Lights, Camera, Action! On Friday, February 16, and Saturday, February 17, the SES high school drama club performed Anne Frank and Me under the direction of Mr. Anderson.
The play begins in 1997 and follows the story of Nicole Burns (Mara Mondt). Nicole is a typical high school girl and is only concerned with two things: learning a hip-hop routine for a school dance with her two friends Mimi (Isabelle Christensen) and Suzanne (Addison Gottschalk), and getting noticed by the boy of her dreams, Jack Polin (Luke Obermeyer). Being obsessed in her own little world, Nicole barely has time to think about anything else, especially reading The Diary of Anne Frank, which Nicole’s English teacher, Mrs. Zooms (Sherida Johnson), assigned for her English class. And why would Nicole even want to read the diary anyway? With her dad telling her that the Holocaust didn’t happen and students in her English class arguing whether Anne Frank was even a real person or not, Nicole doesn’t know what to think about the Holocaust and is too concerned with her personal drama to care.
At the dance, Nicole, Mimi, and Suzanne perform their hip-hop routine that they had prepared. After their routine, Jack asks Nicole to take a walk with him. Thinking that Jack is finally going to tell her that he likes her, Nicole is thrilled and takes a walk with him. On the walk, Jack confesses that he actually likes Nicole’s friend, Suzanne. Nicole is appalled and hurt by Jack’s confession. Wanting to get away quickly, Nicole tries to walk home, but she almost gets hit by a car and has to be taken to the hospital.
After almost being hit by a car, Nicole is transported back in time to Paris, France, 1942. When Nicole first wakes up, she is really confused. Instead of being in her house in 1997, Nicole wakes up in a strange Paris apartment in 1942 surrounded by her principal, (Alex Christensen) who says he’s her father, Mrs. Zooms, who says she’s Nicole’s mother, and her actual sister, Little Bit (Kipra Reed). On top of all that, her “parents” tell Nicole that she is a French Jew living during WWII. Nicole, realizing she is dreaming, tries to wake up out of her strange dream, but after she finds out that she is dating Jacques, who Nicole believes to be Jack from her real life, she is content with staying in her dream for as long as possible.
As Nicole settles into her new life in 1942, she starts to forget her memories about her real life in the future. Because of this, Nicole doesn’t remember details about WWII or any facts from the little bit she read of The Diary of Anne Frank to help her get through her life during the war. Over the next two years, Nicole and her family live through the war relying on food from Nicole’s best friend, Mimi, who is also Jacques’ sister. Although Mimi and Jacques’ older brother works for the French police, they continue to bring extra food to Nicole’s family and help them as much as they can.
As the war progresses, Nicole and her family learn that Nicole’s father has joined the resistance, an organization of Jews who make efforts to stop the Nazis. Although Nicole is proud of her father for standing up to the Nazis, she is scared for his safety and even more scared that her father might accidentally injure Jacques’ police officer brother, jeopardizing Nicole and Jacques’ relationship. Nicole’s father being in the resistance also puts a target on the backs of Nicole’s family. Because of this, Nicole’s father sets up a secret attic for Nicole, Little Bit, and Nicole’s mother to hide in if the need for it arises. One night the special code, meaning that the family needs to go into hiding, is given to Nicole by her former friend from school, David (Austin Hanson), who is also part of the resistance. After that, Nicole and her family run away to hide in the secret attic.
For months, Nicole, Little Bit, and their mother hide in the attic receiving occasional visits from Nicole’s father and Mimi bringing them food and information on the war. During one of these visits, Mimi informs Nicole and her family that the resistance bombed a Nazi meeting and Mimi’s brother died in the bombing. Because of this, Jacques wants revenge on Nicole and her family, so he informs the Nazis about their hiding place. Mimi tells them to run, but she is too late. The Nazis show up and arrest Nicole and her family and kill Mimi on the spot.
After being arrested, Nicole and her family are put on a train taking them to a concentration camp. On the train, Nicole meets Anne Frank (Kennedy Stumpf). Seeing Anne makes Nicole remember facts about Anne Frank’s life that she read in Anne’s diary in a different life. When the train stops, Nicole, her family, and everyone else on the train are taken to a gas chamber where they end up dying.
After being gassed to death, Nicole wakes up out of her dream to learn that she was almost hit by a car and has been in a coma. Nicole tries to tell her family and friends about the life she lived in her dream during the war and meeting Anne Frank, but no one believes her. The play concludes with Nicole realizing that even though no one believes her dream, she was a witness to the Holocaust and it was a real event.
Overall, Anne Frank and Me was a very good play that conveyed a strong message about the events of the Holocaust and the people who doubt it existed. Lots of hard work and dedication went into the production of this play and it came together nicely.