The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.

Troy University Chancellor Dr. Jack Hawkins, Jr. chose the words of legendary Alabamian Helen Keller to describe the premier performance of “Helen Unveiled” at Troy University Monday.

“Helen Unveiled” was the featured event of the 22nd Annual Helen Keller Lecture at Troy University.

“We were exposed to the heart of Helen Keller today,” Hawkins said. “The magnificent performance was truly felt with the heart.”

Helen Keller overcame the adversity of being blind and deaf to become one of the 20th century’s leading humanitarians. Her name is known around the world as a symbol of courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

“Helen Unveiled” is the story of Helen Keller, activist, visionary, and lover and told through words, dance and music. “Helen Unveiled” was based on selections from Jeanie Thompson’s poetry collection “The Myth of Water” and on the personal writings of Helen Keller.

In the opening monologues by Troy University theater professors Quinton Cockrell and Tori Lee Averett, the story of Helen Keller, a woman of luminous intelligence, high ambition and great accomplishments and one who devoted her life to helping others, is told. She is revealed, rightly or wrongly so, as a women who was denied her right to be human. Helen Keller was unveiled as one who loved and lost and carried the weight of heartache.

“But, she loved and lost and let go. She did not linger too long in days gone,” said Judy Robertson, Helen Keller Lecture Series chair.

The Helen Keller, who perhaps desired to marry and have a family, went forward and changed the shape of the world for the better by her humanitarian efforts.

The love she lost, although it pained her heart, did not change the goodness and caring in her heart, said Adria Ferrali, choreographer and visiting scholar at Troy University.

Ferrali, as Anne Sullivan, and Troy University theater and dance students, London Brison as Peter Fagan, and Brooke Whigham, as the young Helen Keller, told the story of the heartache of lost love in dance.

“I was so moved by ‘Helen Unveiled,”’ Averett said. “It exposed Helen Keller as human, in a very personal way. I thought I knew her so well but ‘Helen Unveiled’ showed a side of Helen Keller that I did not know. I was able to listen with an open heart and to feel with my heart.”

Ferrali said that art delivers a message and the dance was not about her as a dancer but about Helen Keller and the story of love and love lost.

The First Lady of Troy University Janice Hawkins expressed wonder at the stage performance of “Helen Unveiled” which she said “stirred great emotion” as the audience was exposed to the heart of Helen Keller.  She predicted that “Helen Unveiled” will have a life beyond the performance at Troy University and has the potential to be an event of Alabama’s Bicentennial celebrations across the state.