Anne Frank-The Classroom Study Guide

Hackett t r e lb A and oodrich dy Kesselman G s e c n Wen

By Fra pted by a d a d ly New othy Bon im T y b Directed

CLASSROOM STUDY GUIDE SPONSORS:

2008 - 2009 EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH SPONSORS STUDENT MATINEE PROGRAM Playwrights Circle ($5,000 - $7,499) National Grid Directors Circle ($1,500 - $2,799) Grandma Brown Foundation Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation

CARRIER BACKSTORY PROGRAM Regents Circle ($7,500 - $13,999) Carrier Corporation Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship

Initiative, funded by the Kauffman Foundation Syracuse University GEAR-UP Playwrights Circle ($5,000 - $7,499) KARE Foundation Directors Circle ($1,500 - $2,799) Time Warner Cable Lockheed Martin Employees Federated Fund

LOCKHEED MARTIN PROJECT BLUEPRINT Regents Circle ($7,500 - $13,999) Lockheed Martin MS2

BANK OF AMERICA CHILDREN’S TOUR Founders Circle ($14,000 - $24,999) Bank of America Producers Circle ($2,800 - $4,999) Lockheed Martin Employees Federated Fund Directors Circle ($1,500 - $2,799) Wegmans Benefactors ($1,000 - $1,499) Excellus BlueCross BlueShield

CHASE YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL Founders Circle ($14,000 - $24,999) Chase

ARTS EMERGING Founders Circle ($14,000 - $24,999) Partnership for Better Education Regents Circle ($7,500 - $13,999) NYS Assembly through the office of William Magnarelli Directors Circle ($1,500 - $2,799) Bristol-Myers Squibb Company

2008 - 2009 Educational Outreach Corporate Sponsors Since 1849 National Grid and its predecessor companies have been part of the Syracuse community, helping to meet the energy needs of over two million Upstate New York customers. We are proud to contribute to the quality of life through the energy we deliver and through the many ways we give back to the communities we serve.

2008 - 2009 Syracuse Stage Season Sponsors

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK STUDY GUIDE CONTENTS Timothy Bond Producing Artistic Director Jeffrey Woodward Managing Director

__ 820 E. Genesee Street Syracuse, NY 13210 Artistic Office (315) 443 - 4008 Educational Outreach (315) 443 - 1150 (315) 442 - 7755 Box Office (315) 443 - 3275 Group Sales and Matinees (315) 443 - 9844 ___

4. Planning Your Visit 5. Theatre & Education 6. Elements of Theatre 7. General Questions 8. Production Information 9. Histiobiographic Timeline 10. The Real Story of Anne Frank 11. Inside the Annex 12. The Holocaust 13. About Educational Outreach © 2008 Syracuse Stage Educational Outreach Chief Editor Lauren Unbekant Edited by Nichole Gantshar and Adam Zurbruegg Design & Layout by Adam Zurbruegg Cover Design by Campdesign Cover Photo courtesy of Anne Frank Foundation / Anne Frank House

EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH AT SYRACUSE STAGE

www.syracusestage.org ___ Syracuse Stage is Central New York’s premiere professional theatre. Founded as a not-for-profit theatre in 1974, Stage has produced more than 220 plays in 34 seasons including numerous world and American premieres. Each season, upwards of 90,000 patrons enjoy an exciting mix of comedies, dramas and musicals featuring the finest professional theatre artists.

Stage attracts leading designers, directors, and performers from New York and across the country. These visiting artists are supported by a full-time and seasonal staff of artisans, technicians, and administrators.

Syracuse Stage is a member of The League of Resident Theatres (LORT,) Theatre Communications Group (TCG,) the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, the Arts & Cultural Leadership Alliance (ACLA,) the East Genesee Regent Association, and the Partnership for Better Education.

Syracuse Stage is committed to providing students with rich theatre experiences that connect to and reveal what it is to be human. Research shows that students who participate in or are exposed to the arts show higher academic achievement, stronger self-esteem, and an improved ability to plan and work toward a future goal.

Last season more than 35,000 students from 24 counties attended or participated in in-depth integrated arts partnerships with Syracuse Stage. For more information, call (315) 443-1150 or (315) 442-7755.

The Bank of America CHILDREN’S TOUR brings high-energy, interactive, and culturally diverse performances to elementary school audiences.

