Welcome to Bethel University and BU Theatre’s presentation of The Diary of Anne Frank; we are so honored that you chose to spend a couple of hours with us! Our students have been working hard in preparation for this performance, and I’m excited for this opportunity to share their work with you.
In 1942, Anne Frank was just thirteen years old. She was a child filled with hopes, ideas, frustrations, and dreams like most kids her age. Anne had a best friend and a cat, and she enjoyed reading and watching movies. Anne wasn’t a monster or a criminal, and she wasn’t socially or politically disruptive… yet she and her family were forced to hide for their lives. Anne’s world was ripped apart by men and women who thought they could play God, whose arrogance was unleashed in the brazen and blatant denial of her basic humanity.
The story of Anne Frank can feel very heavy and be difficult to process. As we went through our preparations for the show, I kept asking myself “Why does this family’s story matter so much and what makes it so poignant?” This question kept bothering me until I realized that this family is not some exciting, remarkable, or noteworthy family -they’re just people. Their tale is not one of heroic deeds or epic journeys, it is one of dreadful senselessness. It is a cautionary tale, for what happens when we begin to remove the dignity and humanity of others in gratification of our own fears, suspicions, and ambitions.
Anne was an intelligent girl, and a good writer. She wrote carefully in her diary throughout those years in the annex, hoping to publish it as a book someday after the war ended. Now we have the privilege of telling Anne’s story -the story she never got to share while she was alive. I invite you to join us now in the hiding place, to share some of the daily joys, tedium, and fears, and help us to restore some humanity to these complicated, contentious, loving, normal people.
Josh Maurer
Director, The Diary of Anne Frank
Dear beloved audience member,
First and foremost, thank you so much for coming, I hope that this story deeply impacts you. The Diary of Anne Frank, dramatized by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hacket in 1952, is the story of the life of Anne Frank and of the lives of those in hiding with her. The diary that Anne kept from June 1942 to August 1944 reveals her thoughts and feelings on being a young Jewish girl coming of age during the Holocaust. We see the day-to-day lives of people trying to create some sense of normalcy in the face of dire circumstances. Simply put: they were people, living. Through this play we are privileged to imagine what that might have looked like.
May we continue to see the humanity in all people; this is a story that shows us what can happen if we forget it. Let Anne’s words serve as a springboard for further thought and contemplation in all of us.
With love and gratitude,
Emma Greenfield
Dramaturg, The Diary of Anne Frank
