Lisa Bass
Contributing writer
Christiansburg High School Blue Demon Drama will perform the play “The Miracle Worker” opening Thursday, Jan. 24 running through Monday, Jan. 28.
This classic play tells the story of Annie Sullivan and her student, Helen Keller.
Helen Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama on June 27, 1880. She was a healthy child until an illness and a severe scarlet fever left her both blind and deaf. When Helen was seven, help arrived in the form of Anne Sullivan, who was 20 years old, and a recent graduate of the Perkins Institute for the Blind. This young teacher was at one time herself blind. Through persistence and love along with sheer stubbornness, Sullivan breaks through Helen’s walls of silence and darkness.
The CHS Advanced Drama class, taught by Makala Witten, began the production in November with auditions and uses two casts under the direction of two student directors, senior Victoria Huff and junior Abby Witt.
Rehearsals were started before the school’s winter break and assistance has been provided by CHS alumni and Radford University theater major Bekka Knost and jack-of-all-trades CHS volunteer, Bo Newcomb
“Having two casts allows for more opportunities to act,” Witten said. “I am proud of what the students have been able to accomplish under the leadership of the peers. As a student-led production, they have all to learn to overcome many challenges.”
Blue Demon Drama will present the play on Thursday, Friday and Monday for local school groups.
Performances will be open to the public at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Matinees will be offered at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. A final performance will be Monday, Jan. 24 at 7 p.m.
Tickets cost $5 for students and seniors; $7 for adults.
Twenty percent of the proceeds will be donated to Jackson Shockley, a former CHS Thespian who is battling Burkitt’s lymphoma to help address his medical expenses. The play’s donation will be added to the $6,000.00 raised by a concert held recently at CHS to benefit Shockley.
