The Queens Theatre engagement kicks off that venue's 10th anniversary season in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, site of the 1939 and 1964 World's Fair.

Following the Queens stint, Heaven will alight at the Helen Hayes Theatre Company, Nov. 11-13, and the White Plains Performing Arts Center, Nov. 18-23.

*

Harper, who most recently starred on Broadway in The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, plays novelist Pearl Buck in the piece. The work is co-written by Dyke Garrison and finds Buck, the author of "The Good Earth," sitting at home waiting for the arrival of a critically needed visa. While she waits, she reminisces and re-enacts parts of her long eventful life, which saw her spend much of her childhood in China and later become a literary lioness and Pulitzer Prize winner.

The play opened at Manhattan's Century Theatre on Nov. 16, 1998, and closed a couple months later, on Jan. 17, 1999. Harper is best known for playing Mary Tyler Moore's best friend Rhoda on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its spin-off, "Rhoda." Her Broadway credits stretch back to dancing parts in 1959's Take Me Along, 1960's Wildcat and 1961's Subways Are for Sleeping.

For Queens Theatre in the Park information, call (718) 760-0064. For the Helen Hayes Theatre Company, call (845) 358-6333. The number at the White Plains Performing Arts Center is (888) 977-2250.

*

The Queens Theatre in the Park 2003-04 season includes Second City's My Cousin's Wedding and the new Nunsense show, Meshuggah Nuns, as well as The Acting Company's Richard III and the world premiere of a new play inspired by the stories of Edgar Allan Poe, Murder by Poe.

In spring 2004, Queens Theatre in the Park presents the Agatha Christie classic,A Murder is Announced and a revival of Cy Coleman's I Love My Wife, co-produced with The Helen Hayes Theatre Com pany and the Emelin Theatre.

For more information, visitwww.queenstheatre.org.