Milford’s Second Street Players bring a haunting drama to the stage next weekend with their production of The Diary of Anne Frank.
Since it was first published in 1947, The Diary of Anne Frank has seen tens of millions of copies published in more than 70 languages, as well as a stage version that was itself the genesis of an Oscar-winning film.
Second Street Players’ production presents an update of the play released in 2016. Director Marge Ventura says the new version adds in some content removed by Anne Frank’s father, Otto, in the original.
“He took away a lot of the animosity between Anne and her mother, he took out a lot of the blooming sexuality of a teenage girl," she says. "And he also kind of minimized a lot of what was happening with the war. This play puts all of that into it.”
Ventura says she was drawn to direct the show because she worries people are forgetting about Anne Frank’s harrowing experiences.
“They don't remember," she says. "I don't know whether they don't want to know about the Holocaust and what went on - are they not informed? Is it no longer being taught?”
Performances open Friday, January 30 at 7:00 and run that weekend and the next at the Second Street Players’ theatre in Milford.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
