'Anne Frank' is still timely, hopeful

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Sep 28, 2007 | by Pat Reavy Deseret Morning News

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK, through Oct. 6, Babcock Theatre, University of Utah; 581-7100 or www.kingtix.com, running time: two hours (one intermission)

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the first printing of "The Diary of Anne Frank," one of the most widely read books in the world. The first edition of the book was simply titled, "The Diary of a Young Girl."

Frank's story of hiding with her family for two years at the top of her father's business in Amsterdam is one of the most infamous stories from the Holocaust. Anne has come to symbolize the egregious atrocities that occurred to millions of Jews in Europe who were sent to Nazi death camps during World War II. Frank died at the age of 15 sometime in early 1945 of typhus after she and her sister Margot were shipped from Auschwitz to Bergen-Belsen. She died less than a month before the concentration camp was liberated.

The University of Utah theater department is retelling the story of Anne's years in hiding in the "secret annex," accessible only by a stairway hidden behind a bookcase. Katherine Kurtzweil plays the bubbly Anne who keeps the detailed diary of her life from 1942 to 1944 while living there with her mother, father, sister and four family friends.

During the day, the group had to remain as quiet as possible to avoid being detected. At night, they could move and talk a little more freely. But it was far from easy to live in tight quarters for two years with little food or money and under the constant stress of fearing discovery. Zachary Scott plays the level-headed Otto Frank who is the glue trying to keep everyone from going crazy and getting on each others' nerves.

The play looks at not only the hardships that Anne and her family suffer, but lighter moments, and how the group attempts to carry on as normal a life as possible while in hiding. Like a typical teenage girl, Anne still has thoughts of becoming a movie star. These are also the years that Anne goes from being a girl to a woman and writes candidly in her diary of her own spring awakening.

Although the flow of the play is choppy at times, the message the young actors in this college production are trying to convey can't be criticized: that even after 60 years, the world still needs to be reminded that prejudice and hatred cannot be tolerated. And despite "ethnic cleansings" and other unimaginable crimes of mankind, there is still hope.

As Anne wrote in her diary, "I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart."

Sensitivity rating: some minor swearing, some discussion of sexuality.

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com