The Diary of Anne Frank at Theatre Three

First published in the Times Beacon Record Newspapers.

Seldom have I spent a more emotionally draining evening in the theater. Seldom have I looked forward more to the respite of intermission, or waited more anxiously for the two minute warning indicating that the second half was about to begin.

My evening’s companion (my ten-year-old son) buried his face in my shoulder, threw his arms around me and demanded to be taken home immediately no less than six times in the first act alone. The second act, with its increasing aura of menace was worse – and better. When it was over (he managed to run out to the boy’s room and miss the one brief kissing scene) he reported that it was scary, and sad, and that he was glad that I had persuaded him to stay until the end.

Everyone knows the story is sad, however, profound stories can be poorly told, stripped of their passion or made melodramatic and sentimental. The wonderful ensemble cast at Theatre Three hit no false notes. At the end, I was crying into my son’s hair and trying to be silent about it when I noticed that there were sniffles and muffled sobs in front of me, behind me, to my left and to my right. When the lights came up I saw men and women of all ages throughout the theater wiping away the tears they’d been unable to keep from crying.

What is it that makes an audience react so viscerally to a play?

Begin with the set, which creates the atmosphere for the suspension of disbelief and the immersion into the story. Randall Parsons’ set gave us the illusion of crawling into the secret annex, creating a space large enough not to impede the actors, but cramped enough for the audience to appreciate the smallness of the living space.

Next, the compelling, realistic atmosphere created by the lighting (Russ Behrens) and sound (Dan Moses Schrier) and costumes (Brent Erlanson & Bonnie Vidal). The performance begins with the stage darkened and the voice of a young woman. It is Anne and she is talking about the preparations her family is making for going into hiding. She is full of the innocence of youth that allows her to regard the entire thing as a big adventure. This technique brings us up to the present, when the lights go on and the Frank family enters the secret annex for the first time. The voice-over ends and Anna is still chattering on – skipping about the small space, overturning both her parent’s tightly wound emotional control and her physical surroundings.

Talented young Rebecca Miller brings Anne to life as a real teenager. This version of the play has restored the moments of annoyance, the flashes of anger, the testing and the self-doubt of the teen years. We see how Anne adores her father (brought to life brilliantly by Brent Erlanson), squabbles with her mother (wonderfully, humanly portrayed by Lois Goelz) and alternately admires and despairs of her older sister (serenely interpreted by Chakira Iliana).

The other members of the group hiding out together add their own very realistic spices to this pressure cooker. Marci Bing brings Mrs. Van Daan’s petulance to the surface, then, just before we decide we don’t like her attitude or the way she’s flirting with Anne’s father, shows us her deeper familial affections. The scene near the end of the second act where she is comforting her husband (Patrick M. Gerrity seesawing realistically between hope, annoyance, fear and heroism) after his individual failure of self has been discovered is a moving expression of the depth and layering that make up the bedrock of a long-term committed marriage.

Richard Ezra Zekaria as Peter Van Daan, age 16 when we first meet him, has captured the essence of the shy, tortured adolescent. He gives us a Peter full of bravado who rips off his yellow star in the sanctuary of their hiding place, but who is completely befuddled by 12 year old Anna’s larger-than-life spirit, insatiable curiosity and budding womanhood.

Mr. Dussel, as brought to curmudgeonly, put-upon life wonderfully by Stephen Doone, brings the number of people living in that tiny space to eight.

And then there’s Miep; the other hero of our story. Lisanne Marie Pessini brings a spark of insouciance and joie de vivre to a part that is often played far too somberly. Here is a bright young woman who simply cannot believe that her country has come to this, and truly believes that she is only doing what must be done. Along with Mr. Kraler (Ron Indelicato, who does a great job of portraying the stolid Ditch citizen; loyal, hard working and honest), she hides and feeds the annex dwellers. Delivering them not only the food they require but also the news from the world they need to sustain themselves. Her genuine affection for Anne shows in tiny relaxations of her standard formality and impulsive embraces.

Because this production of a complex and moving drama is brought so compellingly to life by the actor’s teamwork and artistry, the audience is completely immersed in the events unfolding on the stage. Although we all know how the story will end, the quality of this production allows the audience to hope throughout that somehow, this time, the ending will be different, happier, better. It is that talent that caused my son to try to crawl into my lap and hide at the play’s moment of crisis, that caused the entire audience (which had been completely silent throughout – no candy wrappers, no pagers, no whispering, nothing but rapt attention) to burst into communal tears.

As a result, there was a period of silence between when the moment the play ended and when the applause began. It took a while for the audience to gather themselves together, wipe their eyes, come back to the present and stand up to show their appreciation. In that silence I hope the audience conveyed to the actors the enormity of what they had given us all evening.

Call Theatre Three at 631-928-9100 for tickets and show times and go see this play which runs through February 9^th.