'Another Side' of Shakespeare

Academy Award winner Olympia Dukakis presents her take on 'The Tempest'

If "Another Side of the Island" is never seen beyond its upcoming two-week Whitefish run, bringing her adaptation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" to Montana would be enough for Olympia Dukakis.

"If it has a future that's great," the Academy Award-winning actress said in Whitefish this week. "I'll work for that, but I didn't come here as a stepping stone for someplace else, but for the experience and seeing how audiences relate to it."

"Another Side of the Island," which premieres Tuesday at the Whitefish Center for the Performing Arts in Whitefish Middle School, is an Alpine Theatre Project production.

A few years ago, Dukakis' old friend and one of the Alpine Theatre Project founders, David Ackroyd, asked Dukakis if she would not only be on the advisory board, but also come to Montana.

She agreed to make the trip, "if I could find the right project," she said. And after the play received several readings and a workshop at the prestigious Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn., Dukakis felt that the creative environment offered by the Alpine Theatre Project would give her the room to take the show to its next level.

"Another Side of the Island" is very personal to Dukakis, more than just another project to pad her extensive resume of film, television and theater work.

Dukakis is drawn to this Shakespeare comedy because she believes the story provides an antidote to the human desire for revenge that ravages everything from one-on-one relationships to entire countries.

"It's the basic story, giving up on vengeance and revenge and moving toward empathy and forgiveness," Dukakis said. "Everyone holds on to old hurts, if you look at the times we live in. When people don't feel that through the law they can find redress, they move on to vengeance.

"This play is about how one individual lets go of the revenge that happens when someone feels disenfranchised, deprived and humiliated."

This nontraditional approach to Shakespeare, co-written and co-directed by Dukakis, Margo Whitcomb and Greg Hoffman, takes the themes of reconciliation one step further by putting females in the traditional lead male roles.

Shakespeare's character, Prospero, the duke who has been unseated and set adrift on the sea, becomes Prospera as played by Dukakis, a duchess reigning on a deserted island with her daughter.

Caliban, Prospera's slave, has been transformed into a hermaphrodite, with no certain gender. Ariel, a spirit on the island, is strictly female.

The words are entirely Shakespeare's, but the action has been subject to "restructuring and reordering," and the placement of some scenes has been altered.

"It's called 'freely adapted,'" Dukakis said. "At one point I wanted to say it was 'wildly adapted.'"

Dukakis said they wanted to look at the themes of revenge through a woman's perspective, and in giving it a different point of view, they felt the title change was necessary.

The rest of the story involves what happens when Prospera, who has developed sorceress-like abilities, divines that those who exiled her are passing nearby on a ship. She uses her powers to conjure a storm, or tempest, to wreck them on this island and carry out her vengeance. Ultimately, though, she is able to let go of her need for revenge.

As well as a personal journey, "Another Side of the Island" is a family outing for Dukakis. Her husband, Louis Zorich, (well known for playing Paul Reiser's father in the 1990s television hit "Mad About You") is in the role of the king. Her brother, Apollo Dukakis, is the wise counselor.

Actors from Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Denver and New York round out the cast of "Another Side of the Island." Ackroyd is also in the cast as a villain.

Dukakis may be best known for her film work, with an Oscar and a Golden Globe in 1988 for best supporting actress in "Moonstruck," and major roles in recent films such as "Away From Her" and "In the Land of Women," and in classics such as "Mr. Holland's Opus," "Dad," "Mighty Aphrodite" and "Steel Magnolias."

One of her most recently shot films, coincidentally, is "Montana Amazon," with Haley Joel Osment. The independent movie, about a grandmother trying to get her grandchildren to Canada through Montana, is slated to be released in 2009.

But she has a deep history in theater, including roles on Broadway and the London stage, as well as more than 130 off-Broadway and regional productions.

"My identity is more dependent on film, but if I didn't do theater, I wouldn't know who I was," she said. "Some people only think of me as a film actress, even people in the business, but they just don't know what I've done. It's great that I'm getting to do both."

Dukakis was partly recruited to aid the Alpine Theatre Project's mission because of her own history with theater companies. She was a founding member of both the Whole Theatre in Montclair, N.J., for 19 years, during which she directed and appeared in many productions, and the Actors Company in Boston.

As someone who knows the time and dedication it takes to make a theater company run, she has seen the same passion in those involved with the Alpine Theatre Project.

"Yesterday when I walked into the lobby for rehearsal, Betsi (Morrison) was on the floor putting electrical parts together, Luke (Walrath) was straightening out the bar area, and later on they were down on the stage doing choreography.

"They are everything, they do everything, they are multitasking, multitalented, multiskilled," she said of the Alpine Theatre Project personnel, which includes founders Morrison and Walrath. "They are driven by a passion for the theater and a desire to affect the quality of life here, to have what happens at ATP be meaningful."

Dukakis said that "Another Side of the Island" is a step in the Alpine Theatre Project "trying to expand the signature of the theater," and hopes that audiences in Northwest Montana will be open to what the play has to offer.

For all its grand themes and Shakespearean language, Dukakis promises it will be a fun night out.

"In the way we've conceived it, it's very entertaining and very funny. It has a couple musical numbers," she said. "David (Ackroyd) keeps telling me that this area is full of people who are adventurous. This play is in keeping with that spirit of adventure that brings people to this state."

Dukakis has been too tied to line-memorizing, rehearsals and the other duties of play production to appreciate Northwest Montana to its full extent.

"I wish I could say I've seen and done things here, but I haven't," she said. "I've enjoyed the feel of it though."

Before arriving from her New York City home, she was able to set up a routine for herself in Whitefish, working with local yoga and Pilates instructors and attending physical-therapy sessions. She said her physical-fitness regimen, along with eating well, are what's keeping her strong and in the game as she nears her 80s.

"I give myself the best chance I can," she said.

"Another Side of the Island" runs Aug. 26 through Sept. 7 at the Whitefish Center for the Performing Arts in Whitefish Middle School, with shows Tuesdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30 and $35. For tickets or more information, visit www.alpinetheatreproject.org or call 862-7469.

Reporter Heidi Gaiser may be reached at 758-4431 or by e-mail at hgaiser@dailyinterlake.com