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Volunteer Spotlight: Deena Parnass
Each September, volunteer Deena Parnass drops whatever she is doing and joins the Broadway Cares staff at the Annual Flea Market in Shubert Alley. However, last year, a certain “life project” interfered with Deena’s duties at the box office – the birth of her baby girl Beverly – who began life with a lot of connections to our organization. Stage, Room & Board Parnass and BC/EFA’s Frank Conway (known to her as “Aunt Frank”) have grown close working together for many years at the Flea Market and she even served as a sort of den mother when he made the move from LA to New York in 1997. “Deena had this three bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side and it was everyone’s first stop when they came to New York to work in the theatre,” recalls the Associate Director of Corporate Sponsorship and Production Services. “She had worked at Disney and everywhere else, and knew everybody. It was flophouse central!” Though born in Queens, Deena grew up in Northern California. A theatre major at UCLA, she graduated in 1990 and then moved to Manhattan, working first for Susan Lee at The League of American Theatres and Producers before moving on to the Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers (ATPAM). It wasn’t long before Deena found her niche. “Company Manager was a position I sought early on,” she says. A stint in house management at the Music Box Theatre (during the run of Blood Brothers) earned Deena her union card which brought her out to LA for work at Disney Theatricals on the opening of Beauty and the Beast. Still, the lure of the New York theatre scene pulled her back to the East Coast, where she settled in for a five-year stint as Manager of Special Events at Manhattan Theatre Club. Philanthropy At Large While this long-term volunteer relishes the Annual Flea Market, her first foray into fundraising was a collaboration with BC/EFA Producing Director Michael Graziano. In 1993, they volunteered on a staged reading of The Truman Capote Story, produced by Broadway Cares as a benefit for Act-Up. “Deena was one of the first people I met when I came to New York and we started volunteering at Broadway Cares at about the same time,” says Graziano. “It’s great having someone with that kind of history returning year after year.” For Deena, our mission makes perfect sense. “I love where the money goes, and also the product because it teaches people to be philanthropists. It puts an event and a face with their check. (These events) bring out people … to support something they never would by speaking directly to certain constituencies – people from across the boards … For me, it’s become a family.” A Flea Market Family Our yearly Shubert Alley fundraiser has coincided with a few exciting events in Deena’s personal life as well. She had her first date with future husband Alan Kleinman, a general contractor, the night before Flea Market 1998. For their official first anniversary, he sent flowers to her at the event in 1999. And last year, Beverly was born in early September, forcing Deena to relinquish her Flea Market role, but only for a year. In 2006, she’ll be back from maternity leave with the wee one in tow. “Oh, yes, she’ll be patrolling,” says Deena.
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By Jody O’Neil