Birmingham Village Players to perform ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’

BIRMINGHAM — The Birmingham Village Players will be putting on a production of “The Diary of Anne Frank” March 6-22.

“The Diary of Anne Frank” is a true story based on excerpts from the diary Anne Frank kept while her family was in hiding from the Nazis during World War II.

Anne is played by 13-year-old Josephine O’Reilly, from Grosse Pointe. This is O’Reilly’s first time performing with the Birmingham Village Players, but she experienced their shows several times as an audience member. O’Reilly has performed in theater productions since she was 9.

When she heard about the audition, she decided to learn more about Anne Frank and read her diary.

“I’m really glad the show came, because I feel like I learned so much,”  O’Reilly said.

O’Reilly said she loves the second act because the audience gets to see Anne grow as a person. However, there have been challenging aspects of performing this show.

“I have never done a show as serious and as important as this, and one of the things that I’ve been learning from some of my older cast members is how to deal with it on an emotional level,” O’Reilly said.

O’Reilly has had to find coping strategies to help come out of some of the more serious scenes. She said she does breathing exercises and tries to think of things to help her calm down when some scenes are over.

Anne’s father, Otto, is played by Joshua Harney, from Grand Blanc. This is the first time he has performed with the Birmingham Village Players; however, he has previously played Otto in “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

“Having done this play before as an adult with student actors, I recognize the weight of some of these scenes,” Harney said. “As kind of like a mentor to them onstage, I try and help them get out of that quicker, especially in the rehearsal process.”

In between scenes, O’Reilly said, the cast tries to break the tension.

“It’s an exhausting performance to do from start to finish because of the weight that it carries, but it’s extremely rewarding at the same time, because you are telling the story that needs to be told repeatedly to people,” Harney said.

The show will be staged at the Birmingham Village Players, 34660 Woodward Ave., Birmingham. Shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. All tickets are $30.

For more information, visit birminghamvillageplayers.com or call (248) 644-2075.