Rock ‘n’ roll lovers on a musical mecca all through the South are seemingly, throughout their travels, to make a cease on the famed recording studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
However only a few miles away within the close by metropolis of Tuscumbia lies one other legendary locale — attracting its personal enthusiastic guests. (See the video on the prime of this piece, plus one other video inside this text.)
Not removed from the Tennessee River sits Ivy Inexperienced, the birthplace of Helen Keller. The American lady overcame her incapacity to see or hear at an early age and emerged an acclaimed writer and advocate for incapacity rights.
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It’s additionally the setting of William Gibson’s “The Miracle Worker” stage play, primarily based on Keller’s 1903 autobiography “The Story of My Life.”
Not solely is Ivy Inexperienced the central location for Gibson’s Tony Award-winning play, however every summer season the grounds turn out to be the centerpiece of the story of Keller’s early dwelling struggles. Trainer Annie Sullivan, as Keller as soon as wrote of their relationship, “gave me love and opened my mind and helped me acquire knowledge and greatness of life.”
Helen Keller, left, in 1893 at age 13, is pictured with Annie Sullivan, who traveled from Boston to show the younger pupil. (Bettmann/Contributor/Getty Photos)
Sullivan, partially blinded herself at age 5, had traveled from Boston to Alabama in 1887 to show Keller.
The performances of “The Miracle Worker” over the last weekend of June coincide with the annual Helen Keller Competition, which Colbert County, Alabama, tourism president Susann Hamlin described to Fox Information Digital as a “typical southern festival paying homage to Helen Keller.”
The four-day competition is held every year in June to commemorate Keller’s birthday on June 27, 1880.
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About 50,000 guests flock to Ivy Inexperienced yearly, Hamlin mentioned, lots of whom participate within the festivities.
‘The Miracle Worker’ performances span generations
Now in its 63rd yr, “The Miracle Worker” at Ivy Inexperienced is extra than simply an appearing alternative for its 13-year-old star.
Lillie Meyer, in her third season of portraying Keller on the stage, was all the time excited about Keller’s life story, however Meyer mentioned the expertise has been instructional.
“I thought, before I started this, that I knew a lot about her, but now I realize that I didn’t,” Meyer informed Fox Information Digital in a video interview.
“The Miracle Worker” at Ivy Inexperienced has been Alabama’s official state out of doors drama since 1991, in keeping with its web site.
The inaugural efficiency on the property happened on June 29, 1962 – the identical yr the play was tailored into a movie starring Patty Duke as Keller and Anne Bancroft as Sullivan (performances that earned Oscars for each actresses).
Actress Anne Bancroft, enjoying educator Annie Sullivan, pleads with actress Patty Duke, enjoying Helen Keller, within the 1962 manufacturing of “The Miracle Worker.” Each gained Oscars for his or her performances. (Bettman/Contributor/Getty Photos)
Initially, the play was staged behind the home close to the properly pump the place Sullivan taught Keller her first phrase, Hamlin mentioned.
“They had so many people coming that they built this outdoor theater there, which made it more comfortable and better, I’m sure, from that early time when it first started,” Hamlin defined.
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Even Gibson, the late playwright whom Hamlin mentioned visited Keller’s childhood dwelling for the primary time in 1996 earlier than his dying, was “so impressed” and “amazed at how they were able to bring the Helen Keller story to life right there at Ivy Green.”
Being part of “The Miracle Worker” in Keller’s yard makes it further particular for Meyer.
Lillie Meyer, age 13, stars as Helen Keller in a scene from “The Miracle Worker,” carried out on the grounds of Ivy Inexperienced, Keller’s birthplace, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. (Courtesy Mary Carton)
“It is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she mentioned.
The half can be the “most challenging” for a relative newcomer. “It is a very different character from what you might see in other shows,” Meyer mentioned.
The younger actress described present process coaching that spanned “a couple of weeks” spent together with her “Helen coach” (a earlier performer), throughout which era she realized the bodily actions crucial for the position.
“The show is very physical throughout,” she mentioned, referring to Keller’s scripted tantrums.
‘Simplistic’ magnificence
Magnolia timber — which have been at Ivy Inexperienced for the reason that home was in-built 1820 — greet guests, Hamlin mentioned.
“The grounds are immaculately kept,” she mentioned.
Contained in the “simplistic” home with inexperienced shutters and a picket shingle roof, tour guides take guests by way of every room, sharing tales of Keller’s life.
Helen Keller, pictured at left in 1887 at age 7, was born at Ivy Inexperienced in Tuscumbia, Alabama. She lived in the home as a baby. (Bettman/Contributor/Colbert County Tourism & Conference Bureau)
“It’s not a huge home, but it’s beautiful,” Hamlin mentioned.
Friends can see the largely genuine furnishings on the within. Hamlin mentioned 85% of the furnishings at Ivy Inexperienced are authentic, together with the beds the place Keller and Sullivan slept and the pre-Civil Warfare cutlery on the eating room desk.
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Due to the Helen Keller Competition, Hamlin mentioned, this weekend’s friends can even be handled to a parade by way of downtown Tuscumbia.
There may be additionally stay music and a youngsters’s program by which “they learn to, sort of, relive the days of blind and deaf children just as Helen had to do it.”
Guests inside Ivy Inexperienced, Helen Keller’s birthplace in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Colbert County’s tourism president Susann Hamlin mentioned 85% of the furnishings at Ivy Inexperienced are authentic. (Colbert County Tourism & Conference Bureau)
Ivy Inexperienced first opened to the general public in 1954. It has additionally been dwelling to “Camp Courage” since 2013, Hamlin mentioned.
The free camp is meant for kids with visible or listening to impairments.
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“It’s been a very successful program,” Hamlin mentioned. “We’ve had people from several states across the U.S. and one international child who came to ‘Camp Courage.’”
Nationwide Register of Historic Locations
Ivy Inexperienced is within the metropolis of Tuscumbia, Alabama, about 125 miles southwest of Nashville and 140 miles southeast of Graceland, Elvis Presley’s dwelling in Memphis.
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Listed on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations, Ivy Inexperienced is open to guests Monday by way of Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The final tour of the day begins at 3:45 p.m.
It’s closed on Sundays, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Dec. 24-26 and New Yr’s Day.
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Remaining performances of “The Miracle Worker” at Ivy Inexperienced are scheduled for June 28, June 29, July 12, July 13, July 19 and July 20.
Every present begins at 8 p.m.
The Helen Keller Competition runs by way of June 30.
