THE REVIVAL OF THE MIRACLE WORKER: WITH ABIGAIL BRESLIN & ALISON PILL

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

From spunky LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE to an even more heroic young girl…

Thirteen year old ABIGAIL BRESLIN will play HELEN KELLER in the first Broadway revival of WILLIAM GIBSON’S THE MIRACLE WORKER, scheduled to open on MARCH 3, producer DAVID RICHENTHAL announced Wednesday.

Previews begin FEBRUARY 12 at CIRCLE IN THE SQUARE THEATRE.

ALISON PILL will portray ANNIE SULLIVAN, the determined instructor who teaches the deaf and blind HELEN how to communicate.

“I am so honoured,” ABIGAIL stated.

“It’s like the biggest thing in the world. I have read the biography of HELEN KELLER. So I’ve always known the story and it’s always been something I wanted to play.”

“HELEN is a hero of mine – for so many reasons. She never gave up on herself and she had so many people who believed in her like her teacher ANNIE SULLIVAN.”

The production will be directed by KATE WHORISKEY, who has extensive regional theatre credits and recently was named artistic director of the INTIMAN THEATRE in Seattle.

DAVID RICHENTHAL, producer of acclaimed revivals of such classics as DEATH OF A SALESMAN and LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT, has been a fan of the play for many years – particularly since he was good friends with WILLIAM GIBSON, who died in 2008.

“But I think one always needs to find ways to reintroduce it,” DAVID RICHENTHAL commented. “I have been waiting for the right director and the right cast.”

And he feels he has found them in his director and two stars.

“I have never met a young girl her age who is so clear eyed and unstarry. HELEN KELLER was brilliant – an IQ of 150 + – and obviously a courageous person to overcome what she did. I see those qualities in ABIGAIL.”

The producer said he thought THE MIRACLE WORKER also needed a great female director.

“This is a play that should not be part of the old boys’ club. I loved KATE’S take on it, which is that it’s really about everybody’s family. Now this story is a little more extreme. But there’s hardly a family that doesn’t have a child or a relative that has some real issues.”

KATE WHORISKEY also told the producer that THE MIRACLE WORKER was about three women – HELEN, ANNIE and Helen’s mother (a role still be to cast), someone who insisted against her husband’s advice of reaching out to this young teacher for her daughter.

“Then the question is: ‘Who can play ANNIE SULLIVAN?’ ” Mr. Richenthal added.

“I must say when I first started working on the production, the obvious thought was, ‘You get a star to play that role.’ But it’s an incredibly difficult part and a movie star might or might not be able to have the stage chops.”

“I think KATE was delightfully pleased that I was in favour of ALISON PILL because she is not exactly a household word. Not yet. She will be.”

ALISON PILL has been in several Broadway productions. She also appeared in HBO’s IN TREATMENT and played ANNE KRONENBERG in the OSCAR nominated film MILK.

WILLIAM GIBSON wrote THE MIRACLE WORKER for television’s PLAYHOUSE 90 in 1957, with TERESA WRIGHT as ANNIE SULLIVAN and PATTY McCORMACK as HELEN KELLER.

His Broadway adaptation opened two years later with ANNE BANCROFT as ANNIE and PATTY DUKE as HELEN. The stage production ran for more than 700 performances.

Both actors won ACADEMY AWARDS for their performances in the 1962 film version.

Rehearsals for the new version of THE MIRACLE WORKER begin JANUARY 11.