The Miracle Worker (play)
Encyclopedia
The Miracle Worker is a three-act play by William Gibson
adapted from his 1957 Playhouse 90
teleplay
of the same name. It is based on Helen Keller
's autobiography
The Story of My Life
.
, an illness renders infant Helen Keller blind, deaf, and consequently mute. Pitied and badly spoiled by her parents, she learns no discipline and grows into a wild, raging creature by the age of six. Desperate, the Kellers hire Anne Sullivan
to serve as a governess
and teacher
for their young daughter. After several fierce battles with Helen, Anne convinces her parents she needs two weeks alone with her if she is to achieve any progress in her education. In that time, she teaches her discipline and language through the use of her fingers, a breakthrough that has a direct effect on everyone's life and the way they live it.
at the Playhouse Theatre on October 19, 1959 and closed on July 1, 1961 after 719 performances. The production was directed by Arthur Penn
with scenic and lighting design by George Jenkins and costumes by Ruth Morley. The cast starred Anne Bancroft
as Anne Sullivan and Patty Duke
as Helen Keller. Featured in the cast were Torin Thatcher
as Captain Keller, Patricia Neal
as Kate Keller, Michael Constantine
as Anagnos and Beah Richards
as Viney. Patty Duke remained with the play for its entire run. Suzanne Pleshette
eventually replaced Anne Bancroft.
The play was first produced in the West End
in March 1961 with Anna Massey
as Sullivan and Janina Faye
as Keller. It transferred to Wyndham's Theatre
in May of the same year. A revival was produced at Wyndham's Theatre on August 31, 1994 and closed on October 8. The production was directed by Richard Olivier and Bill Kenwright. The cast featured Catherine Holman
as Keller, Jenny Seagrove
as Sullivan, William Gaunt
as Captain Keller, Judi Bowker
as Kate Keller, and Michael Thornton
as Anagnos.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the play, it was revived on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre
, opening on March 3, 2010. Directed by Kate Whoriskey
, the cast starred Alison Pill
as Sullivan and Abigail Breslin
as Keller. The cast featured Matthew Modine
as Captain Keller, Jennifer Morrison
as Kate Keller, Tobias Segal
as James Keller, and Elizabeth Franz
as Aunt Ev. Despite critical praise, the revival failed to find an audience and closed on April 4, 2010 (after 21 previews and 38 regular performances), with the entire $2,600,000 capitalization in the project being lost.
In May 2011, Duke continued her career-long involvement with the play by directing a production of it at Interplayers Theatre in Spokane, Washington
, near her Idaho home.
called the original production "a story that, however well known, acquires stunning new reality and affectingness on the stage. The overwhelming force of the play's crucial scenes could not have derived from the stirring facts alone, nor from Playwright Gibson's vivid use of them.
What proves decisive is the extraordinary performances, the magnificent teamwork of Anne Bancroft and ten-year-old Patty Duke, and the brilliant direction of Arthur Penn." While noting some of the play's flaws, particularly in the areas of "some knotty Keller family relationships and some eerie Sullivan family memories," which it characterized as "fairly makeshift, at times clumsy, and, when sound-tracking voices from the past, occasionally embarrassing," it praised the scenes that "in the hands of two remarkable actresses, constitute unforgettable theater."
The New York Times
in its review titled "Giver of Light" also praised the "glorious performance" of Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke's "wonderfully truthful and touching" performance as Helen, along with those of Patricia Neal and Torin Thatcher as Helen's parents. While finding similar flaws in the narrative structure of the play, it praised the play as "profoundly moving" and noted that any of its failings did not "destroy the emotional power of the essential struggle in the drama."
and Best Supporting Actress
, respectively. The play has also been adapted for TV twice, first in 1979 on NBC with Duke as Sullivan and Melissa Gilbert
as Keller, and again in 2000 on ABC (as part of The Wonderful World of Disney).
Nominations
In the 2006 movie Clerks II
, the two lead characters argue because one of them has confused Helen Keller
with Anne Frank
.
The Summer Play Festival
presented Esther Demsack in 2008, a comedy about a boy, Everette Brewster, and his governess. The comedy culminates in a parodic version of The Miracle Worker.
The television program South Park
ran an episode in which the chief characters put on their own distinctive musical version of the story, featuring Timmy as Keller, and a trick-performing turkey to entertain the audience between acts.