The Carrier BACKSTORY! Program brings history to life, as professional actors portray historical figures in classrooms and other venues.

Lockheed Martin PROJECT BLUEPRINT merges scientific discovery and the arts, as an actor portraying a scientist/mathematician introduces students to the connections between scientific discovery and the arts. artsEMERGING takes high school students on an in-depth exploration of a mainstage play using a multi-cultural, multi-arts lens.

The Chase YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL challenges high school students to submit original plays for a chance to see their work performed at Syracuse Stage.

Planning Your Visit Teachers! Please speak with your students about the role of the audience in watching a live performance. The following are some helpful suggestions and guidelines to make the day more enjoyable.

GIVE your students plenty of time to arrive, find their seats, and get situated. We ask that you arrive 30 minutes prior to the performance. Our student matinees begin promptly at 10:30AM. Latecomers are seated at the discretion of House Management.

BUSSES not staying should load and unload on East Genesee Street, where bagged meters will indicate bus-only parking.

Please do not park in the Centro Bus Stop. When you exit the bus, have your group stay together inside the main lobby.

USHERS will escort you to your seats - we do not use tickets for our student matinees. Students will be asked to fill in the rows and not move around once seated. We request that teachers and chaperones distribute themselves throughout the students and not sit together. Remember, we need to seat 500 people as quickly as possible, so your help is greatly appreciated.

BACKPACKS, cameras, food, and drinks are not allowed into the theatre. We do not have storage facilities for these items, so please leave them at school or on the bus.

PHOTOGRAPHS or video taken with a camera or cell phone are illegal, disruptive, and sometimes dangerous to the performers. All cameras or other recording devices are prohibited and will be confiscated.

SNACKS and soda will be sold whenever possible during intermission, at a cost of $1. Food and drinks are to be consumed in the lobby, as they are not allowed into the theatre.

RESTROOMS are located in the main lobby. We ask that students use the facilities only before the show and during intermission, and not leave during the show.

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The Audience’s Role A performance needs an audience. It is as much a part of the theatre event as actors, designers, technicians, and crew.

Each playwright invites you into the world he/she has created - but this world is different than television or movies. The actors need your responses (laughter and applause) but conversations, cell phones, and other distractions will disrupt that world. If any student becomes disruptive to the point of interference with the performers or audience, a chaperone will be asked to remove that student.

If you play your part well, the actors can do the same, and all will enjoy the show!

Theatre & Education

“Theatre brings life to life.”

-Zelda Fichandler

W

hen the first cave-dweller got up to tell a story, theatre began. Almost every culture has

some sort of live performance tradition to tell stories. Television and film may have diminished the desire for access to theatre, but they have not diminished the importance.

Live theatre gives each audience member an opportunity to connect with the peformers in a way he or she never could with Tom Cruise or Lindsay Lohan. The emotions can be more intense because the events are happening right in front of the audience.

I

n the classroom, theatre can be used in a variety of ways. In many respects the teacher is much like an actor on stage - with an audience, a script (lesson plan,) props (visual aids,) and scenery (the classroom setting.) Both theatre and teaching rely on the interplay between performer and audience.

From this perspective, all of what can be taught can be taught theatrically. Young children can create a pretend bank to learn about money and mathematics. Older students may be asked to act out scenes from a play or novel. Theatre provides both an opportunity to teach , and the means to do so.

B

ringing your students to productions at Syracuse Stage, and utilizing this study guide to integrate the play into your lesson plans, fulfills elements of the New York State core requirements. We know that as educators, you are more qualified to determine how our plays and study guides blend with your goals and requirements. We hope that we can help you to discover possibilities spanning many disciplines.

As you bring your students to the shows, you may want them to examine not merely the thematic elements of the play, but also how production elements explore these themes. Everything you see on the stage has been created specifically for this production. There are no standard sets for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, no rules for costuming Crowns. Our designers meet with our directors months before rehearsals start, and shows are built to their specifications, which are in line with their vision of the work. Exploring design elements with your students is a way of opening the door to the production they will be seeing. We’ll begin with activites and questioning that can be applied to any play, and then move into details regarding specific plays.

So, without further ado, welcome to Syracuse Stage... and enjoy the show!

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Elements of Theatre Elements of Visual Art: Any piece of visual art (including scenery, costumes, etc.) contain the following ‘elements of art.’

