Beaumont Community Players’ latest production features dual cast, both hearing and deaf, with spoken word and ASL interpretation
Live theater has a magic that comes from actors on a stage sharing the same space with an audience. Beaumont Community Players’ latest production takes that collaboration to another level.
“The Miracle Worker,” by William Gibson, which runs from Feb. 23 to March 2, is the story of Helen Keller, who has been blind, deaf and mute since she was an infant, and her teacher Annie Sullivan. The production features a dual cast, comprising actors who are both hearing and deaf, with spoken word and American Sign Language interpretation. Each role is played by two actors, except for Keller.
Alexandria Lewis and Allie Bordages play Annie. They are both on stage at the same time, an example of shadow casting, so they have worked together to create the character in a unique way.
“We show different aspects of Annie,” said Bordages, who is deaf. “We’ve decided that I show what Annie is feeling on the inside, while Alex is showing what Annie is saying to people. It’s very interesting and very satisfying to dig deep into that. That well of emotion, or lack thereof, because sometimes she doesn’t want to show her emotion. So, it’s been interesting to try to show that without showing it, sometimes.”
Lewis said it has been a difficult process, but she and Bordages have found moments to connect. American Sign Language is a conceptual language rather than simple translation of English, and Lewis said that allows the actors to see themselves as different aspects of the character.
“I think (Bordages) is an extension,” Lewis said. “She’s the embodiment of how Annie communicates with the world. And we are one entity.”
Sullivan is bright and spirited, Lewis said, and has vision loss, which required many surgeries, and she fought for her right to go to school, something that was a challenge for a woman in the 1880s.
“She has so much strength from her hardships that she doesn’t want pity,” Lewis said. “She doesn’t want to rely on anyone’s good heartedness, because she has pulled herself up and she also has a hard time with vulnerability. And this whole time she’s fighting her own feelings of love that she develops for Helen, because she can’t find the difference between love and pity.”
Bordages, who teaches ASL, said she identifies with Sullivan’s struggle to find a way to connect with Keller.
“Whenever we teach, we are always taught to differentiate the way we teach different students,” Bordages said. “It’s so interesting to see that in this play, because, OK, well this way, obviously, it’s not successful. So, let’s try this other avenue. Let’s try this other method. And it’s very impactful to see when it is successful.”
February 21, 2024. Photo by Pete Churton
Director John Manfredi said the production is exciting as the signers are part of the show, not just off to the side.
“Our signers actually interact with the cast as opposed to just being a shadow — they actually communicate with their characters, which is very unusual for shadow casting, so we’re breaking a little new ground there,” he said.
Manfredi said it is a cool way to approach a show where communication is such a vital theme.
“It made sense for us to do it that way, that everybody has a shadow,” he said. “Everybody has help but Helen, because Helen doesn’t have the skill yet, she doesn’t have the knowledge.”
Manfredi said the opportunity to do a show with an ASL shadow cast, and also a show that fits with BCP’s season-long theme of stories for and or about women, is exciting.
“I cannot wait to see what our audiences think of it, because it’s going to be something like they’ve never seen before, for sure,” he said.
Showtimes are 7:30 p.m., Feb. 23, 23 and March 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, and 2 p.m., March 2.
BCP is located at 4155 Laurel Ave. in Beaumont. For tickets, visit beaumontstages.com .
This story first ran in the Feb. 23, 2024 edition of The Beaumont Enterprise.
English with a bit of Texas 