The Miracle Worker

My High schooler is taking drama this year and as part of the class was required to attend a play and critique it. Tonight I took him and a couple of classmates to go see a play. The planned to go to one play at one theater, but when they found out the tickets were $22, we stopped by the El Campanil theater to see what was playing there. It was a children's acting group, but the tickets were only $8, so the boys enthusiastically plunked down their money. :)

The El Campanil is an old theater that was, in recent years, refurbished. As we found our seats, I decided to take a seat right behind the boys so that they didn't feel embarassed having to sit with "Mom". We were looking around admiring the theater, when the boys noticed a painting of two nude, rubenesque women on the ceiling. I reached up and put my hands over my son's eyes. The other boys laughed. My son said, "Don't worry Mom, they are fat chicks." ;)

The play was actually pretty good, especially considering most of the cast were children. The little girl who played Helen was perfect for the part. As it turned out, I saw a friend there whose two children had parts in the play as well.

I was quite surprised that the boys really liked the play. One of them has taken sign language in school, and had seen the movie about Helen Keller, so especially enjoyed it. I also was impressed that they were actually taking notes so that they could write their critique!

Some years ago I read a book written by Helen Keller. She was an amazing woman, as was Annie Sullivan. Before the play started, the director of the children's theater told us that a statue was just placed in Washington DC in honor of Helen Keller. According to her, it is the first statue of a child to be erected. These are the kind of people that our state should honor in the schools. These are the people who have done something honorable.