“The Miracle Worker” at Southampton Cultural Center

“At another time, she asked,“What is a soul?” ‘No one knows,’ I replied; ‘but we know it is not the body, and it is the part of us which thinks and loves and hopes…(and) is invisible…’ ‘But if I write what my soul thinks,’ she said, ‘then it will be visible, and the words will be its body.’”

~Annie Sullivan, 1891

(The above quote is on the title page of the published edition of “The Miracle Worker,” by William Gibson.)

“The Miracle Worker” is based on Helen Keller's autobiography “The Story of My Life.” The action takes place in the 1880’s in the Keller’s Tuscumbia, Alabama home. Bonnie Grice’s period costume design lets us know right from the get-go that the action took place during a long ago era, and yet, the story is so universal that it never gets old. In fact, this inspirational and emotion-charged drama has moved audiences for six decades.

The play opens with the Keller family torn between the idea of keeping their feral-like, young daughter, Helen, home with them or institutionalizing her. Helen was rendered deaf, blind, and mute from an illness she contracted in infancy. Although the Keller’s love for their disabled daughter is astronomical, on a minute-to-minute basis, Helen’s violent outbursts and demands have made their lives a living hell. Desperate for answers, Helen’s parents seek help from a "half-blind Yankee school-girl,” Annie Sullivan, to help civilize and educate their daughter.

Tina Marie Realmuto, as Annie Sullivan, brings style, grace, intelligence, and humor to this grueling part. The infamous fight scene between Helen and Annie is the highlight of the production: well choreographed, so much so, that the audience waited with bated breath throughout, as if watching two prizefighters going nine rounds. Emma Suhr, already a seasoned actress at the tender age of ten, gives a powerful, and heartrending performance as the angry and frustrated Helen Keller.

Joan Lyons’s astute direction brought out the best in all of the actors. Kudos go out to Ms. Lyons for editing the script down to a manageable one hour and fifteen minute one-act, from the original three-act, considerably longer, more meandering play. When I spoke to Ms. Lyons after the performance, she explained that this revision was necessary in order to allow some 700 school-aged children to enjoy the production within the time restraints allowed for students to pursue an activity outside of the usual school environment. She was also fully aware that many children have a limited attention span and an inability to sit still for extended periods of time. What the genius of Ms. Lyons’s editing did was to flesh out the true story— the struggle and ultimately the love between Annie Sullivan, a sight-impaired, young teacher, battling her own childhood demons and Helen Keller, an intelligent, deaf, blind, mute child, rebelling against the isolation, darkness, and silence that had imprisoned her for so much of her early life. The peripheral sub-plots written into the original three-act play were not missed in this scaled-down production that cut clear to the heart of the matter, revealing what audiences have found most compelling about this drama: the power of the human spirit, mind, heart, and soul to conquer any and all obstacles that might come our way, of course, with a little help from our friends.

Daniel Becker, as Captain Arthur Keller, a Civil War veteran, husband, and father, gave a moving performance as a man who once felt in command and control of his existence, but now, has been brought to his knees by the gravity of his daughter’s condition. Although he desperately loves his family, he has no idea how to remedy what appears to be a near hopeless situation.

Bonnie Grice is believable as Katie Keller, the loving, devoted mother of Helen. Ms. Grice's body language and her facial expressions spoke volumes about the compassion and empathy Katie felt for her young daughter. Deyo Towbridge, Helen’s half-brother, gives a convincing performance as a young, frustrated man, who has yet to learn how to temper his honesty with kindness. Gerri Wilson as Aunt Ev and Josephine Wallace as Viney both radiate strong stage presence whenever they are onstage.

This revival of William Gibson’s American classic drama “The Miracle Worker” certainly deserved the standing ovation Saturday night’s command performance generated.

Cindi Sansone-Braff is an award-winning playwright and author of “Grant Me a Higher Love,” and “Why Good People Can’t Leave Bad Relationships.” She has a BFA in theatre from the University of Connecticut. Last summer, “Tomorrow’s Classic Theatre Company” produced her full-length play, “Beethoven’s Promethean Concerto in C Minor WoO,” a theatrical tribute to the man, the myth, the music, which garnished an “Encore Theater Award,” and “Digital Journal” named it the “Best Indie Play of 2017.”