The Miracle Worker
by William Gibson

The Miracle Worker Book Cover
The Miracle Worker Cover

Highlights

1900-1910 Strong Role for Leading Woman (Star Vehicle) Unit Set/Multiple Settings Period Costumes American

Awards & Recognition

Tony Award

Winner! Four 1960 Tony Awards, including Best Play

Synopsis

Drama / 7m 7f / Unit setImmortalized onstage and screen by Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke this classic tells the story of Annie Sullivan and her student blind and mute Helen Keller.

The Miracle Worker dramatizes the volatile relationship between the lonely teacher and her charge.

Trapped in a secret silent world unable to communicate Helen is violent spoiled almost sub-human and treated by her family as such.

Only Annie realizes that there is a mind and spirit waiting to be rescued from

Press Reviews

"Terrifically effective... the playwright, William Gibson, takes time out for tears throughout, all the while remaining truthful to noble themes: the power of teaching, the glory and the life of the mind."

— The New York Times

"Interesting, absorbing and moving."

— The New York Post

"A still-potent example of a powerful true-life story related in heart-tugging fashion... If anyone can remain unmoved during the famous climactic water-pump scene, they're made of stern stuff, indeed."

— The Hollywood Reporter

"Luminous... Something monumental happens when 7-year-old Helen Keller, pumping water into a pitcher, makes the essential learning connection, from sensation to symbol to meaning."

— The New York Times

Characters

Character
Kate

Helen's mother

Captain Keller

Helen's father, Kate's husband

Helen

struck deaf and blind by a fever she had as an infant

Martha

a servant child

Percy

a servant child

Aunt Ev
James Keller

Captain Keller's son

Anagnos

instructor at the Perkins Institute for the Blind

Annie Sullivan

20, Helen's teacher, has a severe vision impairment

Viney

a servant

Blind Girls

students at the Perkins Institute

A Servant
Offstage Voices
A Doctor

Videos

THE MIRACLE WORKER: Highlights

Publication

Publisher Samuel French
Year 1961
Binding Paperback
Pages 110
Place New York
Language English
ISBN-13 9780573612381
ISBN-10 0573612382
eISBN-13 9781416559375

The Miracle Worker is a American play written by William Gibson and published by Samuel French in New York (1961).

Digital editions available on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play (eISBN 9781416559375).

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Rating

4.0

35k ratings · 94 reviews

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Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Amateur Only
Fee: Minimum Fee: $130 per performance

Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)

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