The Diary of Anne Frank: A Play

The Diary of Anne Frank

• Genre: Play
• Originally Published: 2000 (adaptation)
• Reading Level/Interest: Grades 7-10
• Structure/Length: Two acts; 70 pages
• Protagonist and Central Conflict: Anne Frank was a 13-year-old Jewish girl living in Amsterdam in 1942 when the rising threat of Hitler and the Holocaust forced her to go into hiding with her family. The play is based on Anne’s real-life diary chronicling her experiences, hardships, and coming-of-age in a cramped space with seven other people for two and a half years.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: The Holocaust; descriptions of violence, suffering, and death; antisemitism; puberty and sexuality

Goodrich, Frances and Albert Hackett, Playwrights

• Bio: Both Frances Goodrich (1890-1984) and Albert Hackett (1900-1995) began their careers as actors and met while performing together in 1927. They began their 34-year partnership when they collaborated on their first play Up Pops the Devil, which was a Broadway hit in 1930. The following year, they married. Goodrich and Hackett are best known as screenwriters, as they spent most of their career working in Hollywood, and primarily for their musicals and comedies.  
• Other Works: Theatre: Up Pops the Devil (1930); Bridal Wise (1932); Western Union Please (1939); The Great Big Doorstep (1942); Film (highlights): Up Pops the Devil (1931); The Thin Man (1934), Naughty Marietta (1935); Rose Marie (1936); Thanks for the Memory (1938); Another Thin Man (1939); Lady in the Dark (1944), The Hitler Gang (1944); The Virginian (1946); It’s a Wonderful Life (1946); The Pirate (1948); Summer Holiday (1948); Easter Parade (1948), Father of the Bride (1950), Give a Girl a Break (1954); Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954); Five Finger Exercise (1962)
• Awards: For The Diary of Anne Frank (1955): a Pulitzer Prize for Drama (1956), the Tony Award for Best Play (1956), and the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award (1956); four Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay (1934, 1936, 1950, and 1955); four Writers Guild of America awards (1949, 1951, 1954, and 1959)

Wendy Kesselman, Adapter

• Bio: Wendy Kesselman (1940- ), American playwright, composer, and screenwriter, started out as a children’s book author and began her career as a playwright with Becca (1977), a play for young audiences. Childhood remains a significant theme in Kesselman’s plays, as she explores generational clashes, cultural identity, and the oppression of women and girls. She frequently draws inspiration from historical figures and events.
• Other Works: Theatre: Becca (1977); Maggie Magalita (1980); My Sister in this House (1981); Merry-Go-Round (1981); I Love You, I Love You Not (1987); The Juniper Tree: A Tragic Household Tale (1983); Cinderella in a Mirror (1987); The Griffin and the Minor Cannon (1988); A Tale of Two Cities (1992); The Burcher’s Daughter (1993); The Last Bridge (2002); The Notebook (2003); Film: Sister My Sister (1995); I Love You, I Love You Not (1996); Mad or In Love (2000); A Separate Peace (2004)
• Awards: Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (1980); Playbill Award (1980); Guggenheim fellowship (1982); Ford Foundation grant (1982); McKnight Fellowship (1985); Jane Chambers Playwriting Award (1991); American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Popular Award (1992); New England Theatre Conference Major Award for outstanding creative achievement in the American Theatre (1997); Tony Award nomination, Best Revival of a Play for The Diary of Anne Frank (1998)

CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:

• Waiting and the Passage of Time
• The World Outside the Annex
• Good and Evil in Human Nature

STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:

• Develop an understanding of the Holocaust as the historical and cultural context that shapes the play.
• Study paired texts and other brief resources to make connections via the play’s themes of Waiting and the Passage of Time, The World Outside the Annex, and Good and Evil in Human Nature.
• Research, interpret, and design visual media that convey the play’s historical context for a theoretical audience.
• Analyze and evaluate the narrative as a product of Anne’s point of view as interpreted by others to draw conclusions in structured essay responses regarding the construction of the world of the play and its characters.