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As for the story that's being played out now-the aftermath of Dorian's revelation that Viki is an incest surviror- "I was one of the most vocal people about doing this type of storyline," says Robin Strasser (Dorian). "Its long been my feeling that Niki was just the tip of the iceberg. I wanted them very much to explore more deeply what was the nature of this father/daughther realationship....why is she a multiple personality? And I had done research on that the previous two years before coming back to the show, so I brought up to Erika Slezak that among people with Dissociative Identity Disorder, almost 98 percent have been sexually abused; it's a survival technique, the shattering of the personalities. I said, ' When are we going to come out and tell the real story? Don't you think Viki was sexually abused by Victor?"
"We are taking this very seriously," adds head writer Michael Malone. "We invited a woman who once suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder to watch a taping. It happened to be a scene with Tommy (the most aggresive of Viki's alters), and we thought it might upset her, but she was just blown away. She said it was so accurate how the scene was portrayed, how the shifting between alters took place. We also saw footage of someone with this syndrome in a taped therapy session. It was fascinating, yet at the same time, horrifying, to watch." (Agnes Nixon, who created OLTL and Viki, has been part of the meetings between the series' brass and experts on DID. According to a spokesperson, Nixon "supports the storyline 100 percent.)
In additioon, to two more alters coming into play, "we can expect both Dorian and David to find ways to try to be with Joey and Tina," notes Malone. "The problem is that their respective true loves currently despise them," he adds with a laugh. "By the end of May sweeps you can anticipate that it will be made very clear to others that Viki is in deep trouble." (A therapist for Viki will eventually become a part of the story.)
As for the plot point that triggered this Pandora's box of alternate personalities- who killed Victor Lord?- Malone says it will be "played out a little longer, because we're having to much fun with this. Erika is such an extraordinary actress, and she's having such a wonderful time herself."
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Even for an accomplished performer like Erika Slezak, keeping Viki's alternate personalities straight is a challenge, particularly when two (or more) appear in the same scene. "They are, fortunately, all extremely different," says Slezak. "They're very different people, and since they are all in Michael Malone's mind and mostly in my mind, I know what the differences are."
Common sense and gut instinct also figure into how Slezak keeps the characters seperate. "When I find the character, I know it feels right and it locks in. Parts of me automatically do things. Apparently, I did something totally unwittingly. A friend of mine has a friend who has dissoiative identity disorder. The two friends were watching a scene from One Life To Live. My friend said to the other person, 'Look at what she's (Slezak as Jean) doing; it's exactly what you do.' I had stopped blinking. Apparently, during a particular process of it- not that I knew what I was doing; it just feels right- when the other alters are able to look through the window....it's very confusing, but there are times when (when all the personalities can be tuned in) and there's very little blinking that goes on. I didn't know that."
In researching DID, Slezak says she discovered that although alters "all look the same, their behavoir is like night and day." However, since no one but Dorian knows of the alters' existence, Viki's odd behavoir is being brushed off as "somebody who's- "going through a mood swing. We all know people who have terrible mood swings. One minute they're fine, the next minute (they're manic).
"The only license we've taken here, and that's to help the audience because they're not with us 24 hours a day, is changing the look of Jean; its to let the audience know that's jean. When Viki comes back she doesn't dress like this; the hair is not like this. Niki, when she comes out, takes one look at Jean's clothes and goes, 'Blech!!' and goes out and buys what she thinks is entirely appropriate clothing for herself and changes her hair a little bit, but not much, we're not doing a wig or anything."
Viewers have probably noticed that Jean's clothes are monochromatic; her outfits are all in shades of black, taupe or gray. "Jean has no emotions. She has no feelings," notes Slezak. "There's no color in her life, so why should there be in her clothes??"
This palette was decided upon by Slezak, Michael Malone, and OLTL costume designer Susan Gammie. "Before we even talked to eachother about it, we all sort of had the same thoughts," Gammie says, "that there should be a noticable lack of color."
Jean's clothes may not be lively but they are not cheap eather. Her wardrobe is comprised of outfits from "Various expensive European designers," including Salvatore Ferragamo, Thierry Mugler, Giorgio Armani and "one Ralph Lauren," says Gammie, who went shopping at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Henri Bendel. After fitting Slezak, she says, "We could see right away that that was going to work for the character. Jean is very elegant. Her clothes are exquisitely tailored. Niki's stuff is just bright, flashy, rhinestones, Zebra prints, bright colors. I thought, Niki's got all this money now, what kind of store would Niki shop in?" As for the fashion sense of the two as-yet unnamed alters (Tommy and Princess do not dress differently), Gammie remains cryptic: "Who knows what the future here holds......"