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Girl With Vision Impairment Gets Helen Keller Understudy Role

by Amy Hatch (Subscribe to Amy Hatch's posts)
Dec 11th 2009 10:30AM

4Comments

Filed under: In The News, Amazing Kids

Credit: Susan Seubert, The New York Times / Redux



A 10-year-old Oregon girl whose vision was impaired after an accident at age 9 has been cast as understudy for the role of Helen Keller in a Broadway revival of "The Miracle Worker."

The New York Times reports that Kyra Ynez Siegel of Eugene, Ore. won the role after an audition that included working with a fight choreographer for a scene in which Helen and her mentor, Annie Sullivan, battle over a doll.

Siegel will be one of the few actors with a disability who is working in a major Broadway production this season, according to the Times. She can see only shapes and colors out of her right eye, but can see well out of her left eye.

"It is very challenging to use both my eyes together," she writes in an email message to the Times. "It makes me sad sometimes, but I don't care because I try not to think about it. Sometimes your dreams get crushed but you just keep going."

While lead producer David Richenthal cast Hollywood actress Abigail Breslin in the lead role of Helen, he also pledged to hire a disabled actor after advocacy groups asserted that hiring a blind or deaf actress would give the production greater authenticity.

Siegel was cast after working with Sharon Jensen, executive director of the Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts. The two contacted actors and theater companies across the nation to help identify promising young actresses with disabilities. "Kyra gave the best audition, showing real acting talent and physical skill and physical stamina," Richenthal tells the Times. "We were aware she had significant vision loss, but I can't say that influenced us one way or another."

The youngster also played Helen in an Oregon community theater production of "The Miracle Worker," and her mother played Annie Sullivan. Richenthal calls his new understudy "a brilliant young actress."

How does Siegel feel about the upcoming role? Nervous, of course, as would any young actor. "Performing on Broadway was one of my dreams, but I never thought it would come true," she tells the Times.

Related: Blind Teen Scores Touchdown, Living With Poor Eyesight

Tags: actress, Broadway, child actor, ChildActor, Helen Keller, HelenKeller, The Miracle Worker, TheMiracleWorker, understudy, vision impairment, VisionImpairment

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