Pima Community College Theatre Arts will stage “The Diary of Anne Frank” by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, April 11-21.
In 1943 Holland, 13-year-old Anne Frank and her family were forced into hiding to escape deportation to concentration camps by the Nazis. During two years in hiding in a cramped annex above her father’s office, which the family shared with four others, Anne recorded her thoughts, feelings and the events around her in her now-famous diary. After the hidden Jews were arrested, Miep Gies, the woman who had supplied them with food, found Anne’s diary in the annex. Anne’s father, Otto, the sole surviving member of the Frank family, published the diary in 1947. It became a best- seller after it was adapted for stage and performed throughout the world. The play premiered on Broadway in 1955, and won the Pulitzer Prize, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and the Tony Award for best play in 1956.
“I was surprised that students knew so little about the Holocaust and World War II,” says Nancy Davis Booth, director of the PCC production. “It is critical for each generation to know the story and to tell it over and over, for it is in the telling that we remember that which we must never forget. Anne was one small light that extinguished the darkness.”
Booth is collaborating with Rabbi Stephanie Aaron of Congregation Chaverim on Jewish traditions and rituals dramatized in the play. The PCC performances commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day 2013. An open dialogue with the audience, cast and director will follow every performance. ASL interpreters will be present at the April 18 performance.
Performances will be held Thursday-Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the PCC Center for the Arts Black Box Theatre, West Campus, 2202 W. Anklam Road. Tickets are $15 with discounts available for students, seniors and groups. Contact the box office at 206-6986 or visit www.pima.edu/cfa.
