The Diary of Anne Frank

On April 13, 14, and 15, the Apollo Blue House Players presented the production of The Diary of Anne Frank. It was one of our larger plays and I dare say one of the best. A lot of time and effort went into this play. With auditions being held in November, there were many months spent on this production. Although it may seem like a long time, this was actually a shorter amount than we usually have to prepare. Even though it was shorter and we all freaked out, I think the amount of time was perfect in the end. Sure there could also be one more rehearsal but with the amount we had we didn't get sick of the play before we even performed. Sometimes rehearsing too long is worse. Actors get sick of the play and they don't put their best foot forward. A time limit puts a needed stress on the actors. It gets the adrenaline pumping and makes for a great show. 


Other than time, this play also differed from past plays. We actually had funding! Murry sponsored our show. They gave us money to build our set and provided our scripts for us. This lifted a huge burden off our shoulders. Without the funding we would not have been able to present this production. The set was required to be much more intricate than past sets. We couldn't do the typical high school classroom or any other typical high school based set. This set had to look like an annex. It had to look like people could actually survive in it for three years. And this set could not be a "one-story" set like most. There had to be definition in rooms. The Van Daans had to have a place upstairs, even if that place couldn't be seen. And Peter's room had to appear smaller than the others but still have enough room for two actors to be in it at a time. Anne's room had to be able to support a sofa plus another form of a bed. Not only were the bedrooms a hard task to complete, there were also things like the kitchen, the bookshelf, and the door. The kitchen had to look like it could actually function. There had to be a "stove" for Peter to burn his star. There had to be a bookshelf to hid the entrance to the annex and a door for the Nazis to break through at the end. This set was more complicated than anything we have ever encountered. Thanks to Murry and the talent of Mrs. Berry's husband and fellow students, our set was able to come together perfectly.


This play was probably the most nerve-wracking play I have ever done. I remember pacing back in forth during green room on opening night. (Green room is something we always do before a play. We all come together in the teacher's eating area and Mrs. Berry speaks a few words of encouragement, we sing Lean on Me, and it's on with the show.) This show had a lot of pressure for me personally. This was the first time I had ever played a lead role. All eyes would be on me. I was nervous and often hard on myself. I would get mad if I stumbled over a line or my fall didn't look real enough. But in the end I received a lot of compliments. I even had some people say that they were glad I died because I was annoying. I guess that means I was doing my job right. I was supposed to be an obnoxious teenage girl and that's how everyone saw me. I was very happy with my role and was pleased to know that I did it well. I really became my character in this play. I don't think I can say that about any other play. 


In the end, we had amazing performances despite the little screw ups. I don't think anyone will look back and regret doing this play. I admit I wasn't quite sure about this play at first, but looking back I'm glad we did it. It pushed us all to truly use the talent we have. Any one can pull off a play about high school. It takes talent to pull off a play about history.