Theater Department Announces Spring Play

Wright’s Theater Department will be producing The Diary of Anne Frank for the spring play next semester and will hold auditions on Jan.13.

The Diary of Anne Frank follows the story of two Jewish families who are hiding from Nazis during World War II. The play originally premiered on Broadway in 1955 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1956.

 Acting and speech professor Kristen Williams will be directing the show. Williams said The Diary of Anne Frank is a timely show to produce with what is going on with immigration and ICE. “Remembering what happened during World War II and seeing the similarities and the parallels of what’s going on today in our society and learning from our mistakes, this would be the perfect time to kind of bring this play to life, seeing as where we are in our society right now,” Williams said.

Williams said, “It’s very historical so we’re living a history lesson by doing this play. It also is one of the very first plays I saw as a child so it was kind of nostalgic as well, like circling back to when I was like 10 years old and I first saw it and I was so affected by it.” 

Williams added, “A few years ago I was able to go to the house where Anne Frank and her family lived and it was just so chilling and just such an experience that the fact that I can actually bring this play to life after being there was kind of an exciting idea as well.”

Theater professor Patrick Ham, the tech manager, also talked about how timely it will be producing this play. “It was pretty powerful, thinking about what’s happening in popular culture today, what’s happening within politics today, I think the similarities are undeniable.”

Ham discussed some of the technical challenges of producing the play. “We have to create this lofted area where essentially two families plus some extra people were living. It takes place over a factory and so they couldn’t run the water, they couldn’t use the bathroom, they didn’t walk around, they had to be silent as possible when the workers were above them so that way no one would expect they were above them.”

“Figuring out how to fit that space on our stage will be the biggest technical challenge, lighting and sound are not too much, I think it’s just coordinating what the space is gonna look like so we can give that feeling of them being not only confined but confined in a small space,” Ham said.

Williams said for those interested in auditioning to come prepared with a one minute monologue but if you don't have a monologue there will be sides to read from the play.

Williams added, “We are encouraging anybody that’s interested to come on out and try it ‘cause we always have a great time.”

Wright’s Theater will produce Diary of Anne Frank in the spring. Photo Credit: Kyle Chmielowski.