The Diary of Anne Frank
By Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett
Newly Adapted by Beth Terranova
Directed by Beth Terranova
With Terry Averill, Bryan Barrett, Nick Beschen, Mary Cecere, Carter MacLeod, Mary MacLeod, Lesley Miller, Theresa Riffle, Gerald Riley, Eric Schaum

In this transcendently powerful new adaptation by Wedny Kesselman, Anne Frank merges from history a living, lyrical, intensely gifted young girl, who confronts her rapidly changing life and the increasing horror of her time with astonishing honest, wit, and determination. An impassioned drama about the libes of eight people hiding from the Nazis in a concealed storage attic, The Diary of Anne Frank captures the claustrophobic realities of their daily existence - their fear, their hope, their laughter, their grief.

Director’s Notes

When I first entered Anne Frank’s world via her iconic work of courage and hope, The Diary of A Young Girl, I was just about the same age as the young writer – and her words resonated deeply and immediately. It was amazing to me that someone in the face of such harrowing circumstances could maintain such a life-affirming perspective. Anne Frank became my hero and role model and … I wanted everyone to know her story! So when I was asked to direct this production of The Diary of Anne Frank, I could not say yes fast enough - for the chance to bring to life a gifted writer gone too soon; to share the words of a young woman wise beyond her years…

What is it about Anne Frank’s words that are so compelling? In Time Magazine’s retrospective on the most important people of the 20th Century, essayist Roger Rosenblatt speaks for me: “Anne…wrote in an early [diary] entry, ‘I hope that you will be a great support and comfort to me.’ She had no idea how widely that support and comfort would extend…In her diary she showed the world not only how fine a person she was, but also how necessary it is to come to terms with one's own moral being, even - perhaps especially - when the context is horror. The diary suggests that the story of oneself is all that we have, and that it is worth a life to get it right.”

Anne Frank surely did get it right. At one point, as if by premonition, Anne writes: "I want to be useful or give pleasure to people around me who yet don't really know me. I want to go on living even after my death!" With the best selling diary in the world – over 25 million copies – I think Anne has achieved her goal. In directing this production of The Diary of Anne Frank, I have made a step in achieving mine.

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