(Photo Piper Pokorny/Owl & Nightingale Players)
By Jules Young, Arts & Entertainment Editor
On Thursday through Sunday, Feb. 26th to March 1st, the Gettysburg College Theater department put on the play “Twin Hearts,” written and directed by theater professor Susan Russell. This production was the world premiere of the show; a play about Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan. The play was a fascinating take on the Helen Keller story, by having Keller and Sullivan be represented with equal importance. The play spanned across Sullivan’s life before meeting Keller, through Keller’s childhood, and into Keller’s young adulthood. Along the way, there were major themes of civil rights, specifically the tension between Sullivan, an activist, and Keller’s family, in that her father was an officer of the Confederate army.
“Twin Hearts” was mainly structured around real letters that were sent back and forth between Sullivan and the school for the deaf and blind she worked for in Boston. These letters had a place in the show in the form of monologues that placed the scenes in their historical context. Beyond that, Russell took creative liberty in exploring the relationships between characters that added a great deal of depth to the story.
Russell gave a speech on her play before the show began, describing some of the many iterations it had been through to make it to
this point. She explained that it had been a passion project of hers for years. The play had been performed at its various stages of development, whether it be table reads or unofficial stage performances, of which the actress who played Anne Sullivan was present in the audience for the Saturday night performance. Russell even said that at one point the play had even been a musical, some elements of which shone through the final, straight play version. Russell ended her speech by expressing that this is not the definitive version of “Twin Hearts,” and encouraged the audience to provide any feedback they may have for future edits.
The play featured Lee Repins ’26 as Anne Sullivan, who delivered a wonderful performance, taking on the hefty lead role with ease. Helen Keller’s role was taken on by three talented actresses, Aida Cunningham ’29 as older Helen, Julia Watts ’29 as the narrative voice of Helen, and Auri Sainer as child Helen. Other great performances were given by Keira Gorman ’29 and El Monzon ’26 as Michael and Julia Anagos, Sarah Louise Huebschen ’26 as Artemisa Gellman and Laura Bridgman, Christian Boruch ’28 and Olivia Van Tuyl ’27 as Captain Arthur Keller and Kate Keller, Maggie Fernald ’26 as Viney, Eileen Li ’27 as Madame Legrand and Sherwood Jones as Uncle Frank. The entire cast put on a great show that truly brought Russell’s play to life.
Overall, “Twin Hearts” was an engaging and enlightening depiction of the Hellen Keller story, one that focused not only on her achievements despite her disability, but how she came to be able to do so, and those who helped her along the way. The relationship of a person who is deaf and blind and the one who teaches them how to express themself is something incredibly special, and Russell captured that between Sullivan and Keller’s characters beautifully.
This article originally appeared on page 7 of the March 2026 edition of The Gettysburgian magazine.
