Pre-matinee workshops will help teens understand issues surrounding the play
Brigham Young University’s Department of Theatre and Media Arts’ 2010-2011 season will conclude with “The Diary of Anne Frank” Wednesday, May 25 through Saturday, June 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the Pardoe Theatre. Additional matinee performances will be available June 2, 4, 10 and 11 at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $12 for evening shows and $6 for matinees and are available at the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-4322, byuarts.com/tickets. Discounts are available with a BYU or student ID, for senior citizens and BYU alumni. There will be no performances on Sundays or Mondays.
Based on the book “Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl,” the play is an award-winning dramatization of the famous journals kept by young Anne Frank, a Jewish girl in Amsterdam hiding from the Nazi regime during WWII. Anne’s true story is one of dreams, fears, hunger, anger and the nobility of the human spirit.
According to dramaturg Greg Pyper, “The play does not ask its audience to try and grapple with the suffering of a whole people [who were persecuted] simply because of their race. It seeks rather to relay the message of hope.”
Pyper believes it is important to ask ourselves the hard questions about the Holocaust and to contemplate the suffering of the Jews.
“But I also believe that it’s okay if we find hope or motivation by the stories of people who in some way or other stood up to oppression and who are great examples of human bravery. We hope in some way that this show does both,” he said.
The play by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett is directed by David Morgan. The production staff also includes Shanti Rose, production stage manager; Eric Fielding, scenic designer; Marianne Ohran, lighting designer; Mary Jane Wadley, costume designer; Doug Olsen, sound designer; and Jocelyn Chatman, makeup and hair designer.
In conjunction with the performance, the Department of Theatre Arts is sponsoring four pre-show workshops to be held prior to each of the four matinees for the play in the north Pardoe Theatre lobby at 12:30 p.m. Designed by BYU faculty member Julia Ashworth and students in her applied theatre course, each workshop will allow parents and children, recommended to be 12 years and older, to understand the issues raised in the classic story recorded by Anne Frank in her diary.
Participants should register online at byuarts.com or contact the Fine Arts Ticket Office, (801) 422-4322, for more information on registration. There will be time for participants to eat their own lunches or visit the food court in the Wilkinson Student Center at 1:30 p.m. before the matinee performances begins at 2 p.m. Tickets for the play will be sold separately from the workshops.
For more information, visit byuarts.com or contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348, ken_crossley@byu.edu.
Writer: Mel Gardner
