For the first time on a Schuylkill County stage, Pottsville Gymnastics & Theatrical Center Inc. will be presenting "The Diary of Anne Frank" at the Sovereign Majestic Theater this weekend.
There will be two shows with the first at 7 p.m. Saturday and the second at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are $15 and can be purchased by calling 570-628-4647 or at the door.
According to a flier from PGTC, the play is adapted from "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl," edited by Otto Frank, writings from the Dutch language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
Emily Ehlinger, a Minersville native who has lived in New York City and Massachusetts, both performing as an actor and teaching, is directing the show.
Sandy Kost-Sterner, producer, said the cast consists of 10 people with the lead role of Anne Frank being played by Lucy Murray, a sophomore at Pottsville Area High School.
As for the rest of the Frank family, Mr. Frank will be played by Frank Seratch, Hazleton; Mrs. Frank by Minersville Area High School Theatre director Sharon Angelo; and Reiley Lonergan, a freshman at Minersville Area High School, who will play Margot Frank.
The remainder of the cast includes Loretta Murphy as Mrs. van Daan, Dan Mock as Mr. van Daan, Jeffrey Lazarchick as Peter van Daan, Katie Burns as Miep, Tyler Pangonis as Mr. Dussel and Jonathan Donley as Mr. Kraler.
Kost-Sterner noted that Lonergan, 14, the youngest member of this cast, had the opportunity to visit the actual Anne Frank house in Amsterdam twice and learned much about Anne Frank while there, so now she gets to help tell the story of Anne Frank through her role.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Ehlinger said that she got involved in the production when Kost-Sterner asked her if she wanted to direct and since she was home for the summer.
She has been working with Shakespeare & Company, a theatre company located in Lenox, Mass., and was also in the national tour of "The Diary of Anne Frank," where she played the role of Mrs. van Daan.
"I was thrilled to be able to have the opportunity to direct and teach when home," Ehlinger said.
Having done a national tour of the show, Ehlinger said that she has a personal connection with the story.
"You have this story that has a sad ending but it's a story of courage and all about these people's lives," she said. "I think it's a relative story with everything going on in Syria, to (help people) remember that they are people with feels, dreams and hopes and right now are living under terrible conditions."
Ehlinger also said that Anne Frank was able to capture the spirits of the people she talks about in her diary and that she thought that "people are really good at heart," but the world was just going through a phase.
"For her to be optimistic in those circumstances says a lot about her character, her courage and who she could have become," Ehlinger said.