Stockton Lincoln High school’s production put on a heartfelt performance of the Diary Of Anne Frank which brought tears to the eyes of many in the crowd. This show originally ran on Broadway in 1955 and was written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Lincoln’s students put on this show for 2 weeks at the end of September. This play was directed by the heads of the Drama department, Chris Shary and Chrissy Contino. The production captured the 20th century life-changing story, shedding light on the main character Anne, whose story of resilience continues to resonate deeply.
The show follows the journey of different Jewish families forced to hide during the time of the holocaust. The main family is the Frank’s containing Mr. Frank, the father played by Adam Vuong, Edith Frank, the mother played by Madison Gray, Margot Frank, the eldest sister, played by Lelia Cottin-Rack, and lastly, the main character Anne Frank, the youngest, played by Cate Conway-Brandt.
The show starts out with the Frank family coming to their new home, known as the attic. They start their new life in their hideout and are soon joined by another Jewish family, the Van Daans, who are played by Jacob Luis, Ryan Dahl, and Ry Grady. They soon realize they are going to have to get used to living in close quarters with each other under major restrictions. The families are again joined by another man named Mr Dussel, played by Jacob Donaldson. While spending over two years here, Anne and the Van Daans’ only son, Peter, start a teen romance. While the show continues, the actors begin showing just how much of a struggle it is to have to live with 9 people, small quarters and conditions that continue to get worse. All the actors are full of talent, producing raw emotion, leaving you to think about the show the rest of the night.
The costume designs were done by Drama teachers Mr. Shary and Ms. Contino. Through the costumes they accurately represent the 1940’s, which is when this event took place. The play also did a wonderful job when it came to showing the Jewish culture, with scenes in Hebrew (with help from Temple Israel in Stockton) which created very special and sentimental moments throughout the play. Too many small details such as music may not make a small difference, but when putting on the production of this play they had a wonderful idea to help offer a fresh balance to this story. While most of the sound design was purchased with the production rights, seven songs were written by the band Neutral Milk Hotel from the album The Aeroplane Over the Sea. The frontman of this band had just finished reading Anne’s diary and was moved by her spirit, using pieces of her story throughout the whole album. These songs show all the emotions that go into your youthful years and help to support modern perspectives of the world.
As someone a part of the Jewish religion this play has special meaning to me and has been one of my favorite shows I have seen. I found myself tearing up at certain moments or smiling thinking of the little bit of good they got to experience while in hiding. In the future you can expect many more amazing shows from our Drama department and keep checking for when they announce their next play of the year.
