Dukakis Joins WET for Risk Takers Film Series

The non-profit Production Company, WET (producers of Off-Broadway's BFF) continues its third season of the Risk Takers Films Series on March 17th with special guest Olympia Dukakis.

The program runs from 10am-4pm at  The Calhoun School, 433 West End Ave at 81st Street. Past participants in this outreach program for New York City adolescent girls include Frances McDormand, Mary-Louise Parker, Audra McDonald, Ally Sheedy, Michelle Rodriguez and Kerry Washington.

WET's Risk Takers Film Series is "a free educational empowerment program, comprised of 100 teenage girls, 30 volunteer mentors, 3 producers, 2 psychologists, and multiple female celebrity participants. The program runs one Saturday a month and is designed to provide girls with the tools and awareness to become media literate, using film as a launching pad for interpersonal and sociological conversations that ultimately distinguish empowering risks from damaging risks. The program teaches girls communication and leadership skills which help them navigate the potentially negative influences girls face during high school: the pressure to grow up at an accelerated pace and the effects stereotypical images in the media have on their self-esteem. The two program psychologists oversee the discussion curriculum, and the volunteer mentors (women with a background in guidance, psychology or teaching) facilitate small group discussions with the girls following each screening. Celebrity guests participate in a Q&A with the girls following the small group discussions. Girls are selected via an application form, which is distributed to schools throughout the city in the fall. The program is free," state press notes.

Dukakis has appeared in more than 200 productions on and off-Broadway and in regional theaters throughout America. Dukakis received two OBIE Awards for her performances in Bertolt Brecht's Man Is Man and Christopher Durang's The Marriage of Bette and Boo.  Recent theater credits include Agamemnon at New York's Aquila Theatre Company; Rose, by Martin Sherman, at The National Theatre in London and on Broadway; and Credible Witness, by Timberlake Wertenbaker, at The Royal Court Theatre in London.  Her many film credits include Moonstruck, for which she earned Academy and Golden Globe awards. Television credits include "Tales of the City" and "More Tales of the City" for which she earned one of several Emmy Award nominations. 

WET (Women's Expressive Theatre INC.) was founded by executive producers Sasha Eden and Victoria Pettibone in 1999.  WET develops and produces media (theater, events, an outreach program, film) that challenges female stereotypes and advocates for equality. WET has produced seven critically acclaimed theatrical productions, numerous events and WET's Risk Takers Film Series. WET's current world premiere production is BFF by Anna Ziegler, directed by Josh Hecht, running Off-Broadway at Daryl Roth's DR2 Theatre in Union Square through March 24th, 2007. 

Photo of Olympia Dukakis by Mark Rupp