Forest Hills. For further information on “Veronica’s Room” and future productions call 497-4922.
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