'• Point Out Thai Diamonds Can Provide Him With An Obvious AcIvantage. • s. t'sk `Anne Frank' Used To Build Bridges Building bridges between African-American and Jewish students. The Diamond Tennis Bracelet. So versatile, you can wear it on the court or on the town. We will be happy to show him our wide variety. Vr ivartffa.1 Fine Jewelers t. ri//itt /it• r Est. 1919 / %/ 0 30400 Telegraph Rd. Suite 134, Bingham Farms • 642-5575 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.