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APA
THEATRE PRESENTS THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
 APA Theatre will be presenting the Pulitzer Prize winner drama, The
Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett,
newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman for
four performances, April 18, 19 and 20 at 7:30 pm with a 2:00 matinee on
Saturday at 2:00 pm.
We decided to produce this compelling play in the spring for
the cross curricular possibilities with its connection to the study of
the Holocaust and immediately following the Official Days of Remembrance.
I don't know that the power of the writings of a teenager have ever been more
fully realized than with Anne's legacy of her diary. The
original Broadway play won the Tony Award in 1957 and was subsequently made into
the Oscar winning movie in 1959. We will be presenting the revised script
from 1997 that starred 16 year old Natalie Portman as Anne. It is
streamlined into continuous action and includes material withheld from the
original publications of The
Diary of a Young Girl.
 Our
cast consists of the Frank family-Tara Coffey as Anne, Daniel Pascoe as Otto,
Cheyenne Derr as Edith, Marilee Jooste as Margot; the Van Daans- Sarah Ashley,
Stephen Stanec and Kelsey Kato; Preston Francis as Mr. Dussel and Angelica
Stramer and Joseph Mello as Miep and Mr. Kraler. The three men are
Benjamin Belhassen, Niko Portante and Jake Webber. We have a whole second
cast who will perform for the two daytime performances- Micayla Vermeeren, James
Hamill, Kate Morton, Theresa Miles, Katie Peterson, Alex Jean, Mason Marie, Sam
Johnson, Gaby Broughman, Grant Rincon and Jacob Menke.
We hope that you can make your students aware of this play.
Rarely do we get to bring history to the stage. I don't think I have
ever had a cast so committed to the work. They feel a major responsibility to
do justice to these peoples lives. The entire play was off book and
blocked weeks ago. I also have some study guide materials I have located
if you would like some.
Adapted
from Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, edited by Otto Frank.
Winner of the 1956 Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award, Critics Circle Award, and
virtually every other coveted prize of the theatre. In this gripping new
adaptation by Wendy Kesselman, from the original stage play by Goodrich and
Hackett, newly discovered writings from the diary of Anne Frank, as well as
survivor accounts, are interwoven to create a contemporary impassioned story of
the lives of people persecuted under Nazi rule.
 Anne
Frank emerges from history a living, lyrical, intensely gifted young girl, who
confronts her rapidly changing life and the increasing horror of her time with
astonishing honesty, wit, and determination. An impassioned drama about the
lives of eight people hiding from the Nazis in a concealed storage attic, THE
DIARY OF ANNE FRANK captures the claustrophobic realities of their daily
existence—their fear, their hope, their laughter, their grief. Each day of
these two dark years, Anne's voice shines through: "When I write I shake
off all my cares. But I want to achieve more than that. I want to be useful and
bring enjoyment to all people, even those I've never met. I want to go on living
even after my death!"
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