New ‘Diary Of Anne Frank’ Stage Production Reimagined With Immigration Narrative
Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett’s play The Diary of Anne Frank is getting a timely retooling. Director Stan Zimmerman is helming a new version of the play that will change the narrative from the Nazis’ hunting down and oppression of Jewish people to a story about Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents hunting down illegal immigrants.
The reimagined play is set to run for a limited three-week run at the Dorie Theatre in Los Angeles starting Sept. 6. The original follows Frank as she chronicles her Jewish family hiding during the WWII Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The new production from Pop-Up Playhouse and Anne Kathryn Parma is inspired by a true story of a Jewish woman in Los Angeles who created a safe house for a Latina mother and her two daughters after her husband was deported by ICE.
Zimmerman is a former writer from the original Roseanne run — not the revival because that would be a little awkward considering Roseanne Barr’s recent controversies. Nonetheless, the cast includes Genesis Ochoa as the titular Anne Frank as well as Keith Coogan (Adventures in Babysitting), Tasha Dixon (Miss Arizona USA), David Gurrola (Insecure), Heather Olt (The Middle), Raquenel (My Life is a Telenovela), Robert C. Raicch (Are We There Yet?), Teddi Shaffer (The Open Book), Raymond Abel Tomas, and Emiliano Torres (Shooter).
The original play was based on Anne Frank’s book The Diary of a Young Girl and premiered in 1955. It was later adapted into a film in 1959 which earned Shelley Winters an Academy Award. The play was then revived in 1997 with a new adaptation by Wendy Kesselman. It went on to receive two Tony Award nominations for Best Revival of a Play and for Best featured actress for Linda Lavin.
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