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Building bridges between African-American and Jewish students.
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1
DAVID ZEMAN STAFF WRITER
N
akia Thomas sat trans-
fixed during the Jewish
Ensemble Theatre's per-
formance of The Diary of
Anne Frank. But one question
kept nagging.
"In order to put on this play,
do you have to be Jewish?" Nakia
asked the actors afterward. It
was a question that had loomed
large in her mind, this notion of
art and its relevance to her own
life. As an African-American stu-
dent at the Detroit High School
for the Fine and Performing Arts,
Nakia has given a lot of thought
to the parallels between her own
heritage and that of a young Jew-
ish girl in Amsterdam.
"The Holocaust relates to the
slave trade," said Nakia, 16, who
had read the diary in class. 'Peo-
ple were taken away from places
that they called home and were
stripped of all they had."
It was a connection echoed by
several of her classmates after
the Anne Frank performance
Monday at the Jewish Commu-
nity Center in West Bloomfield.
Nakia's school was one of two pre-
dominantly African-American
high schools in attendance. Stu-
dents from Northern High School
in Detroit and West Bloomfield
High also viewed the perfor-
mance.
Organizers said the event is
just one small way to help teens
repair the once-strong bond be-
tween blacks and Jews, a bond
that has sadly frayed in recent
years.
David Gad-Harf, executive di-
rector of the Jewish C )mmunity
Council, a co-sponsor of the per-
formance, said more cross-cul-
tural exchanges are planned.
"We don't just want Detroit
students to learn more about
Jews and Israel," Gad-Harf said.
"We also want to subject Jewish
students to learning more about
the African-American experi-
ence."
Whatever lessons the play im-
parted, students from the subur-
ban and city schools had no real
opportunity to interact.
For the most part, the West
Bloomfield students sat on one
side of the small theater and the
Detroit students on the other. At
several points in the production,
students and teachers from the
West Bloomfield group "shushed"
the reactions of Detroit students
to the drama.
In a question-and-answer ses-
sion afterward, the suburban stu-
dents said little. The Detroit
students were more voluble, say-
ing they found much to admire
in Anne Frank's per Eiptive but
headstrong character. "She al-
ways had a lot to say, and she
was not afraid to say what she
thought," one female student
said.
"I don't like to be told what to
do," chimed another student. "I
like to have a voice in what I do."
Another student noted that
while the characters in the dra-
ma often drove each other to dis-
traction, "they always do
something to keep each other up
and to keep each other's spirits
alive."
The drama sparked a lively de-
bate among the students about
whether a work of art about a mi-
nority group can be successfully
interpreted by someone who is
not part of that group.
The issue gained prominence
a few years ago when film direc-
tor Spike Lee declared that only
an African-American was quali-
fied to direct a movie about Mal-
colm X.
The Detroit students were of
two minds. On the one hand, said
Serena Rodgers, 15, the most
compelling drama concerns mat-
ters that an artist experiences
firsthand, "what comes from the
heart," she said.
On the other hand, Frenae
Smith, also 15, said the tale of
Anne Frank is the story of op-
pressed people everywhere.
"What happened to the Jews af-
fects everyone," she said.
Which brought the students
back to Nakia Thomas' question,
asked of actress Evelyn Orbach,
who played a central character
in the play.
"Do you have to be Jewish to
put on Anne Frank?" the student
asked. "No," said the actress.
"No." ❑
Actress Cassandra McCarthy (far right), who plays Anne Frank's sister, Margot, chats with high-school drama students.