“When I write I shake off all my cares. But I want to achieve more than that. I want to be useful and bring enjoyment to all people, even those I’ve never met. I want to go on living even after my death.”

–Anne Frank

Off book, the cast of “The Diary of Anne Frank” has just wrapped up a Saturday afternoon rehearsal at Ukiah Players Theatre.

It’s the scene after the Hanukkah celebration in 1942, when Anne has distributed handmade gifts to fellow Jews living on the top floor, the Secret Annex in Amsterdam, hiding from the Gestapo during World War II. They hear someone downstairs and all go quiet, except for Peter, who inadvertently drops a pot, potentially alerting the thief below, putting all their lives at risk.

Director Jenny Peterman gives a few notes: “Mr. Dussel, your smallness is superlative; Mr. Frank, put your fountain pen back into your shirt pocket; Anne, tease Peter a bit more before you give him the book.”

Stage manager Tami Tripp reminds the cast to make sure their Jewish stars and armbands are off during a certain changing point and to keep the background chatter to a minimum during the dinner scene until Mr. Frank is done with his lines.

Anne’s father, Otto Frank, played by Reid Edelman, professor of theater arts at Mendocino College, is the only one who survives the fate of his family, those living in the annex and some 6,000,000 other European Jews in the early 1940s during Adolph Hitler’s ascension to power in World War II.

When Edelman was first offered the role, he wasn’t sure he wanted to inhabit the dark and destructive world described in 13-year-old Anne’s diary. Because of the caliber of the cast, he says, it has turned out to be other than a depressing experience.

“I feel it is an obligation to channel Otto Frank as truthfully as possible; he was a real person and an extremely heroic one at that. He’s not an extreme character and I play him as close to myself as possible; the challenge as an actor is to separate where I end and he begins. He’s the only one in his family who survives the story and the Holocaust and carries the burden of that and afterward, of learning how to go on.

“I’m Jewish and aware of the Holocaust; I was taught about it in Sunday school and have seen the disturbing images. This play not only represents an historical situation from the past but also events that are still happening today. Hopefully this will encourage audiences to think more deeply about current events.”

Dara Brown auditioned for the role of Petronella van Daan because she considers the play a teaching vehicle, particularly important at this time, in communicating how necessary it is to learn about and honor the people who experienced the Holocaust and to not forget that it happened. “We cannot repeat this,” she says.

Harvey Baumoel says acting the role of Mr. van Daan has been personal, opening him to a deeper understanding of his Jewish heritage. “I had relatives who I didn’t know who were killed in the Holocaust. Portraying this real character helps me realize what it must have been like to put on a coat with a yellow star, what it must have been like to be Jewish at that time.”

Crystal Cook plays Miep Gies, whose heroic efforts—risking her own life—enable the eight residents of the Secret Annex to live for more than two years, never leaving the tiny space they inhabit.

Having acted as Margo Frank in the original version of the play, Cook says the ending of Wendy Kesselman’s adaptation, the account that will be presented in Ukiah, is what really got to her. “It’s much more evocative, more emotional and more viscerally realistic.”

Randy Moore takes on the role of the elderly dentist, Albert Dussel—vulnerable, odd and eccentric—who lives in the cramped quarters as Anne’s roommate. “This role, this play, becomes a duty because of the story. As a middle school teacher, I am teaching the play to my students at the same time as I am performing in it. I used to not teach it because it was such an emotional downer, but now it has become an eye opener for me in terms of how unaware my students are about the Holocaust and the events of World War II.”

He says the new adaptation is tighter, better written and moves more quickly, eliminating a great deal of the pontificating that was in the original version and making it more accessible for youth.

Peterman adds that Kesselman’s reworked script humanizes history more fully, taking the audience into a personal place in an engaging manner. “It’s more along the lines of the way young people are viewing media today, more scintillating, quicker paced, more honest, inviting them to experience it more personally.”

Jesse Timm, a first-year student at Mendocino College, plays Peter, the van Daan’s quiet, reclusive son, who finds solace in his cat and eventually in a relationship with Anne.

“Much of the information about the Holocaust that is presented in school today is about statistics with no photos, no graphics.

“Being able to act in this play on stage and presenting it to our peers gives it a whole new level of importance for me, demonstrating that there are personalities and lives behind those numbers. It was an age ago, but it’s still relevant today and it’s totally real, not fictionalized.

“The play helps us to connect with the Holocaust experience—not just push it away—and to think about and discuss it so it will never happen again.”

Ariella Heise, a freshman at Ukiah High, plays Anne Frank; she has read the diary and is familiar with the story. Being the same age, she says she is able to relate to the character, that she has experienced the same personal things in her life—arguments with her mother, relationships with friends, needing to have a presence—that Anne writes about.

“I have been exposed to this information; it is part of my culture, and I’ve never felt afraid of it. A lot of the process for me is about how others are dealing with the information. Reactions from cast members about their own characters specifically, and the Holocaust in general, have helped me to develop my character and be better able to express that to the audience and to the community.

“What I find interesting to think about is if her diary had never been found, would we, especially young people, have such a strong relationship with the Holocaust.

“How could someone my age have gone through what she experienced?” she says.

Susie Slinkert, a junior at Ukiah High, plays Margot Frank, Anne’s older and more reserved sister. “This whole experience has been extremely humbling for me; I had previously been intentionally blocked off from it. With little previous education and understanding, I was unable to have compassion for this kind of thing.

“During the rehearsal process, I find myself feeling like it’s real and I am terrified of it—this particular situation and the Holocaust. It’s hard to walk into the theater, jump into character and setting, return home and not feel anything but compassion. I feel like a changed person.”

This production has been a directorial collaboration between Peterman and former UPT actor and director Al Kaplan, who directed the first UPT production of “Anne Frank” in 1990. He spent early rehearsals with this cast, working on historical setting and character development.

Peterman says thoughtfully, “This is unlike the family musical productions I’ve directed; it’s sobering, haunting and beautiful, breaks your heart, and continues to break your heart in a very real way, all these years afterward.

(Stacey Sheldon, playing the role of Edith Frank, was unavailable for the interview.)

The Diary of Anne Frank will be performed at Ukiah Players Theatre, 1041 Low Gap Road, Feb. 19 through March 15; Thursdays at 7 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the UPT Box Office, 707-462-9226; Mendocino Book Company; and online at ukiahplayerstheatre.org.