The Miracle Worker at The Coterie Fall 2015

Long time readers of this blog know that I am a fan of The Coterie's shows. Professional actors put on tremendous live performances for children and each show completely transforms the stage into a new world and setting, and each show treats its audience, children, with respect and admiration opening their world a little bigger....

Many of their shows have left me amazed and eager to tell my friends to take all of their children to the show, but this season's The Miracle Worker (directed by Jeff Church) is truly in a league of its own. Everyone should see this show. The Coterie presented this story like we've never seen it before and the result was beautiful and ingenius. It was one of the most powerful, poignant, heartfelt, and endearing shows I've ever seen, and the message is as important today as it was when Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan were alive. Correct that. The messages - so many important lessons all beautifully woven together in a fresh telling of The Miracle Worker.

The Miracle Worker  at The Coterie thru Oct. 25. Tickets $11/18 and under, $15/adults, group pricing available. 816.474.6552 The play will be fully accessible on two levels:  American Sign Language (ASL) shadow interpretation during every performance, and audio description at every performance by the acting company. Participate in a preshow workshop on October 3rd and 10th an hour before the show and learn some basic sign language.

I have read many books about Helen Keller over the years and I've seen the film, The Miracle Worker. I'm familiar with the story of teacher, Annie Sullivan, and her deafblind pupil Helen Keller. So many times the story is shared as inspirational and so many times we are in awe and wonder that Helen Keller, a deafblind girl, grew to become an adult who wrote books, spoke, and became an activist for the disabled along with her famous tutor, teacher, mentor, and friend Annie Sullivan. Did you know that Annie Sullivan was the first woman to be buried at Washington National Cemetery and Helen, upon her death, was buried alongside her? The honor is fitting, for the story of these women is about so much more than sign language and braille, it's about all of us.

While I, like the rest of us, have always been amazed that Helen learned these things and mastered them, I think the key important thing is what Annie teaches us. 

I have some dear friends who came to mind immediately as I revisited this story. The first is a friend of mine and former coworker who happens to have Cerebral Palsy and has very limited use of his legs and arms and uses a wheelchair. The first time we met we were working together and I spoke to him exactly as I would any other coworker, with or without the wheelchair. Over the years, I have observed that often when we go to restaurants or are out and about others will raise their voice (as if a wheelchair also means hearing loss) or speak more slowly when talking to my friend. Others will ignore him and act like he isn't there. My friend remarked that that was the reason we became friends so quickly - I treated him exactly like anyone else. To this day, he frequently joins my family for game night and we never ease up or let him win. The use of his legs has absolutely nothing to do with his intellect, character, personality, or friendship.

Another good friend of mine is a special needs teacher and she has adopted a special needs little girl. Her little girl is in a wheelchair and has limited mobility and limited speech. Many doctors and teachers over the years have misdiagnosed her daughter's abilities. With love and patience from her mother, friends have watched as this young girl has blossomed and has been given the tools to communicate (an iPad and service dog have been great aids for her) and express her personality.

Both of these friends always had the ability to communicate, to work, to experience the world around them, to be good friends - they needed their Annie Sullivan. They needed others to see, not their disability, but their ABILITY, to believe in them, to nurture them, to provide the tools to open up their world. When Annie Sullivan gave Helen Keller the gift of language through sign language in her hand, and later taught her to write on paper, and to speak with her mouth - Annie unlocked Helen's world. 

How often do we see someone's disability and not their ability? How often do we pity others and love them (and they do very much need love just as every human being needs love), but at the same time overlook them? How often do we overlook their own personality, thoughts, feelings, and friendship?

Annie Sullivan teaches us that a deafblind girl is a person just like us, a lesson that should be painfully obvious, but somehow it is not. It is sad when the physical blindness of someone else blinds others to see the person inside. We watch The Miracle Worker thinking Annie is opening Helen's world, which she is and she does, but along with that - she opens ours. We come to see the person Helen is. 

And that is just one of the lessons The Coterie captured. In this telling, The Coterie did something we've never seen before. The play is shadow interpreted above the main action, and also audio described by actors throughout the show. Helen (portrayed by actress Josephine Pellow) begins as a child spoiled, pitied, and loved by her parents, but living almost as an animal, throwing tantrums, whining, licking her food off her plate, because they are blind to her ability. Her parents, who love her deeply, are at the end of their rope and hire a teacher to work with her. Annie Sullivan (portrayed by Vanessa Severo), herself having been blind with partial vision restored due to surgery, takes on Helen as her first student. Annie has to learn to communicate with someone who cannot hear or see her, and her methods initially make us uncomfortable as we see the child and teacher wrestling to see who is more stubborn when it comes to meal time. Annie does not give up on Helen or on herself and she persuades the parents (Walter Coppage and Jennifer Mays) to trust her and her methods and bit by bit we see the relationship unfold... bit by bit Annie teaches Helen words, and Helen begins to communicate with others, and Helen truly becomes part of her family. But more than that, Helen teaches Annie to love.

I took my 10 year old and 8 year old daughters to the show. My 8 year old was on the edge of her seat watching every detail, I could see her face as she was personally rooting for Annie and Helen throughout the story, and like many of us, she began to tear up at the end. My 10 year old said that Helen's tantrums made her very uncomfortable - and I think that was part of the point... as Helen's parents pitied and loved her, they weren't allowing her to be part of the world around her - her world was small. When Annie broke through and taught her to live life among everyone, Helen was then not only loved, but respected and seen for her abilities. The actors truly became their characters, you saw the struggle, you saw the love, you saw the journey, and you came to love them all.

The story opens all of our eyes...

Thank you Coterie.

Now, go buy your tickets!

The Miracle Worker  at The Coterie thru Oct. 25. Tickets $11/18 and under, $15/adults, group pricing available. 816.474.6552