ECC Theatre presents 'The Diary of Anne Frank' Oct. 31-Nov. 16

Elgin Community College Theatre's fall production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" will be held from Friday, Oct. 31, through Sunday, Nov. 16. The play is based on "Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl" and has been newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman from the Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett play.

The production is directed by Susan A. Robinson, ECC Theatre instructor and program coordinator. Performances will be held at 7:30 p.m. Fridays, Oct. 31, Nov. 7 and 14; Saturdays, Nov. 1, 8 and 15; and 3 p.m. Sundays, Nov. 9 and 16 in the ECC Arts Center's SecondSpace Theatre located in Building H on the Spartan Drive campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin.

In 1942, as a result of the Nazi-occupation of Holland, 13-year-old Anne Frank and her family went into hiding in an attic of an office building in Amsterdam. For two years, the Franks and another Jewish family, the van Pels, stayed hidden within the "Secret Annex" before being betrayed to the SS. In this impassioned drama based on the diary she kept throughout those two years, Anne Frank emerges from history a living, lyrical, and intensely gifted young girl, who confronts her rapidly changing life and the increasing horror of her time with astonishing honesty, wit, and determination. Kesselman's gripping new adaptation (adapted from Goodrich and Hackett's Pulitzer Prize-winning play) incorporates newly discovered writings from Anne Frank's diary as well as Holocaust survivor accounts, creating a contemporary and impassioned story about the lives of those persecuted under Nazi rule.

Robinson says that the play is "about really ordinary people that we recognize and yet they're heroic at the same time. And so you have these really interesting characters that we can both relate to and also be in awe of by the end. At its core, it's about love. The older we get - we hear this all the time - it pretty much comes down to love. That's all we've got left in the end. That's the most important thing. This play reminds us of that."

To help ensure an accurate portrayal of both the history and culture presented in the play, Robinson reached out to Elgin synagogue Congregation Kneseth Israel upon her decision to produce "The Diary of Anne Frank." In addition to receiving guidance on the Jewish rituals and Hebrew pronunciation included in the play, the cast has heard a presentation from the descendant of a Holocaust survivor and will be visiting the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie this October.

This is Robinson's first production at ECC and she's been impressed by her cast of ECC students. "The cast is not only really talented, they are so committed to this project," she says. "They are climbing new heights as far as their work ethic, the research that they're doing outside of rehearsal, and their willingness to do even more work on this production because they know that it's not just a story that we're telling but that we have a responsibility to Anne, to tell her story in a way that makes a difference in the world. "

Asked what she would like audiences to take away from the production Robinson states, "The message of this play is urgent. It's not just a piece of history. It is something that we all need to be aware of. The idea that discrimination, hatred and fear can all lead to this is not something in the past, it's something that is happening today and we all need to take responsibility for that. This play is about the power of one voice. That one voice has spread her words, her diary, her story throughout the entire world. And that's the power of art. That's the power of one person speaking."

Tickets are $11 for adults and $9 for students and seniors. Tickets for all performances at the ECC Arts Center are available online at tickets.elgin.edu or at the ECC box office located in the Arts Center. Box office hours are noon to 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and noon to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday. To purchase tickets by phone, call (847) 622-0300. All major credit cards are accepted.

Visit elgin.edu/arts for more information about the ECC Arts Center, including video clips of upcoming artists and events, and links to the Arts Center's Twitter and Facebook pages.

"The Diary of Anne Frank" is presented through special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service Inc., New York.