February 2010

Dear Subscriber: 

We were proud to be able to bring two new shows to our stages last month in their first release after their New York productions. Both The 39 Steps and [title of show] brought great joy, invention and hilarity to audiences in January, helping to make winter tolerable. Next on the Mainstage, we are so pleased to be able to stage The Diary of Anne Frank for the first time in our history. This will be the first major production of Wendy Kesselman’s new adaptation of the play which she has labeled “the definitive edition.” Based on Anne Frank’s remarkable writing in her diary, the play reminds us of the humanity and hardships encountered by eight people hiding in a building annex in Amsterdam during what is certainly one of the worst moments in our world’s history.

As you may have recently read, Miep Gies, who was instrumental in taking care of the people in the annex, passed away at the age of 100. She didn’t see herself as a hero, but simply as someone who was doing the right thing. The world-wide coverage of Miep’s death reminds us all of the power and importance of Anne’s diary. It is one of the most widely read works of non-fiction in the world. Anne’s writing tells the very personal stories of the people in the annex. She writes of their quirks, their attitudes, their ways of coping with being in hiding. The diary contains moments of hilarity as well as harrowing descriptions of the outside world in Amsterdam. It is deeply personal and written by a young girl whose promise as a writer is evident on every page. The world lost a great artist in her death, but her legacy continues to inspire people around the world. Without Miep, who kept the diary and gave it to Otto Frank on his return from being a prisoner, the world would never know this powerful story.

Anne Frank began writing a diary on her 13th birthday, shortly after she and her family fled their home following her sister Margot’s call to report to a Nazi work camp—a call which meant almost certain death. Upon entering their hiding place in the annex of Otto Frank’s business, Anne began recording the daily events and struggles of her new home as well as her own thoughts and concerns about life as a young lady. Her diary was a way to pass long hours of crucial silence and an outlet for her girlish cares, but there was much more to Anne’s writing legacy. Short stories, essays and fairy tales in five notebooks and more than 300 loose pages in Anne’s hand survived the war and illustrate the young girl’s ambitions to be a writer, a craft she took seriously and intended to pursue. “I know I can write,” she recorded in her diary, “a couple of my stories are good. My descriptions of the ‘Secret Annex’ are humorous, there’s a lot in my diary that speaks—but whether I have real talent remains to be seen.” 

After Anne’s death and the war’s end, her father made sure that talent was seen. The only survivor of the Frank family, Otto Frank returned to Amsterdam after the war and Miep returned Anne’s writing to him. Moved by Anne’s repeated mentions about becoming an author, he immediately sought a way to have it printed. First published in 1947 as The Diary of a Young Girl and eventually translated into nearly 70 languages, Anne’s story was an instant phenomenon, presenting a vivid, personal account of a tragedy too enormous for easy comprehension. Told in the words of a young teenager, Anne’s writing was accessible to all and now is often young people’s first exposure to the true events of what the Nazis were doing to Jews as well as other ethnic groups. It is also, however, one young girl’s diary of fears about life, hopes for her future and troubles with relationships—small realities which make her words even more poignant, more real.

In 1955, Anne’s diary was adapted for the stage by the husband-wife writing team of Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. The play was warmly received, winning a Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as the 1956 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play. A moving drama and representation of events in the secret annex, the Hacketts’ adaptation has nonetheless been criticized for making Anne a more universal character, and thus losing much of her Jewish heritage. Their version also focused on many of Anne’s positive, life-affirming moments, producing an uplifting play that was well suited to their 1950s audience. Today, however, we are bringing you a new adaptation, re-worked by Wendy Kesselman. In this version, Kesselman has restored much of Anne’s Jewish identity, and with it much of the reality of the horror in her situation. Aided by new-found writings that were withheld from original publications, Kesselman has provided us with a more fully realized Anne and thus a story that is more powerful than ever.

It is my great pleasure to direct an amazing cast led by Lauren Orkus as our Anne. Rep veteran John Rensenhouse (who you’ll remember as Captain Keller in last season’s hit The Miracle Worker) returns as her father with newcomers Ann Talman as Mrs. Frank and Webster student Maggie Wetzel as Anne’s sister, Margot. Joining the Franks in the annex are the van Daans played by Peggy Billo and Peter Van Wagner (Twelve Angry Men), with Webster student Andrew Stroud as their son Peter and Gary Wayne Barker (Twelve Angry Men) as Mr. Dussel. Friends and enemies on the outside are Jerry Vogel (The Miracle Worker) as Mr. Kraler, Maura Kidwell (Twelfth Night) as Miep Gies, and Cale Haupert and Webster students Carl Schneider and Jared Lotz as Nazi soldiers. 

I am pleased to welcome back a design team full of Rep favorites who can truly do justice to a story of this magnitude. Creating the complex annex is scenic designer John Ezell (The Miracle Worker) with Elizabeth Covey (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) designing the costumes. Rep resident sound designer Rusty Wandall helps to set the environment of the story and Phil Monat (Witness for the Prosecution) sets the mood with his lighting. 

Both John Ezell and I traveled to Amsterdam this past spring to see the Anne Frank House. It is well worth the visit. In this place, one can truly hear Anne as she speaks for millions with an honesty that puts a real face and soul to the horrors that were being visited upon many people for no reason whatsoever. When the Netherlands was occupied there were about 107,000 Jews living there, and after the war only about 5,000 remained. Those numbers tell a truly horrific story. Even in the midst of that terror, however, Anne’s diary reminds us of the possibilities that we all have, even though she didn’t live to see the extraordinary, lasting impact of her own writing. The strength and bravery of Miep Gies and others like her doing heroic work in the face of danger is a salute to all of those who risked everything because they knew what was going on was wrong.

Finally, I would like to take a moment to recognize another loss in our Rep family this season. In January, we suddenly and unexpectedly lost our longtime public relations manager, Brad Graham. Brad was not only a talented colleague and a passionate theatre lover, but also a wonderfully kind man and a beloved friend. His good humor, generous heart and booming laugh will be greatly missed by all of us here as well as his countless friends spread far and wide. 

We bring you a play this month that is inspiring and also worthy of family discussion. What Anne wrote and what Miep did are true stories that must continue to be told for all time.

See you at the theatre,

Steven Woolf
Artistic Director

P.S. For this month’s Talk Theatre lecture, we are partnering with the St. Louis Holocaust Museum to bring a Holocaust survivor as our special guest speaker. This is a rare opportunity and is not to be missed. For more information about the February 15, 7:30 p.m. lecture, call the box office at (314) 968-4925. Also, don’t forget that May 16 – 23 we will be holding our annual trip to London. It is sure to be great fun. Please call our Development office at (314) 968-7340 x 228 to find out full details.