— a review by Lin McNulty —
If you’ve been on Orcas for awhile, you are no doubt familiar with the young stars our island has spawned. Christiana Speed, Cara Russell, and Julie Garritan come to mind as we remember watching them on stage, growing in front of our eyes, from performance to performance, into bigger and more mature roles.
Let there be no doubt we have a new rising star: 13-year old Stormy Hildreth who has exhibited her singing talent on many occasions. This time she hit the Orcas Center black box stage at the top of her game, fully embodying Helen Keller, locked inside her blind, deaf, mute body with no way to express herself. Her parents, Keller (Tom Fiscus) and Kate (Gillian Smith), have tried everything they can to help, but she remains an angry, frustrated, unmanageable child. The strain on this family is palpable as they consider sending her away to an institution.
Keller (who his wife addresses as “Captain”) tries to remain steadfast in his control of the family. Kate, of course, loves her daughter and gives in to Helen’s every whim while remaining the obedient wife as best she can. Meanwhile, Keller’s son James (Kellen Comrie) struggles to find his own identity with an overbearing father. Aunt Ev (Cat Gilliam) serves as a quiet influence as the family struggles.
As a last resort, they contact a schoolmaster at a blind school who offers to send one of his students to teach Helen. This student is Annie Sullivan (Aaimee Johnson) who has no experience teaching and has only recently regained partial sight after a series of surgeries. When the feisty Sullivan insists that she be given sole access to Helen in order to gain her trust, it is a difficult transition for all involved.
The struggle that occurs between Helen and Annie in their two-week seclusion is breathtaking and heartbreaking and physically exhausting and miraculous, and was obviously pulled deep from the guts of both actors.
Being cast in one of these roles is, perhaps, a once in a lifetime experience for these actors, and especially for Stormy Hildreth and Aaimee Johnson. They left at least one member of the appreciative audience in tears and unable to speak. And between my tears, I heard someone say, “this is the best I’ve seen in 40 years on Orcas.”
The Miracle Worker continues at the Orcas Center black box on Friday – Saturday, March 12 – 14, Thursday – Saturday, March 19 – 21 at 7:30 p.m. Visit orcascenter.org for tickets and further information
You were not alone in the tears, Lin! I saw a few in the audience in addition to myself. I gave up on wiping the tears as I needed my hand to muzzle my mouth as I choked up audibly at the intense genuine connection between Stormy (Helen) and Aimee (Annie)at the climax. I hope everyone gets a chance to see this rare gem of a production as the entire cast delivers true family compassion!
School Master is John Cunningham :)
And thank you for covering our opening night! We are looking forward to 5 more performances!
One more comment…thank you to the creative genius and courage of our director Robert Hall for the gorgeous set and staging!!
Truly one of the best performances I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing. It was captivating and really roped you in emotionally. If you want to see just how good local theatre can be, go see The Miracle Worker. If you want to see just how good theatre at any level can be, go see The Miracle Worker.