Helen Keller, ¿la mujer maravilla?

Auditorio de Tenerife has scheduled in its hall La Salita the show  Helen Keller, ¿la mujer maravilla? of the company Chévere.

It all begins with the discovery of the story of Helen Keller. Born in Tuscumbia (Alabama), she famously became the first deafblind person in the United States to obtain a university degree in 1904. This part of her life inhabits the collective memory as an exemplary model of overcoming disabilities, and most of her writings end up being used as motivational catchphrases. However, perusal of American digital archives reveals other puzzling facets of her life that have been glossed over systematically. Furthermore, it has been suggested online in recent years that she was not an actual person, and a petition has emerged on change.org that seeks to delete her from history books.

Why has part of her life story been kept obscure? Who would want to do such a thing? Why do they want to delete her from history books? Is it because she was a deafblind woman? It is because some refuse to accept that one of the most famous Americans from the 20th century was a communist? Is it because a disabled woman cannot be an anticapitalist leader?

These questions explore the possibilities of rebellion and dissidence in our society. They probe the possibility of a woman being considered saintly while managing to live independently and self-sufficiently.

The work also questions the lack of communication between hearing and non-hearing persons. It explores the possibilities of sharing an open dialogue onstage as a silent vindication of the importance of minoritised languages, of their public use and of them coming together. For this reason, we make equal use of spoken language and sign language (SSL).