STUDY GUIDE
THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES
generously supported by
February 20 – March 8, 2014
World Premiere
S T R O N G E R C O M M U N I T I E S T O G E T H E R TM
This guide complied by Anna Schmidt for MTC, January 2014.
ROYAL MANITOBA THEATRE CENTRE
presents
BY
Alix Sobler
Director – Heidi Malazdrewich
Set and Costume Design – Charlotte Dean
Lighting Design – Larry Isacoff
Sound Design – Mike Wright
Accent Designer and Coach – Shannon Vickers
Stage Manager – Melissa Novecosky
Apprentice Stage Manager – Airyn Lancaster
THE CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
Peter van Pels – Andrew Cecon
Anne Frank – Tal Gottfried
Michael Stein – Kevin Kruchkywich
Virginia Belair – Jennifer Lyon
Margot Frank – Daria Puttaert
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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: ALIX SOBLER
Alix Sobler is a freelance writer, playwright, solo performer
and comedian. Alix was born in New York but now makes
Winnipeg her home. She studied Theatre, Speech and Dance
at Brown University and at the London Academy of Theatre.
Alix Sobler’s solo work has been seen all over North America.
Her comedy and commentary can often be heard on CBC
radio on shows like Definitely Not The Opera, and The
Content Factory. Alix also does marketing and
communication work such as coordinating marketing and
communications for the Winnipeg Cultural Capital of Canada
2010 campaign (ARTS FOR ALL).
The Secret Annex was originally commissioned by the
Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. Other Plays by Alix Sobler include:
2011 – She’s Not There
A full-length play, presented by Brown Playwrights Rep (Providence RI), originally produced at the
Winnipeg International Fringe Festival (2009).
2010 – The Golem
A full-length play, read by Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg, MB) as part of the Carol Shields Festival
of New Works.
2010 – Some Things You Keep
A full-length play commissioned by Winnipeg Jewish Theatre (Winnipeg, MB), produced as part of the
2009-2010 season.
2010 – Jason Neufeld is Impotent
An original solo-show performed at the Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival (Minneapolis, MN, juried).
Originally produced at the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival (2008).
2008 – The Cloud Factory
An original solo show performed at the Capital Fringe (Washington D.C.), originally produced on the
Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals circuit.
2006 – I Quit Smoking
A stand up routine written and performed for Manitoba Health’s “Smoke Screen” (Manitoba Health,
Winnipeg, MB).
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2006 – Testimony
A one-act play produced at the Looking Glass Theatre (New York, NY). Testimony was also chosen as a
finalist in the Edward Albee Last Frontier 10-minute play contest in 2003.
2005 – Flavor of the Week
An original solo show-performed at The Tank Theatre (New York, NY). In 2004, Flavor of the Week was
performed at the UNO Festival (Victoria, BC, juried) and at Elmwood Playhouse (Nyack, NY). Originally
toured four cities in Canada on the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals circuit.
2004 – America vs. Canada
An original solo show that toured five cities in the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals circuit.
ANNE FRANK
Anne Frank was born in 1929 in Frankfurt,
Germany, the second daughter to Otto and
Edith Frank. When Hitler’s Nazi party came
to power in 1933, the Franks emigrated to
The Netherlands because, as Jews, they
were concerned for their safety and
economic security if they stayed in
Germany. Otto established himself in
business in Amsterdam and the family felt
safe until World War II broke out in 1939
and the German army invaded The
Netherlands on May 10, 1940.
Under the German occupation, increasing
restrictions were placed on the activities of Jewish residents. When Anne’s older sister Margot was
called to report to a German Labour camp in 1942, the family decided the only safe course of action was
to go into hiding. Four other Jewish people joined the Franks: Hermann and Auguste Van Pels (who Anne
refers to in her diary as the Van Daans) and their teenage son Peter, and Fritz Pfeffer (called Albert
Dussel in the diary.) The group was assisted by four of Otto Frank’s employees.
While in hiding, Anne kept herself busy reading, studying and writing stories. She also poured her fears
and frustrations into a diary she referred to as “Kitty.” Navigating her teen years while living in close
quarters with 7 other people and never being able to go outside kept Anne well-supplied with fears and
frustrations!
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Anne kept her diary from June 12, 1942 to August 1, 1944. In
1944 she heard a Dutch Cabinet Minister, Gerrit Bolkestein,
on a radio broadcast from London where he was living in
exile. He announced that after the war he intended to
collect accounts of the experiences of the Dutch people
during the German occupation. Anne resolved that her diary
would form part of this collection, and she began rewriting
and editing it. She never had the opportunity to complete
this project.
On August 4, 1944 all eight people hiding in the Secret
Annex were arrested. It has never been determined who
betrayed their hiding place.
On arrest, they were deported first to Westerbork and then
on to Auschwitz. Anne and her sister were later transferred
to Bergen-Belsen, where Anne died in March 1945 at the age
of 15. Only Otto Frank survived.
