Morning Thanks--Aria Mia Loberti

Aria Mia Loberti says she auditioned for the part, only because auditioning was something she'd never really done. She wanted the experience, she says, and she was convinced that her landing the part of Marie-Laure Leblanc in Netflix's adaptation of the novel All the Light We Cannot See was not a real possibility. She had zero acting experience, had never taken a class in any theater department anywhere, was just a graduate student in rhetoric at Penn State who thought it would be fun to audition. "There were thousands of people [who auditioned] and it’s a lead role," she told a reporter from Penn State. "It was such a fun audition process, and it was very empowering. That’s all I was seeking – a new experience, a challenge. I didn’t expect anything more to come of it. I think it was just pure shock when I learned.”

What she learned, as you can guess, is that, of the thousands who wanted the role, who'd sent in resumes, and of the dozens who'd auditioned, she was offered the part. Aria Mia Loberti is, of course, as blind as is Marie-Laure Leblanc, the young French woman whose life during the Nazi occupation of France is the very heart of Pulitzer-prize winning novel by Anthony Doerr. Aria Mia Loberti doesn't have to act blind; she knows how to be what she is.

An ex-grade schoolteacher called her to tell her of the major talent search and how she'd be perfect for the part. Shawn Levy, the executive producer and director of what will be a four-episode mini-series, says he was convinced of Aria the moment he saw her. “We searched the world and reviewed thousands of auditions. We never thought our path would lead to someone who has not only never acted professionally, but never auditioned before. It was a jaw-drop moment when we first saw Aria Mia Loberti, who is both a natural performer and an advocate for disability equity and representation."

There may be a reader or two who was not greatly moved by Doerr's 2014 novel, but I haven't met any. Many consider it the best novel they've ever read. The story follows the war-time experience of two young people, a blind French girl trying to stay alive during the occupation, while reading stories over a radio set to anyone who can and will listen; and a young radio operator, a German, but not a Nazi. Anthony Doerr was interested in breaking through stereotypical characters, and he does, admirably. All the Things We Cannot See is not an easy read. It's a ragged quilt of scenes and scattered events, most of them in the lives of those two characters. Even though it staggers widely, the novel is immensely gripping. The suffering of the era is profound; but there's more to the story than relentless darkness: the Nazi's last days in France are its "last days." 

All the Light We Cannot See will be a mini-series, Levy says, because the novel is as expansive as it is and simply can't be told in two hours. Netflix will air the production in early November.

There's something almost holy about Levy's unlikely casting of Aria Mia Loberti, something redemptive: a young woman with no experience, no training, no references, as least-likely as she'd determined she was. To land a part, any part, in the screen version of a Pulitzer Prize novel would be an achievement in anyone's life. Loberti had long been an advocate for the rights of men and women, boys and girls, with disabilities. This unlikely role will soon expand her advocacy on millions of TV screens.

"All beauty is gratuitous," says Richard Rohr--all beauty is blessing, all beauty is grace. Last night simply hearing the story of Ara Mia Loberti's being cast for the part of Marie-Laure Leblanc was beautiful, pure blessing. This morning her unlikely new role is my morning thanks.