Play tells true story of family in hiding during Holocaust

'The Diary of Anne Frank' includes actual slides of Anne and her family.
By L. CROW
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
ALLIANCE -- Carnation City Players will present the first show of their fall season, "The Diary of Anne Frank," and Chelsea Farthing is thrilled and honored to be playing the lead role. Farthing, 18, of Alliance, has had an interest in the Holocaust since seventh grade.
"We had to do a book report on World War II," she said. "I wasn't a big reader at the time, so I picked up the first book I saw. It was 'Night' by Eli Weisel, who was a concentration camp survivor. Then I really got involved in researching the Holocaust. I read tons of books and articles, watched movies and TV shows, and talked with two concentration camp survivors. One was Eva Schloss, and the other is my grandfather's friend, who survived Auschwitz. [Schloss is Anne's stepsister.] The thing I learned by reading and talking to people is that life is precious, and not to take things for granted. I cried when I found out I got the part in the play."
The cast
Farthing said her favorite thing about being in the play is working with the cast. "This is a play that won't be good unless you can mesh with the cast," she said. "It is about family members living together, and we are onstage the whole time. It is a pretty incredible experience."
The "family" consists of Mr. and Mrs. Frank, Anne and her sister Margot. They are hiding out in the upstairs of an office building, a business owned by the Franks. In addition, Mr. and Mrs. van Daan and their son Peter are also there, later joined by Mr. Dussel. They are being protected by two of Mr. Frank's non-Jewish employees Miep Gies and Mr. Krahler. Four German soldiers complete the cast.
"They went into hiding in 1942," said Farthing. "Anne is a vivacious, dynamic 13-year-old at the time. In the three years she is in hiding, she matures, goes through puberty and falls in love with Peter. He is very shy, reserved. He doesn't get along with his parents and doesn't like Anne at first."
Peter is played by Michael Ritzert, with whom Farthing has worked in many other plays. Anne's older sister, Margot, is played by Chelsea Shillig, who is actually younger than Farthing and one of her best friends.
Farthing describes her character as very proper and reserved -- one who never says anything out of place.
Herb Crum, drama director at Louisville High School, is directing this play for the third time.
Universal message
"This is an important play that needs to be done on a regular basis," he said. "It says a lot at several different levels. It is a story about a Jewish girl, but there is a universal quality to it. Children of all races become innocent victims of war and are robbed of their youth. It is about the importance of life."
Crum said he wants to portray Anne as an ordinary girl. "She had a special literary quality, but she is also a normal, average child," he said. "I want to make her look like everybody's sister, daughter, friend -- not a genius. But she was special in her ability to create these lovely poetic lines."
At the beginning, the audience will see actual slides of Anne and her family. "We will have special lighting when the play begins to make it seem like a ghost play, everyone returning to tell their story, speaking to us from the grave," Crum said. "At the end, Mr. Frank again returns in a ghostlike setting to tell what happened to each of the characters."
In 1945, they were all captured and taken to a death camp, where everyone but Mr. Frank was killed.
Everything in the play was taken from Anne's diary.
"There are not many people still alive today who were part of this," said Crum. "So we must work to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive, to point a finger at it and say, 'never again.'"
Crum has been directing theater for 35 years. Farthing has been involved since fifth grade, when her mother dragged her to an audition, "kicking and screaming." But she said she fell in love with it and has done 30 shows since.