Olympia Dukakis Gives a Heartfelt Master Class for Brooklyn College Acting Students

Olympia Dukakis surrounded by Brooklyn College acting students and, on the left, Professor John C. Scheffler, director of design and technical production, and, on the right, Judylee Vivier.

February 1, 2002.   "No character in any play is as complex as we are," Olympia Dukakis assured the students who attended her master class in Whitehead Hall. In three days of intensive, one-on-one work, the Academy Award-winning actress delved deeply into the psyches of two dozen acting students to better help them understand their own acting, and, more importantly, themselves.

   Dukakis, who gained fame for her Oscar-winning role as a Brooklyn mother in 1987's Moonstruck, for which she also garnered a New York Film Critics Award and a Golden Globe, has since starred in dozens of films and made-for-TV movies, especially relishing her role as Anna Madrigal, the marijuana-cultivating, transsexual landlord in the televised versions of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City and More Tales of the City. But working in the theater is where Dukakis has devoted most of her career, appearing in countless off-Broadway shows, directing productions, leading acting classes, and even starting two small theaters herself.

 

Dukakis and Professor Benito Ortolani

    "Olympia Dukakis is extremely curious and compassionate about human beings," says director of graduate acting, Assistant Professor Judylee Vivier. The workshop students prepared eleven short scenes from the works of Anton Chekov, John Patrick Shanley, Beth Henley, and Joe Orton, and performed them in front of the class. At the start of the workshop Ms. Dukakis asked them to identify the primary issue in their acting work that they wanted to address.

   "After each scene she asked the actors a series of questions that led them to the core of the scene, which was inevitably connected to a core personal issue," explains Professor Vivier. "It's very important for actors to understand who we are because we create with our selves, with our own emotions and experiences. The characters we play are the playwrights', but what we bring to create them is who we are."

   "A lot of students came up to me afterwards and asked me 'What is the difference between this and therapy?' But, of course, it's essential for actors to know themselves. It's our business. We have to understand human nature."

   The master class with Dukakis was made possible by Professor Benito Ortolani, chair of the Theater Department, and organized by Vivier, who had previously studied at New York University with Dukakis. According to Prof. Vivier, Dukakis was impressed with Brooklyn College's acting students, and the "hungry way" they approached what she had to say. "She does master classes like this all over the country and she thoroughly enjoyed working at Brooklyn College. The students, for their part, loved her--her passion, commitment, patience, and generosity. She shared a lot of herself."