A new generation is lining up to join 50 years worth of audiences who have learned the story of Helen Keller through the play The Miracle Worker.

William Gibson's play takes on a very narrow slice in the life of an accomplished woman. The Alabama native, born in 1880, was left both blind and deaf by an illness at 19 months. The play begins when Helen was 6, a wild child with almost no means of communication with her family. The title refers to Annie Sullivan, the teacher who broke through to Helen, teaching her sign language as well as manners.

The play ends with Helen still in childhood, though. Were it not for her later life story, few would have cared about her early successes. Here are the parts of Helen Keller's life you won't get from The Miracle Worker (with a little help from helenkellerbirthplace.org and the American Foundation for the Blind, afb.org).

"I seldom think of my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers."

Helen Keller

Education

By age 10, Keller was fluent in Braille and could use a typewriter. She graduated from Radcliffe College - no small academic achievement - with Annie Sullivan by her side as interpreter.

Honors

Keller received honorary doctorates from Harvard University, Temple University and universities in Scotland, Germany, India and South Africa.

Activism

She spent her life advocating for people with disabilities, but Keller's life extended far beyond those borders. In 1915 she founded Helen Keller International, for research in vision, health and nutrition. Today, the organization has programs in 72 countries.

Politics

Keller was a suffragist and a birth-control advocate. As a pacifist, she opposed Woodrow Wilson. She campaigned for Eugene V. Debs and was a member of the Socialist Party and Industrial Workers of the World.

Travels

Keller visited 35 countries on five continents. She was a star in Japan. She met every U.S. president from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson. At age 75, she went on a 40,000-mile, five-month trip through Asia.

Writings

Keller wrote her autobiography, The Story of My Life, at the age of 22. It was her most successful work and is available in more than 50 languages, including Pashto and Tagalog. She wrote continuously throughout her life, for magazines and newspapers and full-length books.

The Miracle Worker

* When and where: Through Dec. 20 in the Space Theatre, Denver Center for the Performing Arts

* Cost: $11 and up

* Information: 303-893-4100

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