Life remains a stage for actress with MS

You'd think the first thing you'd notice about Linda Hari is the wheelchair.

No. It's her voice, a rapturously low, raspy and sensuous sound punctuated with notes of inexplicable joy.

Then, maybe, you notice the wheelchair.

"I've been an entertainer most of my life," said Hari, a 14-year Hoffman Estates resident. "I sing professionally. When I was diagnosed with MS about 25 years ago, it slowed me down but didn't stop me. My condition has gotten worse, but I've still tried to be in this business, doing plays and singing, and it's been a hard road."

Hari will be one of the featured performers in Rolin Jones' play "The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow," which has performances today through Sunday at Harper College in Palatine. She plays the adoptive mother of a Chinese daughter who grows up to be an agoraphobic genius. She wants to find her birth mother, but because she can't leave her house, she builds a robot version of herself and dispatches it in her place.

"I also play the girl's Chinese mother," Hari said. "So, I had to learn a little Mandarin."

Neither of Hari's characters is supposed to be in a wheelchair, but that didn't stop Harper director Ilknur Ozgur from casting the mother of six grown children and grandmother to a couple more. Was Hari surprised?

"Uh, yeaaaah!" she said. "I am overlooked quite often. Getting this part was quite a surprise."

Not according to Ozgur.

"She was the best actress for the job," Ozgur said. "She came to auditions and she did a better job than anyone else who came. That's it."

Hari also has another "best" title this month. She recently won a national speech championship in Oregon as member of Harper's speech team. Her winning performance was a dramatic reading of the story "By the Way," about the relationship between an older woman and a younger man.

"Yes, I'm a cougar! At least in the story," Hari said.

Hari avoids using drugs to kill the constant pain that wracks her lower body. She prefers to handle her condition holistically through diet and exercise.

"Do I miss walking and dancing and so many other things? Yes. But there are so many other things I can do, too. I want other people to not give up, to concentrate on what you can do, not on what you can't. That's been my philosophy my whole life."

Through the bad times, Hari has had an unusual role model to help. Her mother, 74-year-old Janet Collins, also has MS.

"She taught me as a kid before I was diagnosed how to cope," Hari said. "She's a very strong lady. She taught me how to deal with any adversity. It's been my saving grace."

Now, Hari is a full-time student at Harper.

"The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow" is being performed in the Liberal Arts Center Drama Lab (L-109). Call (847) 925-6100 for tickets or visit www.harpercollege.edu/box office.