Rock ‘n’ roll lovers on a musical mecca all through the South are probably, 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 lack of ability to see or hear at an early age and emerged an acclaimed creator and advocate for incapacity rights.
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It is also the setting of William Gibson’s “The Miracle Employee” 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 grow to be the centerpiece of the story of Keller’s early house struggles. Instructor Annie Sullivan, as Keller as soon as wrote of their relationship, “gave me love and opened my thoughts and helped me purchase data 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 Pictures)
Sullivan, partially blinded herself at age 5, had traveled from Boston to Alabama in 1887 to show Keller.
The performances of “The Miracle Employee” over the past 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 competition paying homage to Helen Keller.”
The four-day competition is held annually 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 Employee’ performances span generations
Now in its 63rd 12 months, “The Miracle Employee” 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 at all times inquisitive about Keller’s life story, however Meyer mentioned the expertise has been academic.
“I assumed, earlier than I began this, that I knew loads about her, however now I notice that I did not,” Meyer instructed Fox Information Digital in a video interview.
“The Miracle Employee” at Ivy Inexperienced has been Alabama’s official state out of doors drama since 1991, in accordance with its web site.
The inaugural efficiency on the property occurred on June 29, 1962 – the identical 12 months 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 Employee.” Each gained Oscars for his or her performances. (Bettman/Contributor/Getty Pictures)
Initially, the play was staged behind the home close to the effectively pump the place Sullivan taught Keller her first phrase, Hamlin mentioned.
“That they had so many individuals coming that they constructed this out of doors theater there, which made it extra comfy and higher, I am positive, from that early time when it first began,” Hamlin defined.
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Even Gibson, the late playwright whom Hamlin mentioned visited Keller’s childhood house for the primary time in 1996 earlier than his demise, was “so impressed” and “amazed at how they had been capable of convey the Helen Keller story to life proper there at Ivy Inexperienced.”
Being part of “The Miracle Employee” in Keller’s yard makes it further particular for Meyer.
Lillie Meyer, age 13, stars as Helen Keller in a scene from “The Miracle Employee,” carried out on the grounds of Ivy Inexperienced, Keller’s birthplace, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. (Courtesy Mary Carton)
“It’s actually a once-in-a-lifetime alternative,” she mentioned.
The half can be the “most difficult” for a relative newcomer. “It’s a very completely different character from what you would possibly see in different reveals,” Meyer mentioned.
The younger actress described present process coaching that spanned “a few weeks” spent together with her “Helen coach” (a earlier performer), throughout which era she realized the bodily actions mandatory for the function.
“The present may be very bodily all through,” she mentioned, referring to Keller’s scripted tantrums.
‘Simplistic’ magnificence
Magnolia timber — which have been at Ivy Inexperienced for the reason that home was inbuilt 1820 — greet guests, Hamlin mentioned.
“The grounds are immaculately stored,” 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 is not an enormous house, nevertheless it’s stunning,” Hamlin mentioned.
Company can see the principally 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 Struggle cutlery on the eating room desk.
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Due to the Helen Keller Competition, Hamlin mentioned, this weekend’s visitors may even be handled to a parade by way of downtown Tuscumbia.
There may be additionally dwell music and a kids’s program wherein “they study to, type of, relive the times of blind and deaf kids simply as Helen needed 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 house to “Camp Braveness” since 2013, Hamlin mentioned.
The free camp is meant for youngsters with visible or listening to impairments.
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“It has been a really profitable program,” Hamlin mentioned. “We have had folks from a number of states throughout the U.S. and one worldwide youngster who got here to ‘Camp Braveness.'”
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 house 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 12 months’s Day.
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Remaining performances of “The Miracle Employee” 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.