Rehearsals for the William Gibson play about teacher Annie Sullivan reaching the blind and deaf child, Helen Keller, begin this week. Previews begin at Broadway's Music Box Theatre April 8 prior to the April 24 opening. A tryout plays Charlotte Repertory Theatre in North Carolina, March 14-30. It was originally announced to start at Charlotte Rep March 8, but there were scheduling conflicts, a Rep spokesperson said.
Swank won her Oscar playing a woman passing as a man in "Boys Don't Cry."
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Producers Barry and Fran Weissler are behind this new revival of the inspirational drama. Marianne Elliott, an artistic director at London's Royal Exchange who recently helmed the Donmar Warehouse's staging of The Little Foxes, will direct The Miracle Worker.
Poster art for the show in Charlotte has an image of Swank within a smeared handprint, and the words "NOTHING is beyond REACH."
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The complete cast is expected to be announced shortly, though it's thought that Skye Bartusiak — who starred with Swank in "The Affair of the Necklace," although her scenes were cut prior to the movie's debut — will play Helen Keller.
North Carolina performances go up at the 434-seat Booth Playhouse, in the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center.
Designers are Lez Brotherston (set and costumes) and Paul Gallo (lights). The troupe will rehearse in New York City and travel to Charlotte before returning to Manhattan in time for Tony Award eligibility.
The Charlotte run is "terrific" for the resident NC not-for profit, Rep producing artistic director Michael Bush told Playbill On-Line. "It's part of what I wanted to do when I decided to come down to Charlotte," said former New Yorker Bush, currently in his first full season in Charlotte. "I wanted to raise the Rep to a national profile. I'm glad to say that's happened so quickly."
The Miracle Worker, which still shocks a modern audiences for the physicality and violence from the actress playing Helen, won six Tony Awards, including one for Best Play in 1959. Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke were the original stars, and repeated their roles on film.
"It's very violent," Bush said, "and in talking to Marianne, I don't think we're going to shy away from it."
Bancroft and Duke both won Oscars for their performances. Duke later played Annie in a TV film of the work, with Melissa Gilbert as Helen. A theatrical sequel, Monday After the Miracle, showed Helen and Annie as adults, dealing with very different issues.
Single tickets for the Rep run are now on sale. For information about Charlotte Repertory Theatre, call (704) 372-1000 or visit www.charlotterep.org.
