Before Helen Keller became a world famous speaker, author, and advocate, she was a blind, deaf, and mostly mute child living in Alabama in the 1880s. Misunderstood, pitied, and consequently spoiled by her family, Helen terrorized the household with her tantrums and tricks. Then, Anne Sullivan arrived. She was merely 20 years old herself, but Anne held the key that would unlock the door between Helen and the world.
William Gibson’s Tony Award-winning play (adapted into the Academy Award-winning film) unfolds the trials and tribulations Anne and Helen encountered as they forged what would become a 49-year-long friendship. From their isolation in the family cottage house to the watershed moment when Helen finally understood the concept of language and communication, The Miracle Worker is a profoundly moving retelling of the groundbreaking work of two pioneers, as well as the tender relationship between them.