EMMAUS, Pa. — In preparation for her starring role in the fall play, Emmaus High School senior Dylan Dueh has read and re-read the diary entries of Anne Frank, whom she describes as “fiery” and “intelligent.”
“I just love her so much,” Dueh, 17, said of Frank, the Jewish teenager who famously chronicled her family’s two years of hiding during the Holocaust.
“I get that – wanting to be bigger than yourself."Dylan Dueh, Emmaus High senior and star of "The Diary of Anne Frank" play
Frank was captured by the Nazis and ultimately died of typhus in 1945 while being held in a concentration camp — becoming one of 6 million Jews murdered during the genocide.
Though Frank died at 15, her words have lived on for decades in the published version of her diary, fulfilling her dream of becoming a published author.
“I get that — wanting to be bigger than yourself,” Dueh said. “She really wanted to be [a famous writer] and just share with the world, and I thought that’s really inspiring.”
Emmaus’ theater department has brought Frank’s work to the stage with its production of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which opened Thursday, Nov. 6.
The show will run again at 7 p.m. today, Nov. 7, and at the same time Saturday in Emmaus High School’s auditorium.
Tickets, at $14 for adults and $12 for students and senior citizens, can be purchased online or at the door.
The play consists of vignettes depicting the events Frank wrote about in her diary.
They're from the time period when she and her family were hiding from the Nazis in a secret annex in Amsterdam with four other people.
Throughout the run of the play, Emmaus’ theater department will raise funds for The Anne Frank Center USA, an organization dedicated to honoring Frank’s legacy and preventing bigotry through education.
‘These are real people’
Jill Kuebler, Emmaus’ theater director, said the 73 students in the cast and crew of “The Diary of Anne Frank” took a “research-based approach” to the production.
Since September, they have delved into the history of the Holocaust, World War II and the real people who inspired the characters portrayed in the play.
“First and foremost, the education piece had to be in place if we were to produce this show with any amount of integrity,” Kuebler said.
Students read Frank’s diary and watched the 1995 documentary, “Anne Frank Remembered.”
They also visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
“That was an incredible experience,” said senior Charles Kenney, 17, who plays Frank's father, Otto Frank. “I’m so thankful that I got to go to that. It’s beyond words.”
At the museum, students received a passport photo of a person who either lived through the Holocaust or was killed. They learned about the person’s life and whether he or she survived.
“You can’t think about death as a statistic,” Kenney said. “These are real people, and every single one of them deserves their own individual respect.”
Artifacts prompt students to consider nuance
The Holocaust Resource Center of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley brought in artifacts to show students, too.
Some items belonged to a German Jewish family. Among those was an authentic yellow star, a badge worn by Jews in Nazi Germany to identify them.
“Jews were really not only segregated but dehumanized,” Holocaust Resource Center Coordinator Shari Spark said.
Other items, such as a Nazi party membership book, belonged to a non-Jewish, German family.
Spark said she was slightly encouraged that the booklet appeared to show that the owner didn’t attend any party meetings.
“A lot of people were compelled to join the party just because it could be dangerous not to support the party,” she said.
Kenney said the resource center’s artifacts helped him realize nuance is necessary when it comes to understanding the people living under Nazi rule.
“There were many, many people in Germany who loved everyone and were simply caught in the fire,” he said.
‘You can’t just walk away’
Spark also showed students political posters and cartoons from the Holocaust that promoted Nazi party leader Adolf Hitler and demonized Jews.
“In my head, I always think, ‘How could these seemingly normal people just become these monsters overnight?’” said senior Persia Mullay, 18, who plays Mrs. Van Dann in the play.
The character of Van Dann is based on Auguste van Pels, the real-life mother of the other family that hid alongside the Franks.
Mullay said seeing the propaganda from the resource center made her understand how people’s realities could be skewed by disinformation.
Spark said she also spoke with students about the importance of being an “upstander,” someone who speaks up when they see others being mistreated or attacked.
“You can’t just walk away,” Spark said. “Even in Anne Frank’s life, there were people that helped them [hide].”
In preparation for the play, students also learned about the experience of local Holocaust survivor Michele Willner Levy, 86, who came to Emmaus High School to share her and her family’s story.
Levy’s parents fled Germany for safety in France during the Holocaust. She and her mother hid from the Nazis while her father fought with the French Resistance.
Levy’s grandparents died in a concentration camp.
“It’s one of those experiences that you cannot put into words,” Kenney said of Levy’s talk.
“This is a person who has lived through something that I’ve only learned about.”
Students hope play has impact
Throughout their research and rehearsal process, students were guided by Rabbi Rebecca Einstein Schorr, Jewish cultural consultant and dramaturg, who provided them with both historical context and emotional support.
She made sure students understood the religious significance of Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday that’s celebrated during a scene in the play, and helped students with their pronunciation of Hebrew words.
She also made sure the yellow stars and Nazi insignia on the students’ costumes were affixed in historically accurate ways.
Additionally, Schorr said she checked in with students on their mental health throughout rehearsals because of the “heavy” nature of the play’s content.
“For all of the cast members, this is the first time they have really had to confront what anti-Jewish hate is and its oppressive nature and how it really drags you down,” Schorr said.
Making connections to today
Schorr said Jews aren’t the only people who experience hate, though.
“One of the things about this show is that it simultaneously is very universal, as well as particularistic,” she said.
“I think it provides more of an impact than people just reading you facts."Persia Mullay, Emmaus High senior who plays Mrs. Van Dann in "The Diary of Anne Frank"
“The Diary of Anne Frank" ultimately highlights the tragedy that unfolds when people are dehumanized and othered to the point that “you can drag them out of their beds, toss them into a cattle car and send them to their death, and nobody says anything,” Schorr said.
Mullay said she hopes Emmaus’ play gives audience members an emotional tie to the real people who endured the horrors of the Holocaust.
“I think it provides more of an impact than people just reading you facts,” she said.
Kenney said learning about the Holocaust for the play has helped him make connections to society today.
“I do think that there are some cases where we have learned from history and we’ve done really well,” he said.
“There are other cases where sometimes we forget.”
