Friday, November 19th at 8:00 pm (Main Performance)
Free School time performance at 10:30 am
Tickets: $39/$35, school performance is free.
Barter Theatre, “The Diary of Anne Frank”
by Frances Goodrich and
Albert Hackett and
edited by Otto Frank
Her words have kept her spirit alive in the minds and hearts of readers all over the world. Relive the remarkable life of Anne Frank as she shares with you her hopes, dreams and observations on family, love and life in this Barter Theatre production. Caught in a world of hate, this young Jewish girl has become an icon of light for all who dare to dream.
Biography of the Author
Anneliese Marie Frank, known to the world as Anne Frank, was born June 12, 1929, in Frankfurt, Germany. She moved with her family to Amsterdam, Holland in 1934, after her family fled Germany during the Nazi occupation. Her family included her father Otto, her mother Edith, and her older sister Margot. A lively child, Anne enjoyed going to school 
and writing. In Amsterdam, she first attended traditional school; however, because of anti-Jewish laws, she switched to a segregated school and began to wear a yellow star on her clothing to identify herself as a Jew when she was out on the street. Nazis, who wanted to take over Europe, not just Germany, occupied Amsterdam in 1939. To avoid being sent to concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Poland, Anne’s father found a hiding place for the family at 263 Prinsengracht Street. A diary that she received on her thirteenth birthday and named “Kitty” helped Anne to adjust to the small space and isolation. Although the Frank family was hopeful that Europe would be liberated by peacekeepers so they could leave their hiding place, they were discovered and turned in before that happened. After almost two years in hiding, the family was broken up and sent to different camp’s mother starved to death in Auschwitz. Anne, along with her sister, died of typhus in Bergen-Belsen, just weeks before the camp was liberated by British soldiers. Only Mr. Frank survived the war. Miep Gies, who had helped to hide the family, gave Anne’s father the diary she had put aside when Frank’s hideout was raided. Mr. Frank in turn shared the diary with the world. The diary has been translated into many languages. The play was first produced in New York City in 1955 and has since appeared around the world. Movies, graphic depictions and other creative works have been inspired by the diary. The spirit of Anne Frank will live forever.
Biography of the Playwrights
Creative partners, who were also married, Frances Goodrich (1899-1984) and Albert Hackett (1900-1995) wrote comedies and musicals for Hollywood for many years. Several of their movies, including The Thin Man, were nominated for an Academy Award. When Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl was published,they became interested in the story of Anne Frank and wanted to bring it to life in the theatre. They worked together to create a play that would be true to the spirit of Anne Frank. In addition to adapting the diary to dramatize the action, they included words from the diary in scenes with the voice of Anne. They got to know Anne by meeting with her father and visiting the hideout. After winning a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for The Diary of Anne Frank, they wrote a screenplay for a movie that was nominated for an academy award in 1959.
Time Period
The play is set during World War II, with scenes spanning 1942-1945. The root of World War II goes back to 1933, when Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and later given dictatorial powers by the German government. In his first year as dictator, Hitler’s followers, known as Nazis, opened the first concentration camp in Germany and began to build others in order to separate Jews from other citizens.
Within ten years of becoming leader of Germany, Hitler would cause great damage. Early on, many laws were passed that allowed him to persecute those he deemed as not “pure” Germans. During Hitler’s rule, ghettos and concentration camps in Europe became stepping stones to the killing centers of the death camps. Even before the camps and ghettos, Jews prohibited from holding many jobs and from exercising privileges such as owning a radio. Before Hitler was finished, six million Jews would besystematically targeted in a state-sponsored program that enslaved and killed people. Along with Jews, homeless people, alcoholics, Gypsies, the handicapped, the unemployed, and other people with lifestyles not condoned by Hitler were sent to the camps. Hitler’s desire for power in part led to World War II, which normally began when Germany invaded Poland September 1, 1939. By September 3, Britain and France were at war with Germany. Before the war would end, it would involve Australia, New Zealand, Canada,the United States, South Africa, Japan, Italy, and France. The plight of people persecuted by Hitler did not fully become known around the world until the end of the war in 1945. Millions perished. Otto Frank, Anne’s father, survived the Holocaust, and shared his daughter’s diary with the world to celebrate the life of one young person who fell victim to the horrors of the Holocaust.
source: Sunrise Theatre Marketing
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