Left:

Director Patricia Ansuini
(left) provides stage
direction to cast members
Cassandra McCarthy
(center) and Maureen
Dorrington (Mrs. Frank).

Below:

Cast members Cassandra
McCarthy (left) as Margot
Frank and Julie Van Dusen
as Anne Frank
rehearse a scene.

Opposite Page

Left:
Julie Van Dusen and
Daniel Kahn
(Peter Van Daan) prepare
for opening night of
The Diary of Anne Frank.

Right:

JET Artistic Director
Evelyn Orbach
(Mrs. Van Daan) and actor
Robert Grossman
(Mr. Van Daan) share a
tender moment.

covered in a sheet of ice and
then having all the emotions
and feelings seep out."
Ansuini employs discussion
among cast members in the di-
rectorial projects she under-
takes in addition to her full-time
work as a stage manager.
"Through discussion, we
have a common base from
which to launch our process,"
explained Ansuini, who cur-
rently is stage managing the
comedy whodunit Shear Mad-
ness at the Gem.
"The Anne Frank play is his-
torically accurate in that it's
about these eight people se-
questered in Amsterdam, but
the play itself takes quite a few
theatrical liberties with the
facts.
"During our discussions, we
found that there was no way to
talk about this event of the
Holocaust without experienc-
ing great emotion, and we in-
tend to depict human life as it
unfolded in their hiding place,
showing all the emotions they

experienced during any given
day."
Ansuini, who has done a
staged reading for JET, has
been an actress and director for
local theaters and is helping to
initiate a new program for her
alma mater, Wayne State Uni-
versity. She is the first teach-
ing mentor for those seeking a
master of fine arts degree in
stage management.
"I think that non-Jews work-
ing with plays like this one can
bring the insistence that none
of this information ever be hid-
den," she said. "Sharing a com-
mon responsibility for that helps
prevent another Holocaust."

❑

e Previews run Nov. 15-18

and The Diary of Anne Frank
opens its regular run Nov. 19-
Dec. 17 at the Maple- Drake
Jewish Community Center.
The curtain goes up at 8 p.m.
Wednesdays, Thursdays and
Saturdays and at 2 and 7 p.m.
Sundays. For information, call
(810) 788-2900.