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The Columbus Dispatch : Deaf, blind actors add realism to powerful play
After last year's critically acclaimed bilingual production of The Secret Garden, the Phoenix Theatre for Children is tackling The Miracle Worker.
The play, written by William Gibson, tells the story of Helen Keller, a blind-and-deaf girl who learns to communicate with teacher Annie Sullivan.
Helen, who was born in 1880, was 19 months old when she contracted a fever that left her blind and deaf. When she was about 7, her parents hired Sullivan as a tutor. Through patience and dedication, Sullivan connected with Helen, who learned to read, write and speak by age 10.
Steven C. Anderson, who is directing the production, is using
an all-central Ohio cast, including actors who are either deaf or blind.
Reagan Belhorn, 7, of Hilliard will make her stage debut as Keller. The youngster, a first-grader at the Ohio School for the Deaf, said she has learned discipline by being in this show.
"I can't go to gymnastics class or do after-school activities," Reagan said. "Also, during the week, I have to do my homework during school instead of having recess time. Also, I will miss a lot of school and have a lot of homework to make up during performance weeks."
Although Reagan has some favorite moments in the play -- especially the food fight between Keller and Sullivan -- she has found the role challenging.
"Learning how to act blind" has been difficult, said Reagan, who relies on her ability to see people to communicate through sign language. "It is hard not to look at other people onstage."
"For Reagan to have the opportunity to see and interact with blind students and to experience what blind people might experience has been really, really beneficial," said Anderson, artistic director of the Phoenix Theatre for Children. "That's a tall order for a 7-year-old."
Sarah Hiance, who played Lilly in The Secret Garden, returns to the Phoenix stage to portray Helen's mother, Kate.
"Last year was eye-opening for me to experience deaf theater for the first time," said Hiance, 21, a senior at Otterbein who will graduate with a degree in musical theater and a minor in dance. "It has changed my life and how I look at theater. Now that I am more comfortable with the structure of building a bilingual show, I am simply blessed to be performing in another one as special as this."
Anderson found a teacher to play a teacher: Julie Stewart, who works at the Ohio School for the Deaf.
Stewart, who is deaf, was an American Sign Language coach for The Secret Garden. She wanted to audition for the role of Annie Sullivan and return to her acting roots. She has a bachelor's degree in theater and film.
The role has provided insight into Sullivan's work, said Stewart.
"My first impression of Annie was she was a strict and knowing-it-all teacher," she said. "I had no idea of her terrible past with her family and the state institution she was sent to with her brother. Now I see her as a fighting spirit who wants the best for Helen and . . . found the love from Helen (that) she has lacked since her brother died. . . . That showed me Annie is a human."
Stewart's favorite part is the scene that depicts the last two weeks Annie has to spend with Helen, a period when Annie is desperately trying to make Helen start learning.
"This scene shows me how much I feel about myself as a teacher of the deaf," she said. "There have been moments where I disagree with some of the students' education plans or school placements, but I have to let them go and trust that the plans will work out the best. That's where I find connection between myself and Annie as a teacher."
Written for television in 1957 and adapted for Broadway in 1959, the play withstands the test of time, Anderson said.
"That's what really sold me about going ahead and putting it on the schedule for this season," he said. "It's such an incredibly powerful story about the human spirit overcoming adversity. It's about becoming a teacher and how, as a teacher, you also learn."
After last year's critically acclaimed bilingual production of The Secret Garden, the Phoenix Theatre for Children is tackling The Miracle Worker.
The play, written by William Gibson, tells the story of Helen Keller, a blind-and-deaf girl who learns to communicate with teacher Annie Sullivan.
Helen, who was born in 1880, was 19 months old when she contracted a fever that left her blind and deaf. When she was about 7, her parents hired Sullivan as a tutor. Through patience and dedication, Sullivan connected with Helen, who learned to read, write and speak by age 10.
Steven C. Anderson, who is directing the production, is using
an all-central Ohio cast, including actors who are either deaf or blind.
Reagan Belhorn, 7, of Hilliard will make her stage debut as Keller. The youngster, a first-grader at the Ohio School for the Deaf, said she has learned discipline by being in this show.
"I can't go to gymnastics class or do after-school activities," Reagan said. "Also, during the week, I have to do my homework during school instead of having recess time. Also, I will miss a lot of school and have a lot of homework to make up during performance weeks."
Although Reagan has some favorite moments in the play -- especially the food fight between Keller and Sullivan -- she has found the role challenging.
"Learning how to act blind" has been difficult, said Reagan, who relies on her ability to see people to communicate through sign language. "It is hard not to look at other people onstage."
"For Reagan to have the opportunity to see and interact with blind students and to experience what blind people might experience has been really, really beneficial," said Anderson, artistic director of the Phoenix Theatre for Children. "That's a tall order for a 7-year-old."
Sarah Hiance, who played Lilly in The Secret Garden, returns to the Phoenix stage to portray Helen's mother, Kate.
"Last year was eye-opening for me to experience deaf theater for the first time," said Hiance, 21, a senior at Otterbein who will graduate with a degree in musical theater and a minor in dance. "It has changed my life and how I look at theater. Now that I am more comfortable with the structure of building a bilingual show, I am simply blessed to be performing in another one as special as this."
Anderson found a teacher to play a teacher: Julie Stewart, who works at the Ohio School for the Deaf.
Stewart, who is deaf, was an American Sign Language coach for The Secret Garden. She wanted to audition for the role of Annie Sullivan and return to her acting roots. She has a bachelor's degree in theater and film.
The role has provided insight into Sullivan's work, said Stewart.
"My first impression of Annie was she was a strict and knowing-it-all teacher," she said. "I had no idea of her terrible past with her family and the state institution she was sent to with her brother. Now I see her as a fighting spirit who wants the best for Helen and . . . found the love from Helen (that) she has lacked since her brother died. . . . That showed me Annie is a human."
Stewart's favorite part is the scene that depicts the last two weeks Annie has to spend with Helen, a period when Annie is desperately trying to make Helen start learning.
"This scene shows me how much I feel about myself as a teacher of the deaf," she said. "There have been moments where I disagree with some of the students' education plans or school placements, but I have to let them go and trust that the plans will work out the best. That's where I find connection between myself and Annie as a teacher."
Written for television in 1957 and adapted for Broadway in 1959, the play withstands the test of time, Anderson said.
"That's what really sold me about going ahead and putting it on the schedule for this season," he said. "It's such an incredibly powerful story about the human spirit overcoming adversity. It's about becoming a teacher and how, as a teacher, you also learn."