Theatre usually engages many

forms of art including:

-Writing

-Visual/Design

• Scenery & Props

• Costumes

• Sound

• Lighting

• Casting

-Music

-Dance/Movement

1.

2.

Line Shape Form

Principles of Design: Art (or any of the elements listed above) can be examined further through the ‘principles of design.’

Balance Proportion Rhythm Emphasis Unity

How have the designers utilized these elements and principles?

ELEMENTS OF DRAMA:

Why have they done so?

- Character WHO are the characters and what is their relationship to each other?

- Plot/Story WHAT is the story line?

What happened before the play started?

What do the characters want?

What will they do to get it?

What do they stand to gain or lose?

- Setting WHERE does the story take place?

How does this affect the characters’ behavior? How does it affect the plot?

How does it affect the design?

- Time WHEN does the story take place?

What year is it? What season? What time of day? How does this affect the characters, plot and design of the play?

Other Elements to Explore: Conflict/Resolution, Action, Improvisation, Non-verbal communication, Staging, Humor, Realism and other styles, Metaphor, Language, Tone, Pattern and repetition, Emotion, Point of view.

What are the trying to convey visually?

What would be other options?

CREATING QUESTIONS FOR EXPLORATION Creating an open-ended question using an element for exploration (otherwise known as a “line of inquiry”) can help students make discoveries about a piece of theatre and its relevance to their lives.

A line of inquiry is also useful for kinesthetic activities (on-your-feet exercises.)

Examples of Lines of Inquiry: 1. How does an actor create a character using his/her body? How would you imply setting

using your body?

2. How might a director create a sense of realism on stage? Why might you not want to use realism?

3. How does an actor use the language of gesture to convey emotion/feeling?

4. How does the use of music convey the mood of a scene?

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Space Color Texture

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General Questions These questions were designed to promote classroom discussion of any play.

Use these questions as a model to help you design your own analysis techniques.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

How does the play start?

What does the playwright do to set the scene? How are the characters introduced?

What other techniques does the play use to help you jump into the story?

Who is the main character?

What does he/she want? (“Objective”) How will he/she get it? (“Actions/Tactics”) What is stopping him/her? (“Obstacles”) How does the character change throughout the play?

Why is the play set in the time period that it is?

How would the play be different if the time period were different?

Is there a character who helps the main character come to decisions and changes?

How? Opposition? Reflection?

Is there a villain/antagonist in the play?

Does there need to be good character and a bad one?

What makes a play relevant? What makes it important?

What are the elements that make this piece suited for the stage, as opposed to film, television, or a novel?

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PRESENTS

The Diary of

Anne Frank BY

Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett NEWLY ADAPTED BY

Wendy Kesselman DIRECTED BY

Timothy Bond SCENIC DESIGN

COSTUME DESIGN

LIGHTING DESIGN

Marjorie Bradley Kellogg

Lydia Tanji

[Not available at time of print]

SOUND DESIGN

PRODUCTION STAGE MANAGER

CASTING BY

Jonathan Herter

Stuart Plymesser

Alan Filderman

Timothy Bond

Producing Artistic Director

Jeffrey Woodward Managing Director

Presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

SPONSORS

SEASON SPONSORS

German & World History

Frank Family History 1929

June 12. Anne Frank is born in Frankfurt, Germany.

Adolph Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany and enacts Anti-Semitic laws. The first concentration camp is built in the town of Dachau.

1933

The family moves to the Netherlands to escape growing violence against Jews in Germany.

Nov. 9-10. ‘Kristallnacht.’ Jewish businesses and synagogues in Austria and Germany are looted and destroyed.

1938

Nazis implement the T-4 Program, which authorized the killing of mentally & physically handicapped persons, and the institutionalized.

1939

Germany invades the Netherlands.

1940

Dec. 11. Germany declares war on the U.S.

1941

Otto Frank’s business moves to new offices on the Prinsengracht Canal.

The family, along with all other Dutch Jews, are forced to wear yellow stars at all times.

June 12. Anne receives a diary for her birthday.

The ‘Final Solution’ is adopted by Nazi party leaders. Auschwitz, Belzec, and Sobibor become fully operational death camps.

1942

July 5. Anne’s sister Margot is summoned to a labor camp. The family goes into hiding the next day.

July 13. The Van Pels family joins the Franks.

Nov. 16. Fritz Pfeffer joins the group.

