Ethics and the Theater - The Diary of Anne Frank

As the Gestapo roamed Nazi-occupied Amsterdam, eight Jews hid in an attic for over two years, keeping silent during the days, coming to life in the evenings, trying to maintain some normalcy despite the constant fear of discovery. We know their story because it is recorded in the diary kept by one of them, the adolescent Anne Frank. Her journal, however, reveals more than the details of survival in unconscionable circumstances. It also, most affectingly and, ultimately tragically, shows Anne blossoming into a vital young woman and talented writer – a blossoming cut short before its full flowering by her death in a concentration camp. Goodrich and Hackett’s dramatization of the diary captivated both audiences and critics with its portrayal of human heroism as well as frailty, and its evocation of the resilience of the human spirit.