The 1997 stage adaptation of "The Diary of Anne Frank" offers a glimpse into the lives of eight people hiding from Nazis in an attic in Amsterdam.
A local production of the play by the Bridge Initiative and Childsplay is running through the end of this week at Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix, including a performance at 2 p.m. Saturday. Two teenage actors are cast alongside longtime Valley thespians, including Childsplay resident artists Debora K. Stevens and Jon Gentry.
"What do you have to write about that’s so important all the time? How much can a 13-year-old have to say?
"Just because someone is young does mean doesn’t mean they have nothing to say, Mr. Van Daan.
"Please, can’t I have any privacy?
"Well, I just hope she’s not writing anything about me in that private diary of hers.
"Or me.
That's a clip of the performance.
As the group hiding in the attic try to make the best of their situation, two Nazi officers stand upstage, periodically crossing in front of the attic set and weaving through the audience with flashlights. In the original script, the officers only show up at the end, when the Franks, the Van Daans and Mr. Kraler are caught.
That was actually a directorial decision to create the feeling that they are getting closer and closer and are always there.
KJZZ contributor Robrt Pela sat down with the play’s director, Jodi Weiss.
ROBRT PELA: I have to say that the thing I'm most interested in is apparently there is an Arizona mandate about teaching kids about the Holocaust.
JODI WEISS: There's, there's, I believe between the seventh and eighth grade, they, there's a mandate that they have kind of a section on the Holocaust specifically. And then sometime between grades nine and 12, they need to learn about as well another genocide. So I think between seventh and 12th grade, they have to have two sections on genocide. One specifically the Holocaust.
PELA: So not both of them about the Holocaust.
WEISS: Correct.
PELA: You've cast teenage actors alongside some of the Valley's best known professionals.
WEISS: It was always my joke that all I had to do was sit back and say, you know, a little to the left because these actors are truly top notch talents here in the Valley. And we are very lucky to be working with them.
Alongside them are Ariella Centeno and Spencer Wareing. Both young artists who have done the production three times. Now, they came over with the original cast that the Jewish Ensemble Theater did it the first time here in Arizona, they had been doing the production, I believe Chicago, or they were based there. And they were cast then, I think Ariella at the time was only 15. She's now 18. And again, I'm so lucky she has grown so much as an actress, even from the last time we did it.
PELA: So, what are young adults and teenagers taking away from seeing this story enacted on the stage?
WEISS: Well, we certainly hope that they are paying attention and of course, we want that, that adage never again to stick with them. As a matter of fact, Childsplay is known for our, what we call our talk backs after the show to further the learning of the production.
And that is the, the final thought that we leave the entire audience with is, you know, we say never again and that means for anyone, you know, no more genocides or destruction of ethnic groups or nations. And we want that to resonate with them above and beyond Jewish people above, and beyond the Holocaust.
PELA: There is a certain timeliness about this production.
WEISS: Extremely, extremely.
PELA: And I understand that the producers wanted to hire a Jewish director to helm this production.
WEISS: They did, which I think is very important for me. It's, it's a very important story for me to tell. And I am thrilled to be directing now at Childsplay. I've been an actor with the company. I started over 40 years ago and then I also took over their events and now to be directing with the company is amazing and this show in particular.
So I think it's important for the mere fact that we have grown up with the ideologies of never again, how can we prevent this every year? We have a not a celebration but a memorial of the about the Holocaust. And I, we try to represent it in various different ways.
You know, I know synagogues all over the world represented in different ways. We used to do things like count out 6 million grains of rice and have that in the lobby of the synagogue so that people can visually see that number 6 million because there's been no other genocide that has, that has wiped out that many human beings.
On a recent Friday morning, around 60 seventh and eighth graders gathered at Herberger Theater to watch "The Diary of Anne Frank." Afterward, there was a Q&A with the actors. One student wondered what it was like to act out such a heavy story. Here’s D. Scott Withers, who plays Mr. Van Daan.
"As an actor, you have to put yourself in the shoes, just like you said, so that’s probably the most difficult part emotionally, is imagining yourself going through the same situation," Withers said. "And also just realizing that this isn’t over, you know, this kind of thing happens still today, is happening currently, in our world."
The students also had an opportunity to speak with Dirk Van Leenen, who was 5 years old when his family was taken to a concentration camp.
"My father was arrested, and tortured, for five days, so bad that he was laying on a puddle of blood and messed up totally when my mother went to come clean him up and to bring him fresh clothes," Van Leenen said. "And I remember seeing that and I was crying all the time."
One student asked if Van Leenen could relate to the play.
"Very much so. Because a lot of scenes in it reminded me of my scenes in my life. The hunger, the being silent, the fighting among each other, and also the threat that the soldiers would come find us," Van Leenen said.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Debora K. Stevens and Jon Gentry's names.