Aug. 4. The annex is discovered. Occupants are arrested and sent to Westerbork Transit Camp.

June 6. ‘D-Day.’ Allies invade the German stronghold on the beaches of Normandy, France.

1944

Sept. 3. The family is relocated to Auschwitz, where the men and women are separated.

Hermann van Pels is gassed three days later.

Oct. 28. Anne & Margot are sent to Bergen-Belsen.

Dec. 20. Fritz Pfeffer dies at Neuengame.

Jan. 6. Edith Frank dies at Auschwitz.

Jan. 27. Allies liberate Auschwitz.

Otto Frank is among the survivors.

April 30. Adolph Hitler commits suicide.

1945

May 7. Germany surrenders the war.

The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Of the 22 defendants, 11 were sentenced to death, 8 were imprisoned, and only 3 were acquitted.

1946 1947

March. Anne & Margot die of typhus.

June. Otoo Frank returns to Amsterdam, unaware of his daughters’ fates.

Oct. 24. Otto learns in a letter of his daughters’ deaths. He is given Anne’s diary.

Anne’s diary is published in Amsterdam. It would be published in the USA in 1952.

The Diary of

Anne Frank

The Real Story of Anne Frank

“My father, the most adorable father I’ve ever seen, didn’t marry my mother until he was thirty-six and she was twenty-five. My sister Margot was born in Frankfurt am Main in Germany in 1926. I was born on June 12, 1929.”

- The Diary of Anne Frank Anne’s father, Otto, works at his family’s bank. Her mother, Edith, takes care of everything at home. It is a carefree period for Margot and Anne. However, their parents are worried. Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party have made Jews the scapegoat for all of Germany’s social and economic problems.

Anne’s parents no longer feel safe, and Otto’s bank is also in financial trouble because of the worldwide economic crisis. Otto and Edith decide to leave Germany. Otto goes to the Netherlands to start a company in Amsterdam, where his family would join him a year later. They feel free and safe until the German army invades the Netherlands on May 10, 1940. Discrimination against the Jews began there as well: Jews may not own their own businesses, Jewish children have to go to separate schools, all Jews have to wear a yellow star, and countless other restrictions.

On her thirteenth birthday in 1942, Anne receives a diary as a present. It is her favorite gift. She begins writing in it immediately: “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you... and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.”

Like thousands of other Jews living in Amsterdam, Margot receives orders to report to a German work camp on July 5, 1942.

Her parents have expected such a call-up: the secret hiding place is almost ready. not only for their own family, but also for the Van Pels family: Otto’s co-worker Hermann, his wife Auguste, and their son Peter. The next day, the Frank family immediately takes to hiding. They are helped by four of Otto’s employees: Miep Gies, Johannes Kleiman, Victor Kugler, and Bep Voskuijl. They arrange the food supplies, clothing, books, and all sorts of other necessities.

In November, 1942, an eighth person joins: Fritz Pfeffer, an acquaintance of both families. The people in hiding pass their time by reading and studying. There is a lot of tension, probably due to the oppressive nature of the hiding place and their constant fear of being discovered. They often quarrel among themselves.

When the people in hiding have spent almost two years in the Secret Annex, there is fantastic news: a massive landing of the Allies on the beaches of Normandy. Europe could soon be liberated. Anne hopes to return to school in the fall. But on August 4, 1944, an SS Officer and three Dutch policemen arrive and demand to be taken to the Secret Annex. The people in hiding have been betrayed. They are arrested, as are some of their helpers, but Miep and Bep are left behind, where they find and rescue Anne’s diary.

The occupants of the Annex spend a month at a Transit Facility before being taken by train to Auschwitz. At the end of October, 1944, Anne and Margot are moved to Bergen-Belsen. Their mother remains behind, but soon falls ill and dies of exhaustion.

Anne and Margot succumb to typhus in March, 1945, only a few weeks before the camp is liberated by the British army.

Otto Frank is liberated from Auschwitz in January, 1945. He does everything he can to find out the fate of his daughters: placing an ad in the newspaper and talking to survivors, until he meets witnesses of their deaths. When Miep Gies hears the news, she gives Otto Anne’s diary and notebooks. Otto reads about the plan Anne had to publish a book about the time she spent in the Annex, and decides to fulfill his daughter’s wish.