In the series finale of The Suite Life on Deck
, London learns Spanish
through feeling things with her fingers and suddenly knowing the Spanish word for them such as pen, table, book, and feeling her teacher's face and calling her ugly.
William Gibson (playwright)
William Gibson was an American playwright and novelist. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1938.He was of Irish, French, German, Dutch and Russian ancestry...
adapted from his 1957 Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90
Playhouse 90 is an American television anthology series that was telecast on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. It originated from CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California...
teleplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
of the same name. It is based on Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
's autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
The Story of My Life
The Story of My Life (biography)
The Story of My Life, first published in 1903, is Helen Keller's autobiography detailing her early life, especially her experiences with Anne Sullivan...
.
Plot
In Tuscumbia, AlabamaTuscumbia, Alabama
Tuscumbia is a city in and the county seat of Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,423 and is included in The Shoals MSA....
, an illness renders infant Helen Keller blind, deaf, and consequently mute. Pitied and badly spoiled by her parents, she learns no discipline and grows into a wild, raging creature by the age of six. Desperate, the Kellers hire Anne Sullivan
Anne Sullivan
Johanna "Anne" Mansfield Sullivan Macy , also known as Annie Sullivan, was an American teacher best known as the instructor and companion of Helen Keller.-Early life:Sullivan was born on April 14, 1866 in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts...
to serve as a governess
Governess
A governess is a girl or woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny or a babysitter, she concentrates on teaching children, not on meeting their physical needs...
and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
for their young daughter. After several fierce battles with Helen, Anne convinces her parents she needs two weeks alone with her if she is to achieve any progress in her education. In that time, she teaches her discipline and language through the use of her fingers, a breakthrough that has a direct effect on everyone's life and the way they live it.
Characters
- Helen KellerHelen KellerHelen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
- Annie Sullivan
- Captain Keller
- Kate Keller
- Aunt Ev
- JamesJamesJames is a common English surname and given name:* James , the typically masculine first name James* James , various people with the last name JamesJames may also refer to:-People:...
- Anagnos
- PercyPercyThe name "Percy" derives from the village of Percy-en-Auge in Normandy from which was derived the British surname, first taken by the Norman lords of Northumbria. From there it came into use as a given name.-Places:* Percy-en-Auge, Calvados, France...
- MarthaMarthaMartha of Bethany is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem...
- Viney
- Offstage Voices
Productions
The play premiered on BroadwayBroadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Playhouse Theatre on October 19, 1959 and closed on July 1, 1961 after 719 performances. The production was directed by Arthur Penn
Arthur Penn
Arthur Hiller Penn was an American film director and producer with a career as a theater director as well. Penn amassed a critically acclaimed body of work throughout the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
with scenic and lighting design by George Jenkins and costumes by Ruth Morley. The cast starred Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft
Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....
as Anne Sullivan and Patty Duke
Patty Duke
Anna Marie "Patty" Duke is an American actress of stage, film, and television. First becoming famous as a child star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16, and later starring in her eponymous sitcom for three years, she progressed to more mature roles upon playing Neely...
as Helen Keller. Featured in the cast were Torin Thatcher
Torin Thatcher
Torin Thatcher was an English actor born in Bombay, British India, India), to English parents. He was an imposing, powerfully built figure noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains....
as Captain Keller, Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal
Patricia Neal was an American actress of stage and screen. She was best known for her film roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still , wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's , middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud , for which she won...
as Kate Keller, Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine
Michael Constantine is a Greek American actor.He is probably now best known for his portrayal of Gus Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting Greek father of Toula Portokalos , in the 2002 surprise hit film My Big Fat Greek Wedding.Prior to that, he was well-known for his extensive TV work, especially...
as Anagnos and Beah Richards
Beah Richards
Beah Richards was an American actress of stage, screen and television. She was a poet, playwright and author....
as Viney. Patty Duke remained with the play for its entire run. Suzanne Pleshette
Suzanne Pleshette
Suzanne Pleshette was an American actress, on stage, screen and television.After beginning her career in theatre, she began appearing in films in the early 1960s, such as Rome Adventure and Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds...
eventually replaced Anne Bancroft.
