photographs by Barry Wisdom /

Brittni Barger (right) stars as Anne Sullivan, the teacher who breaks through to Helen Keller in STC's "The Miracle Worker." (Image by: Barry Wisdom)

For her current role as Helen Keller's governess/teacher Anne Sullivan in the Sacramento Theatre Company production of William Gibson's "The Miracle Worker," Brittni Barger has received universally positive reviews.

The Sacramento Bee called her performance "compelling" and "fiercely convincing." Sacramento News & Review said the actress "does well" in her dramatic star turn, which the Davis Enterprise added was "full of spunk and fire."

Not that she'd know, unless a close friend or colleague decided to crack her cone of media silence and share the post-performance praise via the social media grapevine, or a between-rehearsals phone call.

"I'm not jaded enough to read my reviews," said the 20-something Barger, a Sacramento State University theater arts grad who interned at the B Street Theatre before earning an Equity card and making her professional debut in the supporting role of Lillian the French maid opposite Jamie Jones and Matt K. Miller in STC's 2007 production of "Private Lives." "There will be people who love any show that I'm in, and those who will hate it. I know very little has to do with me personally, but I'm just not ready."

"Everybody has a right to their opinion," continued Barger, who takes her final bow with "The Miracle Worker" Oct. 28 (2 p.m. matinee). "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You can say you didn't like it, but there are ways to say it that are kind - and ways that are unkind."

Barger points out the growing number of Web-bound "critics" whose sole credentials consist of a Wi-Fi connection, a WordPress account and a lifetime subscription to SnarkWeek.

"There's so much hatred on the Internet right now," said Barger, "and they can literally ruin people's lives."

Blame Barger's refreshing empathy, and comparatively thin skin to her "late" start in theater.

Brittni Barger (left) stars as Anne Sullivan, the teacher who breaks through to Helen Keller in STC's "The Miracle Worker." (Image by: Barry Wisdom)

Unlike her six juvenile co-stars, including 14-year-olds Bella Bagatelos and Courtney Shannon, who share the role of Keller, and who all either attend private theater classes or a performing arts academy, Barger didn't embark on her theater career until she had graduated from high school.

And we're not talking about Beverly Hills High School, where theatrical agents are assigned as routinely as gym lockers, but Hanford High School, a secondary school boasting just 1,700 students located some 30 miles south of Fresno.

"At 14, I was involved in competitive cheerleading," said Barger, "doing all the regular high school things. I didn't get into theater until my first year of college. I didn't know that world existed."

Though she has appeared in a goodly amount of shows (mostly on stages at the B Street, where she holds the title of company member), she has yet to garner a negative notice ("As far as I know.").

Whether essaying the melodramatic role of the ill-fated Elizabeth in STC's 2011 production of "Frankenstein," or evoking yuks galore in the title role of "Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!" (2010) for the B Street Theatre's Family Series, Barger has earned a reputation of not only being liked, but well-liked by Sacramento critics and audiences alike.

Brittni Barger (right) stars as Anne Sullivan, the teacher who breaks through to Helen Keller in STC's "The Miracle Worker." (Image by: Barry Wisdom)

Barger's "Miracle Worker" director, Greg Alexander, is also a very vocal fan.

"The role of Annie Sullivan requires an actress who can be equally charming and ferocious; graceful and savage," said Alexander, himself a popular Sacramento actor. "Annie was known for her temper and clashes with authority. I like working with Brittni because she brings all of those qualities to the role. She has so much passion for the role of Annie. I really appreciated her willingness to try new tactics with the individual scenes as we went through the rehearsal process.

"In addition to the challenge of playing Annie, Brittni also had to work with and adapt her performance to two different Helen Kellers – the equally amazing Bella Bagatelos and Courtney Shannon. Brittni pulls this off with such poise and grace. She makes it seem effortless."

Appearing effortless in delivering a four-star performance is every actor's goal, but it doesn't come without doing a meticulous amount of homework – whether it's creating a background for the character or a well thought-out series of physical mannerisms and tics. For her role as Sullivan, Barger had some help in that Sullivan was a real-life person with copious amounts of material written about her.

Barger eschewed viewing the 1962 film starring Anne Bancroft as Sullivan as to avoid any form of conscious or subconscious imitation, but stuck with written chronicles of Sullivan's life with Keller.

Brittni Barger (center) stars as Anne Sullivan, the teacher who breaks through to Helen Keller in STC's "The Miracle Worker." (Image by: Barry Wisdom)

"Before the role came up, I knew next to nothing about Helen, I didn't know Annie," admitted Barger, who quickly came up to speed. "I read the play and I was just blown away with how well it was written. And the fact that it was all true blew my mind."

"I'm a firm believer in researching through books and literature," Barger continued. "I didn't watch 'The Miracle Worker' movies, but I read all the books based on it.

As part of her pre-rehearsal research, Barger, who had never played a "real" person on stage before, began reading Sullivan's autobiography to get into the young woman's skin. Even after she was knee-deep into working the role on stage, she continued reading it for pleasure "because it was so good."

Sullivan, the orphaned daughter of Irish famine refugees, was born in Limerick, Ireland, and suffered a partial loss of vision due to an untreated illness. She found a new life at Boston's Perkins School for the Blind where she graduated as valedictorian in 1886. A year later, she'd arrive at the Keller's doorstep in Alabama.

"Annie lived in the shadow of Helen Keller, which was unfortunate because of all she contributed – she had a unique perspective on what being disabled means. She espoused the theory that you don't treat a person with disabilities like they have disabilities. That gives them hope to be a part of the world," said Barger. "Annie's life wasn't always happy: not everything ends in hugs and kisses and rainbows. At 40, she lost her eyesight completely, she suffered further health problems, and her husband divorced her. Then Helen became the crutch and they switched roles."

Brittni Barger (right) stars as Anne Sullivan, the teacher who breaks through to Helen Keller in STC's "The Miracle Worker." (Image by: Barry Wisdom)

Playing Sullivan is a bit of a switch for Barger as well, often demanding an intense, quietness that hasn't often been a mandate in her roles.

"There's a stillness to Annie," said Barger, "and I'm a very frenetic actor – and that's not warranted in this character."

In addition to her biographical research and internal character development, Barger faced a few formidable physical challenges that would require completely different types of study.

One, the finger-spelling that Sullivan would introduce to Keller and her family as a gateway to communication, was easy – Barger had taken three years of American Sign Language in high school and signing the alphabet was as natural as her titian-hued tresses.

The second – stage combat – was a little tougher to manage. Over the course of the show, the tantrum-prone Keller frequently expresses her frustration in very physical ways – pulling, slapping, tearing, etc. Preparing these scenes with one acting partner is hard enough, but creating identical brute-force ballets with two (Bagatelos and Shannon) would seem overwhelming.

"It's like a dance," said Barger. "Every movement has a count to it. There's a breakfast scene that is seven pages long just explaining what they're doing. In total, there are five different fight scenes that our fight choreographer, Scott Gilbert, had to rehearse with us.

Brittni Barger (left) stars as Anne Sullivan, the teacher who breaks through to Helen Keller in STC's "The Miracle Worker." (Image by: Barry Wisdom)

"He taught us how to punch and slap correctly so it looks real, but isn't. We devoted two entire rehearsals – about 16 hours – to the fight choreography. And there was a 'fight call' before every rehearsal after that when we'd refresh what we had learned for 20 minutes. At first, we were all really concerned about hurting each other, but other than a few bumps, it's turned out well."

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For tickets, call (916) 443-6722. Mention Facebook and receive two tickets for $50. For additional information, see the STC website at www.sactheatre.org.