MIRACLE WORKER already drawing protests — Page 2

Has there ever been a production of CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD with a hearing actress?

I'm sure there have been a few regional productions which did.

I bet they could have found a name and Box Office draw for Anne and then cast Helen from the deaf community. And that alone could be a draw if advertised well.

Same here!

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I know Alison Pill best as the Amish girl in Plain Truth. I've unfortunately never seen her in any of the shows she's done.

I must admit I'm having trouble thinking of well-known actresses her age who I think would be good in the role. Did any of you have specific actresses in mind?

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I think Breslin is cute and charming but checking out some pictures at Getty Images yesterday she is growing up super fast. Little Miss Bustline!

Pill is actually closer to the age of the actual Sullivan than anyone I've ever heard of playing the role in a major professional production. Of course having an Annie who is actually close to 20 makes more sense of if you have a Helen who is actually close to 6...


Other actors 2-3 years of the age of Alison Pill who might have been able to pull it off: Jena Malone, Kate Bosworth, the ever popular on this site, Emily Blunt, Abbie Cornish, Anna Paquin, Amber Tamblyn, Anne Hathaway, Keira Knightly, Evan Rachel Wood, Bryce Dallas Howard

I hope the Wiccans get after Joe Mantello for not casting an actual Witch in Wicked.

Patty Duke was really really tiny though. You can see from the pictures in the Life archives. Bancroft was also a pretty tall sturdy woman. I do fear Breslin is going to look like she can knock that waifish Alison Pill have way to Arkansas in those fight scenes.

The Breslin casting makes perfect sense. If you can get the Kit Kittredge crowd coming, then you are generating profit. Those little girls will pester their mothers to death until they can see the Kit Kittredge girl live. Plus they'll probably do a cute marketing ploy like they did with Little Women where if a little girl brings her mother, then it's two for the price of one.

I hate to be a cynic, but I bet this is being done to put the squeeze on the producers to make a donation.

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This is literally one of the dumbest things I've heard...it would be near impossible to do this show with a deaf Helen. Her physical work is huge in the production and something that, dare I say, couldn't be done by a hearing impaired artist.

I for one think its pretty inspired casting, will sit GREAT in the round and excited to see/here about the touch Kate puts on it. She could be one of the next great American Theatre Directors....

For a bunch of deaf people, these advocacy groups are making a whole lot of noise lately--most of it hot air. When are they going to shut up and realize that not everything is an affront to them?

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"For a bunch of deaf people, these advocacy groups are making a whole lot of noise lately"

They're deaf, not mute.

As someone else pointed out, these things take time.

"And for what it's worth, Miracle Worker was the first show I did in college and our (sighted) Helen still managed to take a header into the pit..."

Doesn't anyone put netting over their pit anymore?

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Well, by their logic, they'd want someone deaf, mute, and blind who only learns to speak one word during the rehearsal process...

No, they're upset and opposing that no hard-of-hearing or deaf or visually impaired or blind actresses were auditioned. No one is saying only a blind or deaf or deafblind actress could play Helen Keller. Helen Keller was not, by the way, a mute. She was beginning to speak when she became ill and lost her sight and hearing, but she did manage to hold onto a few words.

I think there'd be a definite challenge having a blind or deaf actress in the role. The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that it's not an insurmountable issue. I think Abigail Breslin will be wonderful, I'd love if her understudy was deaf or blind, but I have to agree that it's a little upsetting that no blind or deaf actresses were even auditioned.

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