About
Venue: the Playhouse Theatre
October 19, 1959 - July 1, 1961
Thanks to her success in Two For the Seesaw and the friendships that formed with the producer, writer, and director of that play, Anne won the role of Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker. Which was produced, written, and directed by the same three men: Fred Coe, William Gibson, and Arthur Penn respectively. Actually, to say that she "won the role" is a bit of an understatement. Gibson was writing the book for The Miracle Worker while Two for the Seesaw was still running, and he specifically wrote Annie Sullivan with the intention of casting Anne. Anne won her second Tony for this part. She would of course reprise the role for the big screen and win an Oscar for her performance in the film version.
Wikipedia:
The Miracle Worker is a three-act play by William Gibson adapted from his 1957 Playhouse 90 teleplay of the same name. It is based on Helen Keller's autobiography The Story of My Life.
The play is set in Tuscumbia, Alabama, where an illness renders infant Helen blind, deaf, and consequently mute. Pitied and badly spoiled by her parents, she learns no discipline and grows into a wild, raging creature by the age of six. Desperate, the Kellers hire Anne Sullivan to serve as a governess and teacher for their young daughter. After several fierce battles with the little girl, Annie convinces her parents she needs two weeks alone with the child if she is to achieve any progress in her education. In that time, she teaches Helen discipline and language through the use of her fingers, a breakthrough that has a direct effect on everyone's life and the way they live it.
The Broadway production was directed by Arthur Penn. It opened at the Playhouse Theatre on October 19, 1959 and closed on July 1, 1961 after 719 performances.
December 21 issue of TIME Magazine.
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