Anne Frank’s Story Touches Fans

Photo Credit / Professor Yoshinori Tanokura

By Krstyn Paltjon
SC Staff Writer

The ESU Theatre Department presented “The Diary of Anne Frank” on October 18-20. “The Diary of Anne Frank” is originally a play by Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett and is based off of the book Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

The play was directed by Margaret Joyce Ball, who is also a Theatre professor at ESU. The setting of the play took place in the top floors of the annex to an office building in Amsterdam, where Anne and seven others had lived during the Holocaust.

“The Diary of Anne Frank” acts out the events that had taken place during the Holocaust through Anne’s eyes. Anne’s diary is sacred to her and throughout the play you can see how protective she is over it, shutting down anyone who asks if they could take a look.

The performance was absolutely breathtaking. The actors portrayed their characters so well, from the way their characters had acted on a daily basis to the way that they looked.

The actors brought their characters to life, and you could feel their change of emotions and hear the worry in their voices. Although this was a terrifying moment in Anne’s life, she always managed to have a positive outlook.

Shannon Christmann, who played Anne Frank, did a wonderful job at acting out Anne’s joyful and cheerful personality.

The stage was done beautifully, and you were able to get a feel of how crammed they all must have felt when living there together. Although the annex had two floors, it was very small.
Anne and the seven others were around one another twenty-four seven considering if they had left the annex at any time, they were in high risk of getting caught, so it was no surprise that they would get annoyed with one another at times.

It was interesting to see how the play unraveled and as the play came to an end, you could hear the sniffling of the audience.

Unfortunately, Anne’s father was the only one to make it out alive. Anne and the others were sent to different concentration camps from one another. Anne’s father, Otto Frank, was given Anne’s diary shortly after the Holocaust had come to an end.

“The Diary of Anne Frank” opened the eyes of those who may have not known what was happening throughout this horrific time.

“The Diary of Anne Frank” was done wonderfully, and each actor should give himself a round of applause. I strongly suggest anyone to go out and support the ESU Theatre Department, because you won’t be let down.

Email Kristyn at:
kdp6653@live.esu.edu