by Bill Rogers

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK TO BE AT MIDDFEST INTERNATIONAL 

Award-winning actor/director Christine Brunner is bringing a professional production of the stage play The Diary of Anne Frank to Middfest International which features The Netherlands, where Anne Frank and her family were hidden by a sympathetic Dutch family during World War II.

Christine has chosen a newer version of the play The Diary of Anne Frank, adapted by Wendy Kesselman, which appeared on Broadway in 1997 with Natalie Portman in the title role.  The play is less romanticized and contains fewer sentimentalized moments, and more raw, intense, and moving emotional scenes. The New York Daily News critic wrote,  “The new DIARY is chillingly honest about the Holocaust.  Wendy Kesselman’s work has restored the terror.”  

In addition to performing the fully produced 90 minute show (no intermission)  three times at Middfest International’s celebration of the Netherlands on October 5, 6 and 7 at the Middletown Exhibition Center, the show will also appear at:

Open Dress Rehearsal – 9/16 - TBA

Kettering Adventist Church – 9/22 – 8 pm

Fairfield Community Art Center – 9/23 – 2 pm

Dayton Jewish Community Center – 10/17  1 pm, and 7 pm

Miami University Middletown Fantastic Free Fridays – 10/19 - TBA

The show includes an accompanying study guide, available in September free for groups and classes.  The cast and crew will appear immediately following each production for a discussion period.   

This show is recommended for 7^th grade audiences and up, and for adults of all ages who will be astonished at the perseverance of heart and goodness that one young heroine showed during one of the most inhumane, unimaginable and darkest times in our world’s history.  The show includes dark images, references to female puberty, and disturbing moments of Anne and her family being captured by the Nazis, as well as a description about the conditions of the prisoners in the concentration camps. 

Christine sees this play as a living representation of all the heroes and victims of the Holocaust.  Anne Frank’s dairy is one of hundreds, if not thousands, of diaries kept by Jews in hiding, and also serves to celebrate the memory of those who were willing to risk their lives and safety to protect them. 

The cast are all professional actors who will perform with a portable stage setting reminiscent of the pages in a book using many moveable box shapes to represent the different scenes.

Director                      Christine Brunner (Middletown)

Anne Frank                Sarah Gomes (Dayton)

Otto Frank                  John-Michael Lander (Dayton)

Mrs. Frank                  Melinda Bogner (Cincinnati)

Margot Frank             Jennifer Shaw (Dayton)

Mr. Van Daan            Walt Kuhlman (Cincinnati)

Mrs. Van Daan          Jill Evans (Kettering)

Peter Van Daan        Philip Smyth (Dayton)

Mr. Dussel                  Ron Weber (Springfield)

Miep Gies                  Helen Raymond (Cincinnati)  also is set designer

Mr. Kraler                   Benjamin Kroger (Mason)

Asst to the Director   Alexis Curtis (Middletown). 

Carpenter:                  Tom Pressler (Middletown)

Set Engineer:            John Newby (Middletown)

Scenic Painter:          Gretchen LeHigh (Findley, OH)

Sound Designer:       Jay Brunner (Middletown)

Props Master:            Jimmy Mallas (Dayton)

Booking Manager:    Shirley Butts (Middletown)

Christine Brunner (Director) is a veteran actor on stage and screen and director in both the Cincinnati and Dayton communities.  She is a member of the Theatre Department faculty at Miami University. Christine has appeared in commercials and print ads for  P&G, Western-Southern Life, Babies-R-Us, Wendy’s, Dayton Daily News, LensCrafters, HH Gregg, and many others, including a Glad Steam-In Bags commercial that is appearing nationally. 

She has appears on the Discovery Channel program, “The New Detectives,” Ovation Theatre’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Miami University Summer Stock in Joseph…Dreamcoat, The Fourth Wall, And the World Goes ‘Round, with Cincinnati Children’s Theatre’s production of Annie and many others.  Her work has been recognized with many of the most prestigious awards.

The production is funded through grants from the Middletown Community Foundation’s C.W. Fondersmith Trust, the David A and Carole R Schul Fund and the Laura Lou Neuenswander Fund. Also sponsored, in part, by the Ohio Arts Council and the Cincinnati Fine Arts Fund.

For specific show times and locations, visit the www.MiddfestInternational.org website or call 513-425-7707.