Otto Frank; Courtesy of the Following the war, Otto devotes himself to human rights, and answers thousands of Holocaust Research Project letters from across the world. He says, “Young people especially always want to know how these terrible things could ever have happened. I answer them as well as I can. And then at the end, I often finish by saying, ‘I hope Anne’s book will have an effect on the rest of your life so that insofar as it is possible in your own circumstances, you will work for unity and peace.’”

Educational Outreach From www.AnneFrank.org

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Inside the Annex

The Diary of

Anne Frank

“The Annex is an ideal place to hide in. It may be damp and lopsided, but there’s probably not a more comfortable hiding place in all of Amsterdam. No, in all of Holland.”

- The Diary of Anne Frank

Anne’s outlook on the Secret Annex reveals the hopeful optimism of its inhabitants, but their stay was longer than expected: 2 years and 1 month total. What was their life like inside the Annex?

Otto Frank’s spice company moved into its new Amsterdam offices in 1940. Facing the historic Prinsengracht Canal, the building included an Achterhuis (“back house’) in the rear which was surrounded on all sides by houses. This made it an ideal hiding location, which Otto realized in 1942, when Anti-Semitic violence spread to Amsterdam. When his oldest daughter, Margot, was summoned to report to a Nazi Labor Camp, he took his family into hiding the very next day.

The Annex measured only 500 square feet. By November, these tight quarters were shared by eight people. The Frank family lived in two rooms on the first floor, the Van Pels family in the other two rooms on the second floor. Through Peter Van Pel’s tiny bedroom was an entrance to the attic.

The hiding place was a storage space for the business, and consisted of no more than a few windows, stacks of boxes, and a loft space. There was also, fortunately, a toilet and a sink. The Franks’ first order of business was to make curtains for the windows for security reasons. When this was finished, they made every effort to turn the bare storage space into a home, but just beyond the fake bookcase that hid the secret entrance were functioning offices. During business hours they were forced to maintain an insufferable silence.

Informal tours of the Annex began shortly after the diary’s first publication, but by 1955 the building was in danger of being demolished. A public campaign was launched to save the building, and in 1957 Otto Frank founded the Anne Frank Foundation with the primary goal of saving the building. It was graciously donated to the foundation the following year. In its first year as a historical site and museum it drew 9,000 visitors. In 2006, visitors numbered just under 1 million. For visiting information, log on to www.annefrank. org.

Photos (Top to bottom) (1) The exterior of Otto’s Amsterdam offices, with the canal in the foreground; (2) The room shared

by Anne and Fritz Pfeffer; (3) A drawing detailing the interior of the hiding space Photos courtesy of www. annefrankguide.net

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The Diary of

Anne Frank

The Holocaust

“I can remember that as early as 1932, groups of Storm Troopers came marching by singing: ‘When Jewish blood splatters from the knife.’” - Otto Frank

During World War II, Nazi Germany and its collaborators murdered approximately six million Jews. The Holocaust is the name used to refer to this state-sponsored persecution and murder. Beginning with racially discriminatory laws in Germany, the Nazi campaign expanded to the mass murder of all European Jews.

During the era of the Holocaust, the Nazis also targeted other groups because of their perceived ‘racial inferiority:’ gypsies, people with disabilities, and some Slavic people (Polish, Russian, and others.) Other groups were persecuted on political and behavioral grounds, among them Communists, Socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and homosexuals.

The Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933. According to Nazi leadership, Germans were ‘racially superior.’ The Jews, and others deemed ‘inferior’ were considered ‘unworthy of life.’ They established Concentration Camps to imprison Jews and other ‘inferior’ people. Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) carried out mass murder operations. More than a million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered by these units, usually in mass shootings. Between 1942 and 1944, Nazi Germany deported millions more Jews from occupied territories to Extermination Camps, where they were murdered in specially developed killing facilities using poison gas. At the largest killing center, Auschwitz-Birkenau, transports of Jews arrived almost daily from across Europe.

In the final months of the war, as Allied forces moved across Europe, they began to find and liberate concentration camp prisoners. By war’s end, close to 2 out of every 3 Jews in Europe had been murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators in the massive crime we now call the Holocaust.

