[073] Feel the 'Vibrations of Laughter' at 1-Woman Show at MTSU

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Sept. 7, 2010
EDITORIAL CONTACTS: Gina E. Fann, gfann@mtsu.edu or 615-898-5385; Lori Kissinger, userk7706@comcast.net or 615-826-5252.

FEEL THE ‘VIBRATIONS OF LAUGHTER’ AT 1-WOMAN SHOW AT MTSU
Sept. 28 Performance Brings the Original ‘Miracle Worker,’ Annie Sullivan, to Life

(MURFREESBORO)—Renowned actress Estelle Condra will bring the brilliant and determined teacher of author-activist Helen Keller to life in an hourlong, one-woman performance, “Vibrations of Laughter: The Story of Annie Sullivan,” on Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 9:40 a.m. in MTSU’s Tucker Theatre.

The program is free and will be open to the public.

Condra’s research into Sullivan’s pre-Keller life led her to create a dramatic work that shares insights into the “teacher of all teachers” via four different characters:

• Megan Briggs, a resident of the Tewksbury, Mass., asylum/poorhouse where Sullivan and her little brother were dumped as orphans;
• Isabella Braddy, a student at the Perkins School for the Blind, where Sullivan finally started her education as an illiterate 14-year-old;
• Olivia Anagnos, wife of the principal at the Perkins School; and
• Sullivan herself, “speaking” from the garden house of the Keller home in Tuscumbia, Ala., where she changed Keller’s life in an event immortalized in the classic play and film “The Miracle Worker.”

“I’m honored to share this important story through my one-woman drama for the advent of Disability Awareness Month,” said Condra, a keynote performance artist and author who spent her early career in South Africa and England and now lives in Tennessee.

“I’m totally blind and have the privilege, as an actress who is blind, to celebrate and remember the lives of two inspiring women who overcame serious impediments.”

The dramatization’s title is inspired by the true miracle of how Sullivan brought laughter into the life of her student, who had never seen or heard others laugh because of the childhood illness that left her deaf and blind, Condra said.

“Vibrations of Laughter” is presented by VSA Tennessee in partnership with MTSU Speech and Theatre through a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission.

For more information, contact Lori Kissinger at userk7706@comcast.net or 615-826-5252.
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IN BRIEF: Renowned actress Estelle Condra will bring the brilliant and determined teacher of author-activist Helen Keller to life in an hourlong, one-woman performance, “Vibrations of Laughter: The Story of Annie Sullivan,” on Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 9:40 a.m. in MTSU’s Tucker Theatre. The program is free and will be open to the public. For more information, e-mail userk7706@comcast.net or call 615-826-5252.

For MTSU news and information, visit www.mtsunews.com.

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NOTE: Media needing a color JPEG of Condra should contact the Office of News and Public Affairs before 3 p.m. via e-mail at gfann@mtsu.edu or by calling 615-898-5385. Thanks!