By Kevin Zimmerman
After her job as a New York City school guidance counselor became less permanent, Heidi Warm decided it was time to follow some of her own career advice.
“Basically they were shifting me from school to school each week and it was stressful,” said Warm. “I needed to find something for me. Why not try this? What have I got to lose?”
With that, Warm found herself in the Douglaston Community Theatre’s upcoming production of “Hound of the Baskervilles.” For one of her first roles in Queens community theater, Warm landed the part of Perkins, the slightly daft maid who tends to Baskerville Manor and its guests Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson who have arrived to help reveal the secret behind the family’s curse and the truth to the monsterous Bakerville hound.
It’s a small role, but Warm knows, as the saying goes, there are no small parts only small actors.
She’s adopted a Cockney accent — sort of Eliza Dolittle pre-Professor Higgins — and learning from her more experienced co-stars.
“I watch them doing this — as long as they have been doing do it — and see they still have so much energy,” said Warm. “It’s just been a great experience.”
As the rest of the cast meanders its way into the Zion Episcopal Church for a rehearsal, Sherlock, played by actor Brian Payne, tries on a newly purchased deerstalker hat to slip into the role. Although new to the Douglaston group, Little Neck resident Payne has been performing in community theater productions for more than four decades.
“It started when I was in high school,” said Payne, who helped run the drama program at Elmhurst’s Cathedral Prep, where he taught for 25 years. “It’s just fun. Seriously.”
Payne, who acts and directs in area shows, said he enjoys both jobs for different reasons. As a director, Payne said he loves the challenge of figuring out how to take a production from the written page to the stage. For this production, he jumped at the chance to portray one of his all-time favorite characters.
“I didn’t think I was ever going to get another chance to play Sherlock,” said Payne.
It’s been nearly 50 years since Richmond Hill resident Fred J. Kaminski decided he was probably not going to get the chance to pursue acting as a full-time career. After serving in the Army during the Vietnam War, and starring in Army productions of plays and musicals, Kaminski set his sights on Broadway. Instead he ended up as a supervisor for the Port Authority in international arrivals. But he never lost his interest in acting and jumped back into the field after he retired about five years ago.
“I’ve been in 35 shows since then,” said Kaminski. “I was bored with retirement and an actor friend of my said, ‘Fred do community theater.’ And I thank him so much for saying that.”
If you go
“Hound of the Baskervilles”
Douglaston Community Theatre
Zion Episcopal Church Parish Hall
Church Street at Douglaston Parkway, Douglaston
Call (718) 482-3332 to reserve tickets
