Published: Wednesday, August 3, 2011
‘Miracle Worker' the real thing
UPAC theater production a quiet journey
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Photo by Kyle Trevor
Chloe Forsyth as Helen Keller and Laurie Roberts as Annie Sullivan perform in UPAC Theatre Group's production of “The Miracle Worker.”
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Photo by Kyle Trevor
Chloe Forsyth as Helen Keller and Laurie Roberts as Annie Sullivan perform in UPAC Theatre Group's production of "The Miracle Worker."
Regular theater asks us to believe. Good theater makes us believe. Here, the Sullivan-Keller phenomenon is good theater.
Everyone knows the story. Annie Sullivan, the teacher with demons of her own, leads Helen Keller -- a blind, deaf and consequently mute 6-year-old -- to the possibility of self-expression but cannot get her to understand, let alone accept and build on it.
Everyone knows the miracle “The Miracle Worker” works is in that moment when Sullivan and Keller connect.
What no one knows is how to stage that moment, how to turn that light bulb on. It has to be created.
UPAC Theatre Group artistic director (and in this case “Miracle” director) Sue Beckman puts it nicely when she writes of the journey to that moment as “a spiritual journey...Not the charismatic, ‘Hallelujah' kind, but a quieter sense of being -- where love...finds you, unexpectedly.”
Beckman gets a lot of help from an inspired cast, particularly Laurie Roberts as Annie Sullivan and Chloe Forsyth as Helen Keller.
The lilt to Roberts' Irish brogue is charming to the ear. Add to that the dedication, frustration and true grit the role demands, and Roberts never stops hitting home where the heart is. You feel what Roberts feels.
I still don't believe Chloe Forsyth can see, hear or talk. She never did. But brother, can she communicate. This kid is an actress.
I never expected to find it with a theater group on a limited budget in the basement of a church. But this “Worker” works for me as it did for Beckman. The light bulb went on, and I left with a “quieter sense of being.”
Recommended for those who prefer the real thing.
‘The Miracle Worker'
When: Through Aug. 21
Where: United Evangelical Free Church, 1420 NW 80th St., Seattle
Tickets: $18-$15, available by calling 206-375-5057 or at www.BrownPaperTickets.com
Reactions? Comments? Email Dale Burrows at grayghost7@comcast.net or entertainment@weeklyherald.com
Everyone knows the story. Annie Sullivan, the teacher with demons of her own, leads Helen Keller -- a blind, deaf and consequently mute 6-year-old -- to the possibility of self-expression but cannot get her to understand, let alone accept and build on it.
Everyone knows the miracle “The Miracle Worker” works is in that moment when Sullivan and Keller connect.
What no one knows is how to stage that moment, how to turn that light bulb on. It has to be created.
UPAC Theatre Group artistic director (and in this case “Miracle” director) Sue Beckman puts it nicely when she writes of the journey to that moment as “a spiritual journey...Not the charismatic, ‘Hallelujah' kind, but a quieter sense of being -- where love...finds you, unexpectedly.”
Beckman gets a lot of help from an inspired cast, particularly Laurie Roberts as Annie Sullivan and Chloe Forsyth as Helen Keller.
The lilt to Roberts' Irish brogue is charming to the ear. Add to that the dedication, frustration and true grit the role demands, and Roberts never stops hitting home where the heart is. You feel what Roberts feels.
I still don't believe Chloe Forsyth can see, hear or talk. She never did. But brother, can she communicate. This kid is an actress.
I never expected to find it with a theater group on a limited budget in the basement of a church. But this “Worker” works for me as it did for Beckman. The light bulb went on, and I left with a “quieter sense of being.”
Recommended for those who prefer the real thing.
‘The Miracle Worker'
When: Through Aug. 21
Where: United Evangelical Free Church, 1420 NW 80th St., Seattle
Tickets: $18-$15, available by calling 206-375-5057 or at www.BrownPaperTickets.com
Reactions? Comments? Email Dale Burrows at grayghost7@comcast.net or entertainment@weeklyherald.com