This afternoon I took Princess Pirate to the her first play outside of kid's theatre and her affiliated high school. I was a little nervous when I saw the crowd, because I saw no other children in the lobby, but the character of Helen Keller was to be played by an 11 year old girl, so I thought it was the right story for her to hear.
Lakeshore Players opened the season with The Miracle Worker.
The play, and movie, were familiar to me, although I am not entirely sure why. I don't have specific memories of seeing the play, or a movie, of which there are several, made for television and the big screen. I probably read a book after a movie came out, with the few memories I have are photos of Anne Sullivan in those round dark glasses, and it wasn't from real footage, but of an actress from a black and white version of the film. There are several movies made, but this is
the one I recognized. Of note, there is a
colour version by Disney that might be worth tracking down, and a couple of sequels to look for:
Monday After The Miracle and
Helen Keller: Miracle Continues.
We dressed up, and Brianne came with us. As requested, we all wore pearls! We were happily surprised to find out that row E was the second row in the theatre, and there was no one in front of PP, so her view was excellent. The play starts in Alabama, a fact I had totally forgotten. To me, her connection to Alexander Graham Bell put her in New England in my memory, where the Boston school of Deaf/Mute had invited AGB to instruct the "Visible Speech Language" that he had mastered, inspired by his phonetian father and deaf mother (during his childhood).
The theme of water was well done from beginning to end of the epiphany that broke down the barriers to Helen Keller's isolated world. At the time of the play, Helen Keller was the age of 6 and Anne Sullivan 20. From the age of 19 months, following a febrile illness, Helen Keller was deaf and blind. But as an infant she had learned the beginnings of speech, and her first word was recalled as "wa-wa", and the moment she finally connected the letters being signed into her hand was after actually pumping water she had spilt at the table on her return to her family, after being taken away for a short two weeks to gain her teacher's trust and reestablish discipline that her family was not able to give her out of their pity. This is the primordial story that I loved and carried with me.
But this time, from the title to the closing scene, I realized that this story was not about Helen Keller. It was about her teacher, and what a formidable educator she was! Blind herself, but restored surgically, she wore tinted glasses to relieve her from the glare of natural light. She had outlived her younger brother, who died in the Almhouse they were in after their mother's death. Because of another blind resident, she learned of the Perkins School for the Blind, and made an opportunity to introduce herself and was accepted as a pupil there. She entered illiterate, and left a teacher, with the rare skill of being already apt at commicating with another student there who was deaf blind:
Laura Bridgman.
The spirit of Anne and her honesty about what she knows and does not was remarkable, and the essence of the play, written by
William Gibson, a man who often wrote about woman triumphing, according to the playbill. I really enjoyed the brief glimpse into her life at this story telling. Now, having heard the story of Helen Keller, I want to get to known Anne Sullivan.
We laughed and we cried, and when the play came to a rapid close, we were left with a lot to talk about and a poster of the alphabet and a few memories of my grandma's roommate and her ability to teach American Sign Language (ASL) and a brief course at the library when I was a kid. PP took to it very quickly, and I just as quickly realized that I could spell, but had never learned to "read" sign language. So we spent a few minutes after the show circling the poster of the alphabet in ASL, and then an hour and a half in the grocery store getting 5 items, as PP acted mute, and patiently signed words to me over and over until I understood her.
So for the teachers reading this blog, and for the burgeoning teacher asleep in her bed, take inspiration from the story of Helen Keller, but remember that for her miracle to happen, she needed to meet Anne Sullivan! She was her companion for 50 years. Their friendship outlived Anne's married, and was the inspiration of many. Think of sign language as a language, and learn some! Read more of their stories. They are a great testament to Jung's idea: "The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemicals: they are both transformed!"
Who is your Helen? Who is your Anne? Today, be a student and a teacher. Who knows what might happen? As Helen is quoted as saying, "Life is a daring adventure or nothing. Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature." And, "One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar." But also remember, as Anne is quoted, " Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction."
