Stages Theatre Company Launches a Five-City Tour of THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK

Stages Theatre Company (STC) begins a five-city tour of "The Diary of Anne Frank," an emotional and historical account of her experiences while hiding during the German occupation of the Netherlands in World War II. The five-city tour is part of the Stories for the Stage, an arts-integrated residency and touring project that provides selected middle schools with 60 hours of theatre arts residency programming. Concluding the arts residency is a free, public performance of "The Diary of Anne Frank" produced by STC. This professional production is performed by eight adult actors and two STC youth actors.

There is a free, public preview performance of "The Diary of Anne Frank" at 7 p.m. on Oct. 8 at FAIR School Crystal for anyone wanting to view the production before it leaves for the five-city tour which includes the following cities (all performance times are 7 p.m.):

*Oct. 25: The Edge Center in Big Fork, Minn.
*Nov. 15: Ordean Middle School in Duluth, Minn.
*Dec. 6: Mankato East Junior High in Mankato, Minn.
*Jan. 24: Folwell Middle School in Minneapolis, Minn.
*Feb. 7: Columbia Academy in Columbia Heights, Minn.

The Stories for the Stage tour program is targeted for sixth to eighth graders and uses STC's embedded professional development model where classroom teachers work alongside STC's teaching artists, receiving hands-on experience in implementing arts-integrated curriculum. Using the Create, Perform and Respond art-making model, STC teaching artists and classroom teachers guide students in the use of theatre and playwriting techniques to write their own scripted scenes adapted from literature. Prior to the 7 p.m. performance of "The Diary of Anne Frank" by STC, students will present their scenes at 6:15 p.m. in a staged reading.
"This residency provides classroom teachers and students with a high-quality, arts-making experience and an innovative new way of approaching Minnesota's language arts curriculum. The story provides a powerful non-fictional depiction of a period in world history that had a profound impact on humanity," says STC Artistic Director Sandy Boren-Barrett.
Relating to the Minnesota State Arts Board's desire to increase understanding of the role that the arts play in daily life, "The Diary of Anne Frank" was selected because it is required reading for many middle school students.
"Anne's story reminds us on a personal level what loss of life means. We hear this phrase repeated in news reports and current events to a point that its utterance has lost its meaning. Yet, Anne's diary, her story, this play has the power to remind us of its meaning. That is important. That is significant," says Director Jeannine Coulombe.
This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the Minnesota State Arts Board, through an appropriation by the Minnesota State Legislature from the State's general fund and its arts and cultural heritage fund with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.