‘Miracle Worker’ rehearsals in full swing

Preparations are in full swing two weeks before the staging of The Miracle Worker, a Friends of the Arts production slated for Jan. 20 to 22 at the Marianas High School Dolphin Theatre.

The Miracle Worker is a three-act play based on the life of renowned writer and activist Helen Keller who was rendered blind, deaf, and consequently mute by an illness at a tender age. She learned about discipline and language through the use of her fingers from her governess and teacher Anne Sullivan.

The cast is composed of Anna Cavert, who will play the role of Helen Keller; Laura Kyonka as Anne Sullivan; Frank Gibson as Captain Keller; Nava Khorram as Kate Keller; Linda Wingenbach as Aunt Ev; Christian Cruz as James Keller; Wincel Bubos as Viney; and Xuchong Liang as Percy.

The show, originally scheduled to be shown in time for Christmas, was moved to a later date giving the cast and crew more time to prepare the costumes and sets, among others, according to director Harold Easton.

“It will be a wonderful job. It’s going to be a great performance,” Easton told Saipan Tribune amid the group’s preparations on Sunday.

Easton said the costume designs will come from last year’s Thespian competitions under the charge of Saipan Southern High School’s Jane Mack and MHS’ Wesley Foster. Execution of the actual designs will be handled by the Dolphin Theatre’s in-house costume department.

Costume mistress Clariza Magat, an MHS junior, said there are about 10 different costumes, three of which have to be handmade as they are not available in the theatre’s wide selection of costumes. “It’s pretty hard to work on the details as they are from the old times, like old-fashioned, Southern clothing.”

Technical director Kristine Valencia, also a junior at MHS, said constructing a set that would “fit the whole scenario of the play” was also tough. Valencia, 16, said her crew had to use old sets to come up with the needed three sets for the play.

Easton noted that the biggest challenge would be getting the main actors into their roles, particularly Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan.

“Everything is physical between the two because she can’t speak. Helen’s got to behave as if she can’t see and can’t hear, which makes it difficult. It’s a very, very physical show between the Anne character and the Helen character,” said Easton.

FOA president Susan Fishman-Tudor has been tasked to handle the two characters.

To prepare the actors for their roles, Fishman-Tudor wanted them to know everything about the characters, notably the “elemental things” that make them who they are. “My favorite kind of thing is to ask people to develop the character even before they are on stage.”

Laura Kyonka, who plays the role of Sullivan, read Sullivan’s diary entries and letters, watched different versions of the play, studied her and Sullivan’s similarities and differences to help her identify and connect with the character.

“Annie has a lot of compassion for Helen. Helen’s story breaks my heart. I have so much compassion for her,” said Kyonka, a counselor at Kagman High School.

Kyonka believes that the play would help the audience understand where people with disabilities come from. “To be able to see that happening in a young girl’s life, I just think it’s amazing and everybody should come see it.”

“Helen Keller is an icon in the world of people with disabilities,” Fishman-Tudor added. “The things that she ultimately said over her life are messages that we can all heed: ‘It is not a tragedy that I cannot read. The tragedy is with those who can but don’t.’”

Tickets for The Miracle Worker cost $12 for FOA members, $15 for adult non-members, $8 for children 5 to 11 years, and free for children 4 years and below. Call Frank Gibson at 287-7476 to buy tickets and for show schedule.