PROVO — A “positive and hopefully inspiring look” at Anne Frank is being staged at BYU.
Through her articulate diary, the world knows Anne Frank’s story by heart. A “definitive” edition of her writings, restoring passages her father objected to when he edited the work, brought renewed interest in her literary achievement and an adaptation of the sentimentalized 56-year-old “The Diary of Anne Frank” stage play.
The original script “ends on a more positive note,” explained Greg Pyper, who as dramaturg assisted the director and researched the historical aspects of the play.
“The 1954 version was written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, the same writers who wrote the screenplay for ‘It’s a Wonderful Life,’ so it’s easy to see how it would have a more positive spin on the events of the diary,” Pyper said.
The writers were known for light comedy and musical screenplays, and “The Diary of Anne Frank” was the team’s only successful stage play.
Goodrich and Hackett consciously designed an idealized, overtly inspirational Anne and omitted mention of concentration camps and Nazi soldiers. With access to her complete writings, playwright Wendy Kesselman’s 1997 version has been hailed as “transcendently powerful.” The adaptation now includes Anne’s anger at her confinement, awareness of Germany’s mass extermination of Jews and muses on her maturity into womanhood.
“I had originally wanted to do that production,” director David Morgan said. BYU’s press release announcing the play stated the newer script would be used until the error was spotted.
“While the new script is more true to the events, I think what is dealt with would be difficult for audiences in the area.”
Morgan added, “We want to present a positive and hopefully inspiring look at the story of Anne Frank.”
“The Diary of Anne Frank” was presented by Pioneer Theatre in March and, like other producers since the Kesselman version debuted, the company selected the adaptation “for artistic reasons,” said Kirsten Park, PTC director of marketing. “It is more authentic because it draws from the whole diary, not the expurgated version, and we feel it is just a more well-written play.”
She added, “The diary that this (recent) script draws from is read by children around the country and in Utah.”
“Anne emerged as a symbol of hope during the tragic events,” Morgan said. “You can’t reiterate enough how important the events of the Holocaust are.”
“To me, the truth about the Holocaust seems to lie between horror and hope,” Pyper said. “Anne’s story finds a balance somewhere between those two. We know the horror of what happened to her, but her diary gives us hope for who she was and what she has come to stand for.”
The director noted his efforts to “show more reality in how tight the annex was for the eight people and how they had to live with each other in the tiny space.”
To further the authenticity, film footage and archival photography, obtained from the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., will be projected to the sides of the set.
“The cast has worked very hard with accurate dialects, while still making the presentation understandable to the audience,” Morgan said.
In conjunction with the production, ticketed Holocaust-related workshops will be conducted prior to the four matinees.
If you go:
What: “The Diary of Anne Frank”
Where: BYU’s Pardoe Theatre
When: May 25 through June 11
How much: $12 for evening shows and $6 for matinees, with discounts available with a BYU or student ID, for senior citizens and BYU alumni.
Phone: 801-422-4322
Blair Howell is a writer and editor.