The play was first produced in the West End
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in March 1961 with Anna Massey
Anna Massey
Anna Raymond Massey, CBE was an English actress. She won a BAFTA Award for the role of Edith Hope in the 1986 TV adaptation of Anita Brookner’s novel Hotel du Lac.-Early life:...
as Sullivan and Janina Faye
Janina Faye
Janina Faye, born Janina Smigelski in London, England, United Kingdom, is an English actress and director. She began her career as an actress in 1956 and includes theatre and television work in addition to many film appearances. In 1971, she appeared in an episode of Doctor at Large...
as Keller. It transferred to Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by the actor/manager Charles Wyndham . Located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster, it was designed by W.G.R. Sprague about 1898, the architect of six other London theatres between then and 1916...
in May of the same year. A revival was produced at Wyndham's Theatre on August 31, 1994 and closed on October 8. The production was directed by Richard Olivier and Bill Kenwright. The cast featured Catherine Holman
Catherine Holman
Catherine Holman is an English actress. She trained at Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London.She made her theatre début as Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird opposite Alan Dobie at the Mermaid Theatre...
as Keller, Jenny Seagrove
Jenny Seagrove
Jennifer Ann Seagrove is an English actress. She trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and rose to fame playing the lead in a TV dramatisation of Barbara Taylor Bradford's A Woman of Substance and the 1983 film Local Hero...
as Sullivan, William Gaunt
William Gaunt
William Charles Anthony Gaunt is an English actor, sometimes credited as Bill Gaunt.-Early life:...
as Captain Keller, Judi Bowker
Judi Bowker
Judi Bowker is an English television and cinema actress. Her roles include Princess Andromeda in the 1981 film version of Clash of the Titans and Saint Clare in Franco Zeffirelli's 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon.-Biography:...
as Kate Keller, and Michael Thornton
Michael Patrick Thornton
Michael Patrick Thornton is an American actor and theater director. He currently plays the character of Dr. Gabriel Fife in the ABC drama series Private Practice. He is a native of Jefferson Park, a neighborhood on Chicago's northwest side.- Career :...
as Anagnos.
In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the play, it was revived on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theatre
Circle in the Square Theatre
The Circle in the Square Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre in midtown Manhattan on 50th Street in the Paramount Plaza building.The original Circle in the Square was founded by Paul Libin, Theodore Mann and Jose Quintero in 1951 and was located at 5 Sheridan Square in Greenwich Village...
, opening on March 3, 2010. Directed by Kate Whoriskey
Kate Whoriskey
Kate Whoriskey was the artistic director of the Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington, USA, for a year, departing in April, 2011 after the theater's board cancelled the remainder of the 2011 season due to financial problems. Whoriskey had been co-Artistic Director of Intiman along with Bartlett...
, the cast starred Alison Pill
Alison Pill
Alison Courtney Pill is a Canadian actress best known from her roles in Milk, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World and Midnight in Paris.-Life and career:...
as Sullivan and Abigail Breslin
Abigail Breslin
Abigail Kathleen Breslin is an American teen actress. She is one of the youngest actresses ever to be nominated for an Academy Award....
as Keller. The cast featured Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine is an award-winning American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Alan Parker's Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, football star turned spy Alec McCall in Funky Monkey and the...
as Captain Keller, Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...
as Kate Keller, Tobias Segal
Tobias Segal
Tobias Segal is an American actor, best known for his work on stage and in the independent film The Other America, which appeared at the SlamDance Film Festival and Philadelphia Film Festival in April 2004....
as James Keller, and Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz
Elizabeth Franz is an American stage and television actress.-Life and career:Franz was born Betty Jean Frankovich in Akron, Ohio, the daughter of a factory worker....
as Aunt Ev. Despite critical praise, the revival failed to find an audience and closed on April 4, 2010 (after 21 previews and 38 regular performances), with the entire $2,600,000 capitalization in the project being lost.
In May 2011, Duke continued her career-long involvement with the play by directing a production of it at Interplayers Theatre in Spokane, Washington
Spokane, Washington
Spokane is a city located in the Northwestern United States in the state of Washington. It is the largest city of Spokane County of which it is also the county seat, and the metropolitan center of the Inland Northwest region...
, near her Idaho home.
