By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Thursday, October 6, the Family Community Theatre will bring "The Miracle Worker" to the Flag Theatre's stage.
"The Miracle Worker, everybody refers to it as the Helen Keller story," said director Ben Jones. "Helen Keller is deaf-blind. This is the story of how she gained access to language. It's really centered around her teacher, Annie Sullivan who, very young, leaves school in Boston, goes down to Alabama and really pioneers how we teach individuals that are deaf-blind, because prior to this, those people who were deaf-blind were sent to asylums for mental purposes."
There is one disabled person in the cast this time around.
"Kyleigh from Haven High School, who also happens to be deaf," Jones said. "To share a wonderful story like this, from that community is really nice. It's a nice input to the cast and has been fun to teach cast ASL and that sort of thing. It's been really nice to have that."
Deaf audience members will also be able to come and enjoy the performance.
"We will have full ASL interpretation, which will actually be on stage with the actors, for audiences every performance this weekend," Jones said. "They are paid, because they are professionals, to do this. It is not cheap, but it is very well worth the cost. For a story that really tells a story of that community, we felt it important to have inclusion and accessibility for everyone and not just pigeonholing them to one night."
Tickets are available at Absolutely Home, 15 E 14th Ave, Bookends Bookstore, 123 N Main Street, on-line at familycommunitytheatre.org or at the Flag Theatre on the evenings of the show.