DISTRICT NEWS & PR |
A play that's tough on the tear ducts
November 12, 2009
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Scott Cousins
Collinsville Herald
November 12, 2009 |
'Diary of Anne Frank' planned at Collinsville High
Mary Denton wants to make people weep.
It might be easy for her, because she will be playing the lead role in "The Diary of Anne Frank," this year's fall play at Collinsville High School.
"My goal is to try to make everybody cry in one scene," said Denton, a junior. "I'm talking about my friend, and how she's not alive. That scene's pretty deep."
Fine Arts teacher Rosemary Dodson said she chose the play in part because of the interest in the book.
"A lot of the kids read it in the middle school, so there is a lot of interest in the whole student body for the play," she said. "I know some of the classes study the Holocaust as well."
The play is an adaptation by Wendy Kesselman of the book "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl," the riveting real-life tale of a Jewish family holed up in an Amsterdam flat during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in World War II.
Dodson said the play modernizes the original diary.
"The language is a little bit more modern, the script is a bit shorter and there are a lot of voice-overs," she said. "It gives you a lot of vignettes of many scenes, so you get a good feel for the family dynamics."
Performances are at 7 p.m. Nov. 12-14 in the High School Fine Arts Auditorium.
The play, with a running time of about two hours, takes place on two levels on the stage, with most of the action on the first level.
"You have to have a tight space, because you want to see that they're around each other, and they don't have room," she said. "I wanted the set to be their safe haven, but it's a cage because they can't get out."
The cast and crew held their first technical rehearsal on Monday. Dodson said things went well "considering I have so many people I haven't worked with before."
"Out of the cast of the 10 major people in the cast, I've only worked with five of them," she said.
She said there are several freshman in major roles, and they are getting used to being on-stage.
"I think it's going to be a good show, and it's a production I think people will relate to," Dodson said.
Denton, the lead, said she thought the subject matter was very interesting.
"I'm one who has always been interested in the Holocaust, so I was very excited when I got the part," Denton said.
A challenge, she said, is that her character has to show a wide range of emotions. But getting into the proper frame of mind for the play was relatively easy.
"I just think of the worst situation in my life that I could have been in, and it helps me get sad," she said.
"It's easy to deal with it, because luckily I'm really not dying," Denton added. "But the first time I read the script I did cry. It's very depressing, but it's a widely-known story, and it's important for everybody to see it."
Dodson also emphasized that the subject matter is bleak.
"It's not going to be a happy ending."
The production includes about 40 students.
Major roles include: Denton as Anne Frank; junior Brett Gude as Peter Van Daan; freshman Dallas Feltman as Otto Frank; freshman Jennifer Priddy as Edith Frank; senior Brandon Szakacsi as Mr. Van Daan; freshman Alexis Arnold as Mrs. Van Daan; junior Estevan Luna as Mr. Dussel; junior Michael Skasick as Mr. Kraler; and sophomore Anissa Williams as Miep.
Also onstage are Sami Bloodworth, Jacob Callahan, Derrick Lee, Nathan Arnold, Jamie Toth, Aimee Foehrkolb, Sydney Krenbiel, Alexis Brown, Sam McDuffy and Daphene McClusky.
If you go
"The Diary of Anne Frank"
7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday
Collinsville High School Fine Arts Auditorium, 2201 S. Morrison Ave.
$5
For more information, call 346-6320.
For more pictures posted by the Collinsville Herald:
http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2009/11/12/madison/special_feature/1111cvj-frankplay.txt
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