Critical response
TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
called the original production "a story that, however well known, acquires stunning new reality and affectingness on the stage. The overwhelming force of the play's crucial scenes could not have derived from the stirring facts alone, nor from Playwright Gibson's vivid use of them.
What proves decisive is the extraordinary performances, the magnificent teamwork of Anne Bancroft and ten-year-old Patty Duke, and the brilliant direction of Arthur Penn." While noting some of the play's flaws, particularly in the areas of "some knotty Keller family relationships and some eerie Sullivan family memories," which it characterized as "fairly makeshift, at times clumsy, and, when sound-tracking voices from the past, occasionally embarrassing," it praised the scenes that "in the hands of two remarkable actresses, constitute unforgettable theater."
The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
in its review titled "Giver of Light" also praised the "glorious performance" of Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke's "wonderfully truthful and touching" performance as Helen, along with those of Patricia Neal and Torin Thatcher as Helen's parents. While finding similar flaws in the narrative structure of the play, it praised the play as "profoundly moving" and noted that any of its failings did not "destroy the emotional power of the essential struggle in the drama."
Screen adaptations
Gibson, Penn, Bancroft, and Duke reunited for a highly acclaimed 1962 film adaptation. Gibson and Penn were nominated for Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, Penn for Best Director, and both Bancroft (portraying Sullivan) and Duke (portraying Keller) won the Academy Award for Best ActressAcademy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
and Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry. Since its inception, however, the...
, respectively. The play has also been adapted for TV twice, first in 1979 on NBC with Duke as Sullivan and Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Ellen Gilbert is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls's second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie...
as Keller, and again in 2000 on ABC (as part of The Wonderful World of Disney).
Original production
Awards- Tony Award for Best PlayTony Award for Best PlayThe Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
- Tony Award for Best DirectionTony Award for Best Direction of a PlayThe Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has been given since 1960. Before 1960 there was only one award for both play direction and musical direction, then in 1960 the award was split into two categories: Dramatic and Musical. In 1976 the Dramatic category was renamed to Play...
- Arthur Penn - Tony Award for Best ActressTony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a PlayThis is a list of the winners and nominations of Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. The award has been presented since 1947, and is for performance in new productions or revivals.-1940s:...
- Anne Bancroft - Tony Award for Best Stage TechnicianTony Award for Best Stage TechnicianThe Tony Award for Stage Technician was first given in 1948 and was last presented fifteen years later in 1963.-1950s:* 1950: Joe Lynn, master propertyman – Miss Liberty...
- John Walters - Theatre World AwardTheatre World AwardThe Theatre World Award, first awarded for the 1945-46 season, is an American honor presented annually to actors and actresses in recognition of an outstanding New York City stage debut performance, either on Broadway or off-Broadway.-History:...
- Patty Duke
Nominations
- Tony Award for Best Scenic Design - George Jenkins
Pop Culture References
The Miracle Worker has been much referenced and parodied in popular culture.In the 2006 movie Clerks II
Clerks II
Clerks II is a 2006 American comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, sequel to his 1994 film Clerks, and his sixth and latest feature film to be set in the View Askewniverse...
, the two lead characters argue because one of them has confused Helen Keller
Helen Keller
Helen Adams Keller was an American author, political activist, and lecturer. She was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree....
with Anne Frank
Anne Frank
Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
.
The Summer Play Festival
Summer Play Festival
The Summer Play Festival is an annual four-week festival that stages new plays and musicals by emerging writers during the summer months in New York City founded by Broadway producer Arielle Tepper Madover. The first Summer Play Festival was presented in 2004. A year later in 2005, The Living...
presented Esther Demsack in 2008, a comedy about a boy, Everette Brewster, and his governess. The comedy culminates in a parodic version of The Miracle Worker.
The television program South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
ran an episode in which the chief characters put on their own distinctive musical version of the story, featuring Timmy as Keller, and a trick-performing turkey to entertain the audience between acts.
In the series finale of The Suite Life on Deck
The Suite Life on Deck
The Suite Life on Deck is an American sitcom that aired on Disney Channel from September 26, 2008 to May 6, 2011. It is a sequel/spin-off of the Disney Channel Original Series The Suite Life of Zack & Cody...
, London learns Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
through feeling things with her fingers and suddenly knowing the Spanish word for them such as pen, table, book, and feeling her teacher's face and calling her ugly.