Victory Day, May 9, is not just to celebrate but also to remember the tragedies of World War II.
Foreign students, mostly young Americans, from Kiev Christian Academy School Drama Club will present the staging of “The Diary of Anne Frank,” the story of the Dutch Jewish teenager who wrote letters to her imaginary friends telling her about the lives of all who lived with them in a hideout from 1941 to 1944. The diary was translated to 60 world languages and converted into drama. She died at age 15 in a Nazi concentration camp, days before it was liberated by British troops.
About a dozen teenagers gather near the stage in coats with Stars of David attached to their clothes, nervous to have the unusual visitors at the rehearsal. “This is supposed to be the home they hide in, to create an impression of an attic, because they were known to hide in the attic,” says Karen Springs, school drama teacher and play director. “We want it to be very real,” she says.
Their premier night is already scheduled for May 9 at 7 p.m., with two more coming on May 10 and 11 at the same time. Posters are printed and guests are invited, mostly relatives and friends.
But strangers are welcome as well for Hr 30. “Oh I think it would be even easier to act in front of strangers, you don’t hear the familiar laughs at the funny parts and don’t have to worry about the reaction,” says Mary McDonnel, who’s got the main part in the play – Anne Frank. She’s been living in Ukraine for 15 years, with her parents being American Christian Missioners to Kyiv. McDonnel is a 10th grade student at Kiev Christian Academy, a school where children of American, Korean and European Christian missioners, diplomats and business people study, and this is her second play at school.
Springs says she’s been here for some 8 years staging the school’s plays and this one appears to be one of the most complicated in terms of emotions.
“For me honestly the romantic part is the hardest, because I have never had a boyfriend… and it’s like having a boyfriend but it is all fake,” McDonnel says, slightly blushing and turning her pretty face away. Her secret plan is to become a nurse and an actress in the future, but it seems like not many people yet know about that. “I had students in the past that have gone on, I have maybe three students that are studying theater now,” she said.
Springs says the performances have always gone well, but the actors as well as herself are still nervous each time. Andrew Babb, 18, says he is nervous before every performance, but that is a good sign. His long blond hair is hidden under his hat, helping him to act as Anne Frank’s father, Otto. Babb says this role is just right for him.
The play itself isn’t so much about fun, but rather horrors. Barbara Leary, a school counselor and mother of an actor, says the date is a coincidence. “We usually have only two nights, but this time we scheduled three, because (the actors) put in so much work in this play,” she says.
Kyiv Post staff writer Daryna Shevchenko can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter at @Iskrynka.
