Super long post. Skip to the end past the backstory if you just want the suggestion. ;)
I’ve been waiting for years to direct this show; I knew I needed the right combination of people and had to have a Helen. I’ll set up my suggestions with my backstory.
As I do every year, we read TMW in class. Last year, in one of my beginning acting classes, one of my freshman students was blind, confined to a wheelchair due to multiple medical conditions and limited mobility. As you can anticipate, when we read the play, she identifies with Helen’s story, as she too was born with sight and lost it from illness, but at age 10.
Since she took my beginning acting class, not only did we read TMW but by the end, she was in the class readers theatre one-act which was performed for a small group of students, including our Intensive Skills Class peers. She said she would like to do that again; she loves acting! I asked if she’d be interested in portraying Helen in a main stage production. She was nervous and excited about the idea and agreed.
This past spring, knowing I had my Helen, I directed The Miracle Worker as a full inclusion/Theatre For All model. I held open auditions in the theatre and also in the intensive skills class. I was able to cast several students in roles. The approach we took was using paired actors to portray one character on stage, so yes, two Helens, two Annies, two Percys, two Marthas on stage at the same time together being one role. The concept developed over time but in essence amounted to the fact that on the outside, the people in her world saw Helen as a deaf-blind girl, but inside she was a vibrant, intelligent girl who knew she was more. My Helen #1 was the outside person; using her wheelchair, signing to communicate, and so on; we could see her frustration and how others treated her (yes, moving her around in her chair as she couldn’t move herself). My Helen #2 was the inside struggling to come out (as noted by Annie in the text; she #2 became the mobility partner but also her interior projected to us so we could see her). I then paralleled the Annies for the same reason, and of course to have one-to-one for staging. I did the same with other characters who partnered together to make one role on stage. To be clear, not all pairs were able-bodied with differently abled, and none were able-bodied “helpers”; both actors were one character together.
So here’s my suggestion, or an extension of the above. (Thank you for your patience!) If you can, work to find a student actress who is blind or deaf, if at all possible. (Ex: auditioning actors with autism if you plan to do Curious Incident or. LGBTQ+ if you plan to do Rent). The students and I discussed a lot about ableism and not speaking on behalf of others who can speak for themselves, and how roles should be played by those about whom the story is centered, etc. That’s one of the reasons I waited to find the right fit. It’s super hard, agreed, but well worth the effort. Best of luck!
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Jo Strom Lane
Theatre Teacher and Director
Roosevelt High School
Portland Public Schools
Portland OR
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-12-2018
From: Josh Kauffman
Subject: Miracle Worker auditions
I'm holding The Miracle Worker auditions this week, and I'm thinking that simple cold readings won't cut it. Not for the Helen role, especially, but also not for the characters who interact heavily with Helen.
I've searched through this board and found a few great ideas for auditioning Helens. For those who have worked this play: What, if anything, did you do differently to audition Annie and the Kellers?
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Josh Kauffman
Teacher
Winfield AL
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