Dukakis founded the theater with her late husband, fellow actor Louis Zorich, and she served as its producing artistic director for about 17 years. I don’t know if we actually met her or had any interaction with her after the performance, but her name stuck in my head from the program.
I was able to share my memories of the theater and the production with her just a few years ago when she was the keynote speaker at the Hermitage Greenfield Prize dinner in 2014 and I was seated at her table. The smile on her face broadened and her eyes teared a bit as I told her about the impact that play had on me, and how it reinforced my burgeoning love of live theater, which led me to my career as a theater critic.