“The United States Holocaust Museum” www.ushmm.org

Photos: At left, cannisters of poison gas called ‘Zyklon B.’ At right, a sign at the Bergen-Belsen camp warns of a typhus outbreak. Anne and Margot died of typhus at Bergen-Belsen only weeks before the camp’s liberation. [www.annefrankguide.net]

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EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH at Syracuse Stage

S

yracuse Stage is committed to providing students with rich theatre experiences that connect to and reveal what it is to be human. Research shows that children who participate in or are exposed to the arts show higher academic achievement, stronger self-esteem, and improved ability to plan and work towards a future goal.

Many students in our community have their first taste of live theatre through Syracuse Stage’s outreach programs. Last season more than 35,000 students from across New York State attended or participated in the Bank of America Children’s Tour, Carrier Backstory, Lockheed Martin Project Blueprint, artsEMERGING, the Chase Young Playwrights Festival, and our Student Matinee Program.

We gratefully acknowledge the many corporations, foundations, and government agencies whose donations support our commitment to in-depth arts education for our community. The listing below respresents support towards last season’s 2007-2008 programming.

Bank of America - Bank of America Children’s Tour Bristol-Myers Squibb Company - artsEMERGING Carrier Corporation - Carrier Backstory Chase - Chase Young Playwrights Festival Excellus BlueCross BlueShield - Bank of America Children’s Tour Grandma Brown Foundation - Student Matinee Program KARE Foundation - Carrier Backstory Lockheed Martin Employees Federated Fund - Carrier Backstory,

Bank of America Children’s Tour Lockheed Martin MS2 - Lockheed Martin Project Blueprint National Grid - Student Matinee Program NYS Assembly through the office of William Magnarelli - artsEMERGING Onondaga County District Attorney’s Office - artsEMERGING Price Chopper’s Golub Foundation - Student Matinee Program Syracuse Police Department - artsEMERGING Syracuse University Division of Student Affairs - Student Matinee Program Syracuse University GEAR-UP - Carrier Backstory Target - Student Matinee Program Time Warner Cable - Carrier Backstory US Department of Justice - artsEMERGING Wegmans - Bank of America Children’s Tour

Actor Rob North signing autographs after a performance of The Mischief Makers.

Teachers from the Syracuse City School District receiving professional development from teaching artist Reenah Golden.

1,500 students from the Syracuse City School District attended matinee performances of The Bomb-itty of Errors.

08/09

come dream with uS

August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom Directed by Timothy Bond September 9 – October 4

The award-winning music-filled play that captured the attention of the theatre world and launched August Wilson’s remarkable career.

Up

By Bridget Carpenter Directed by Penny Metropulos February 25 – March 15 East Coast Premiere

A soaring new play about family and following your dreams . . . even if it takes 42 balloons tied to a lawn chair.

The Diary of Anne Frank

Music and Mischief for the Holidays

Godspell The Excellus BlueCross BlueShield Family Holiday Series; A collaboration between Syracuse Stage and SU Drama

Conceived and Directed by Ping Chong October 14 - November 2 World Premiere

By Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett Newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman Directed by Timothy Bond March 31 – May 3

Conceived and Originally Directed

by John-Michael Tebelak Music and New Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz Directed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj Choreographed by Anthony Salatino November 25 – December 28

Life stories of real Syracuse residents carry us around the globe and bring us home with a more complete understanding of how we’re all connected.

A 13-year-old girl finds hope in the in face evil and teaches us all an unforgettable lesson in courage. A new adaptation of an American classic.

Filled with popular hit songs and based on the Gospel of St. Matthew, this energetic musical is a celebration of worldwide community.

Putting it Together

Crowns

A Musical Review Concept by Stephen Sondheim & Julia McKenzie Book, Music & Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim Directed & Choreographed by Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj January 27 - February 15

The Santaland Diaries

By Regina Taylor Adapted from the book

by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry Directed and choreographed by Patdro Harris May 13 – June 7

By David Sedaris Adapted for the stage by Joe Mantello Directed by Wendy Knox December 2 – January 4

Tales from the Salt City

At a Manhattan cocktail party, a cast of five uses Sondheim’s exquisite songs to examine the ups and downs of two relationships.

A troubled young woman journeys to her ancestral home and finds healing in the warm embrace of family, church, gospel music and tradition

Meet Crumpet, a 33-year-old starving artist turn cranky (but cute) Macy’s elf, in humorist David Sedaris’ witty gem of a lump of coal. For mature elves only.

All plays and players subject to change.

SeASon SponSorS:

www.SyracuseStage.org

Box office: 315.443.3275

Group Sales: