TV

The New Lesbian Coven on “Dante’s Cove”

Previous seasons of here! TV’s campy, queer soap opera, Dante’s Cove, have been bursting with gay beefcake, but in the upcoming third season, which premieres Friday, Oct. 19, there are more lesbian characters than ever before. Even better? Three of them are played by out lesbian actors: Michelle Wolff, who reprises her second-season role as Britt; Jill Bennett, who replaces Erin Cummings as Michelle; and Jenny Shimizu, who plays new character Elena.

As Shimizu told us, “Here! TV is giving the fans what they want.” Up until now, the fan base for Dante’s Cove has been overwhelmingly gay male. The queer women viewers who watched the show – especially in Season 2 with the addition of Michelle Wolff’s Britt and the love triangle between Britt, Michelle and Van (Nadine Heimann) – were pleased with the increase in lesbian content from Season 1, but still wanted more.

That presented a challenge for the show: how to increase the lesbian audience without alienating the core audience of gay male viewers who had followed the show from the start. Here! TV gamely took on this challenge when they renewed Dante’s Cove, making here! the first LGBT network to renew a series for a third season.

Meredith Kadlec, here! TV’s vice president of original programming, also was aware that lesbian and bi women viewers enjoy shows with a sci-fi/fantasy bent, such as the much-loved – and missed – Xena: Warrior Princess. “Back when we were doing Season 2 [of Dante’s], we simply didn’t have the resources to do a whole separate lesbian show,” she explained. “So I thought this Dante’s Cove setting is a perfect place in which to put more lesbian characters.”

Kadlec admitted that she worried that the gay male viewers would object to the stronger female presence in the second season. Yes, they loved the diva character of Grace, played by Tracy Scoggins (The Colbys), who had been on board since Season 1, and the boys also enjoyed seeing Thea Gill (Queer as Folk) in Season 2. But Kadlec was surprised by their reaction to Michelle Wolff joining the cast.

“They loved the addition of the Britt character,” she said, “and thought she was really interesting. And I just felt like, OK, this is working out.” So in Season 3 they gave Britt a backstory, more screen time and a new love interest: antiquities dealer Elena (Shimizu). Jenny Shimizu is pleased with how the writers portrayed the relationship between Elena and Britt. “[Usually] there’s always one woman who’s more aggressive and one who’s more submissive,” she said. “Elena and Britt were both independent women. It was interesting to not fall into the clichés of one person taking the lead all the time. It was fun to have each character being strong with each other and not giving in.”

Since Dante’s Cove is, after all, a soap opera, dyke drama is right at home, and Season 3 provides a tasty dose with a love triangle between Elena, Britt and Michelle. “I’m involved unintentionally,” Shimizu said of her character, Elena. “I think I’m in a good relationship with one woman, but Britt still has feelings for her ex-girlfriend Michelle.”

In Season 2, the lesbian triangle was between Britt, Michelle and Nadine Heimann’s character, Van. Van does not appear in Season 3, which is explained early on in the season, but one of her last acts in Season 2 was to bring Michelle, who had drowned herself, back to life.

Erin Cummings’ decision not to resume her role as Michelle resulted in a last-minute casting change. Here! had worked with Jill Bennett on previous projects such as their original film In Her Line of Fire, in which Bennett starred opposite Mariel Hemingway, and they were pleased to have an opportunity to work with her again.

“I was cast [for Dante’s] on a Sunday afternoon, I had to be there Sunday night, and I started filming on Monday morning,” Bennett recalled, laughing. It was a homecoming of sorts for Bennett, who played Grace in the original “lost pilot” of Dante’s Cove. (The “lost pilot” will be part of a Dante’s Cove: Guilty Pleasure Collection DVD, which will be available Dec. 4.)

After the producers’ decision to reshoot most of the pilot, as well as the passage of nearly a year, Bennett opted out of continuing with the role. She expressed no regrets about that decision and said she feels that it resulted in a better show.

“They recast [Grace] with Tracy Scoggins, which thank God they did, because she was perfect,” Bennett said. “I wasn’t supposed to play that role. I played it totally straight; she played it with a great amount of tongue in cheek. That’s what the show needs. … At the very last minute [before filming Season 3], they needed someone to come in to play Michelle. It all worked out the way it was supposed to.”

In addition to wanting to increase queer women’s viewership on here!, the decision to up the female presence on Dante’s Cove makes sense for two additional reasons: the magical plotline and the reality of gay men and lesbians being involved in each other’s lives.

Tresum, the ancient, supernatural religion with a long, rogue history on Dante’s Cove, is matriarchal, as Executive Story Editor Mary Feuer told us. Grace and Diana’s mother, for instance, killed their father in order to increase her daughters’ powers.

Radical faeries notwithstanding, lesbians have generally been more interested in alternative spirituality, witches and covens than gay men. With this series’ reliance on Tresum as a continuing major plot point, it only makes sense that the producers increase the on-screen presence of women. Though not all of the characters practice Tresum, Michelle Wolff told us, “In Season 3, the supernatural is all around.”

Friendships between characters of all genders are also front-and-center in Season 3. In the first two seasons, Van’s best friend was Toby, played by Charlie David, and Britt worked as a bartender at a predominantly boy bar. And of course both men and women live at the Hotel Dante. This intermingling of queer and straight folk of various genders more accurately depicts the reality that exists for many queer viewers, more so than shows that are all lesbian, all gay male or completely straight.

“I think it’s important to have projects out there that incorporate both gay men and gay women,” Wolff said. “A lot of time we get polarized a little bit in our community where it’s all about the boys or all about the girls, and I love the fact that we’re mixing and mingling on [Dante’s Cove].”

Meredith Kadlec added: “A lot of lesbians I know, myself included, don’t need to watch a show that has necessarily only lesbian characters. I know a lot of lesbians who love gay male sexuality and shows and story lines.”

The lesbians who followed Queer as Folk are proof of that, and they will enjoy seeing Thea Gill reprise her role as lesbian character Diana on the third season of Dante’s Cove.

Speaking of sexuality, Dante’s is known for depicting it generously, and the new season is no exception. “The sexy scenes are going to be insanely hot,” said Wolff, and with her character Britt’s involvement with both Elena and Michelle, she’ll figure prominently in them.

Filming a lesbian love scene with another out actor, according to Jenny Shimizu, differed from filming one with a straight actress playing gay. “It was great working with the whole crew, and the straight actresses, too, but working with three gay actresses on set, doing lesbian love scenes, was so nice because there was no stress involved,” she explained.

“We all know what it’s like to be with another woman, we all know the drama, and we all know how wonderful lesbian relationships can be. We were already on the same foot, so it was smooth sailing.”

Since here! TV is a premium cable channel requiring a subscription, it’s not subject to the same censorship concerns as other networks. In Season 2 there was quite a bit of full-frontal nudity, and apparently there will be a lot of skin in Season 3 as well. Bennett recalled, “To be honest, most of us were working out at the gym nonstop … everyone was body-aware, to say the least.”

It wasn’t all work for the cast who, unlike many of their industry counterparts who shoot in chillier climes, spent a month in Hawaii. “For me it really is paradise shooting here,” Wolff said. “My friends are all packing their parkas going to Vancouver to shoot, and I’m like, ‘See ya!'” Already a certified scuba diver, Wolff learned to surf during the filming of the second season of Dante’s Cove and enjoyed swimming and surfing while in Oahu again this year.

“Yeah, it was a win-win situation,” Shimizu said. “Film in Hawaii with a great cast, you’re getting paid — it was a wonderful experience.”

Bennett also enjoyed the poker games. “There was actually another film shooting there at the same time,” she said, “and we ended up playing with some of the cast and crew of that other project.”

All three of the out lesbian actors expressed their wonder and appreciation at having the opportunity to work with each other on a queer project for a queer network. Shimizu said, “I feel very fortunate to be a part of it, because it’s in the beginning stages of turning into something bigger than what anyone expected, and I feel really grateful.”

Bennett recalled a moment during shooting where she thought: “I’m doing a gay show on a gay network; I’m in Hawaii; I’m working with friends; I’m working with family. I’m so lucky. I am blessed to be doing what I am doing.” Wolff is also glad that here! TV’s availability has expanded so much since the second season of Dante’s aired. “It’s exciting to have it available to more people and to wake more people up that here’s this really great network that’s doing all gay programming 24/7,” she said.

Meredith Kadlec said: “I remember the first time I was on the set watching the shooting of a scene with Michelle, Jill and Jenny in it, and I just thought, ‘That is really amazing; that is a really cool thing to see. Three lesbian characters in a lesbian triangle played by three lesbian actors.'”

The women of Dante’s Cove, both on the set and behind the scenes, have more of a presence than ever in this forthcoming season. They’re pleased to be part of a project that brings queer men and women together, both on-screen and off.

“I feel like across the board the female presence in the show is great,” said Kadlec, “and I feel really good about the fact that we were able to turn up the volume on all of that in Season 3 without compromising all the great gay male stuff that we have in there.”

Though, as Bennett said, “No one on the set pretends we’re doing Shakespeare,” Dante’s Cove is certainly continuing the grand old gay tradition of camp with this soap opera billed proudly as a “guilty pleasure.” And with the addition of three out lesbian actors and increased women’s story lines, dykes can now join with their queer brothers and claim this cove as their own.

Watch the premiere of Dante’s Cove on here! TV, Friday, Oct. 19, and visit Dante’s Cove‘s official website for more information. Also check out photos from the Dante’s Cove premiere party!

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