Miracle Worker, The

Miracle Worker, The (1959), a play by William Gibson. [Playhouse, 719 perf.] Having graduated from Boston's Perkins Institute for the Blind, Annie Sullivan ( Anne Bancroft) arrives at the Alabama home of Captain Keller ( Torin Thatcher) to become a teacher‐companion for his daughter Helen ( Patty Duke), who is deaf, dumb, and blind, and also an undisciplined but iron‐willed youngster. It requires all of Annie's persistence, and sometimes a touch of savagery, to begin to bring the girl around. Not until Helen is purposely drenched and manages to spell out the word “water” does Annie realize she has reached the girl. A friendship slowly develops that will in part release Helen from her lonely, dark world. The play was based on Gibson's earlier television version, which in turn had been derived from the true story of the Sullivan‐ Keller relationship. Robert Coleman of the Daily Mirror wrote, “Gibson's words are terse and eloquent, highly dramatic, but it is the frightening, harrowing, physical conflicts of his drama that terrify and grip you.” Gibson's sequel Monday After the Miracle (1982), about the later years of Annie and Helen, was commended by some of the critics but failed to find an audience. The original play, on the other hand, remains one of the most‐produced dramas by schools and amateur theatre groups.