Ivoryton Playhouse: 'The Miracle Worker'

Miracles happening on stage and off:

"The Miracle Worker" by William Gibson

at the Ivoryton Playhouse

When Director Jacqueline Hubbard made the decision to use a deaf actress to play the role of Helen Keller in a production of "The Miracle Worker", she knew that it would make her job more complicated, but she had no idea of the incredible joy and minor miracles that it would bring. "This process has been one of the most exhausting, frustrating and rewarding experiences of my career" says Hubbard. "I work in a field where communicating thoughts and ideas is a priority. To have speech, an actor's primary means of communication removed was daunting for all of us in the cast and crew. But something remarkable happened in the rehearsal process. Everyone stretched themselves and gave a little more, and now back stage hands are flying, signing cues, spelling lines and helping out. The miracle of this play, unlocking the door to communication and opening a heart to love and understanding has spread from the stage to the cast and crew and made this an unbelievably transformative experience."

The Miracle Worker opens at The Ivoryton Playhouse on Friday, September 23^rd, 2009. It was first produced as a 1957 Playhouse 90 broadcast starring Teresa Wright as Annie Sullivan and Patricia McCormack as Helen. Gibson adapted his teleplay for a 1959 Broadway production with Anne Bancroft as Sullivan and Patty Duke as Keller. The two reprised their roles for the award winning 1962 feature film, directed by Arthur Penn. 

Set in Tuscumbia, Alabama in the 1870's, The Miracle Worker tells the astonishing and inspirational story of the blind and deaf Helen Keller locked in a frightening, lonely world of silence and darkness since infancy, Helen has never seen the sky, heard her mother's voice or expressed her innermost feelings. Then Annie Sullivan, a 20-year-old teacher from Boston, arrives. Having just recently regained her own sight, the no-nonsense Annie reaches out to Helen through the power of touch - the only tool they have in common and leads her bold pupil on a miraculous journey from fear and isolation to happiness and light.

This inspirational play of challenge, conflict and triumph weaves a powerful tale of the struggle for connection, language, and love and is alternately heroic, comical and sympathetic. In these challenging times, The Miracle Worker is a compelling and uplifting testament to the will to maintain courage in the face of adversity.  As Helen Keller herself said, "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."

This play is produced in association with the National Theatre of the Deaf. Ivoryton's Producing Artistic Director, Jacqueline Hubbard directs this challenging production with Andrea Maulella* as the indomitable Annie Sullivan and Jenilee Marques, a student of The American School of the Deaf performing the headstrong Helen. Liz Erwin*, who was last seen in Ivoryton as Lizzie in The Rainmaker, will play Kate Keller, Bif Carrington III makes his debut at Ivoryton as Captain Keller, as does Michael Raver* as James Keller and Joan Valentina* as Viney. The Miracle Worker includes the return of other Ivoryton favorites, Derek Corriveau, Maggie McGlone Jennings, Sasha Krivosky, Olivia and Bridget Harry and Jenna Berloni. Set design by Cully Long, lighting by Doug Harry, and costumes by Pam Puente complete the production. 

The Miracle Worker opens on September 23^rd and runs thru October 11^th for 3 weeks. Performance times are Wednesday and Sunday matinees at 2pm. Evening performances are Wednesday and Thursday at 7:30pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm. There will be a signed performance for the deaf on Saturday, October 3^rd at 8pm. Tickets are $35 for adults, $30 for seniors, $20 for students and $15 for children and are available by calling The Playhouse box office at 860-767-7318 or by visiting our website at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org  .(Group rates are available by calling the box office for information.) The Playhouse is located at 103 Main Street in Ivoryton.

Photo - Liz Erwin* as Kate and Jenilee Marques as Helen

Photographer - Anne Hudson (Photo Copyright 2009, Anne Hudson)

*Member of Actors Equity

Learning to Speak from Lip/Sound Vibrations:
Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan (1930 Newsreel
Footage) Sounding Out Letters...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv1uLfF35Uw

Ivy Green: Helen Keller's Birthplace
(Tuscumbia, Alabama)...
www.helenkellerbirthplace.org/

Helen Keller Kids Museum Online
(Copyright 2009, American Foundation
  for the Blind)...
www.afb.org/BrailleBug/hkmuseum.asp