Figure 1: A page from Anne's diary
(source: www.annefrank.org)
Otto’s employee Miep Gies found
Anne’s diary after the arrest and
kept it safe. After the war was
over, Otto returned to Amsterdam
and Miep gave him the diary. Otto
decided to honor Anne’s wish that
her diary be published. Drawing
on both the original diary and the
partial edited version that Anne
had started, he created a shorter
edited version which is now
known all over the world as The
Diary of a Young Girl. The building
in which Anne’s family hid has
been preserved and converted
into a museum in her memory.
Figure 2: The Secret Annex (source:
www.annefrank.org)
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Edith Frank
Anne Frank
Otto Frank
Fritz Pfeffer
Hermann Van Pels
August Van Pels
Margot Frank
Peter Van Pels
THE CHARACTERS
(As described by the playwright)
Anne Frank – 25 at the start of the play, a plucky, brilliant young woman. Have you read the diary? Then
you know her. She talks too much, but she makes up for it in charm and exuberance.
Margo Frank – 28 at the start of the play, a quiet, sensitive, astute woman, Anne’s sister. Even though
she is the older one, she has lived in Anne’s shadow. But even if Margo lacks Anne’s intoxicating
confidence, she knows who she is, and is a rock for those in her life.
Peter Van Pels – 27 at the start of the play, a pensive, serious young man, who comes to life when Anne
is around. Peter struggles to do the right thing because his heart so often leads him what he knows to be
the wrong direction.
Michael Stein – 40ish at the start of the play, a suave but kind, rich fellow, with a good heart, Margot’s
then Anne’s boss. Michael pulled himself up by the bootstraps and has never been afraid to take a risk
or face a challenge.
Virginia Belair – 40ish at the start of the play, a senior editor at Berger & Simmons publishing house.
She’s high-society, but a working woman. A social drinker with a dry sense of humour. Tough, but not
without heart.
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THE STORY
In The Secret Annex, playwright Alix Sobler imagines that Anne Frank survived the war, grew up, and
settled in Brooklyn, New York with her sister Margot. The play opens in 1955 on a 25-year-old Anne,
who, ten years after the war, is still chasing her dream of publishing her diary. Peter Van Pels, the young
man who shared the Frank family’s secret hiding place and who was Anne’s first love during their time in
hiding, lives nearby. Clearly he and Anne are still close, although no longer in the romantic sense.
Anne receives an invitation to meet with a
publisher about her diary. Anne, Margot and Peter
I simply can’t imagine the world will ever
celebrate, but when Anne has her first encounter
be normal again for us. I do talk about
with Virgina Belair at the Berger & Simmons
“after the war,” but it’s as if I were talking
publishing house, it becomes clear that the
about a castle in the air, something that
celebration was premature. Anne is devastated by
can never come true.
the rejection of her book, and Peter tries to
(Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, p.145)
comfort her. The comfort is short-lived however,
because Anne is taken off guard by Peter’s
confession that he plans to propose to his girlfriend Betty. As the scene unfolds, it becomes increasingly
evident that Anne and Peter’s relationship is what we might now call “complicated.”
Margot introduces Anne to her boss Michael Stein, who hires Anne as a receptionist. Before long,
Michael and Anne become lovers. Anne is still obsessed with publishing her diary, and decides to try
rewriting the story of the Secret Annex as fiction. Meanwhile, Michael proposes. Anne insists that she
needs more time. Her conflicted feelings about marriage to Michael surface further as she helps Margot
prepare for her own wedding to George Katz.
Peter’s fiancé Betty reads a copy of the manuscript of Anne’s diary that Anne had given Peter, and is
upset by Anne’s account of her relationship with Peter. Peter breaks up with Betty over the ensuing
fight, and confesses to Anne that it is really her
that he has always loved. Anne rejects him.
When I write I can shake off all my cares.
Anne’s second encounter with Virgina Belair over
her now fictionalized Secret Annex story is no more
successful than the first encounter was. Act one
draws to a close on Anne and Michael’s wedding
night.
My sorrow disappears, my spirits are
revived! But, and that’s a big question, will
I ever be able to write something great, will
I ever become a journalist or a writer?
(Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, p.251)
In Act two we jump ahead to 1961. Anne is visiting
Peter at his home in Toronto on the occasion of his mother’s funeral. We learn that Peter has married
Betty after all, and he is working hard at not thinking about the past.
Margot, meanwhile, is expecting her second child. She is worried about Anne’s continued obsession
with the book. Margot has learned, through an indiscrete comment by their doctor, that Anne is taking
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birth control pills. Margot accuses Anne of being trapped in the past and refusing to move forward and
live her life.
Anne returns to Virgina Belair and presents
her with multiple versions of The Secret
Annex. She has reworked the story in every
genre she can think of in her effort to find
an audience. Belair’s final rejection, along
with the news that the old building that
harboured their secret hiding place is to be
torn down, touches the depth of the trauma
Anne still feels and sends her running back
to Peter. He is, finally, able to help her come
to terms with the past that haunts her. Anne
admits that she is expecting a baby. The play
closes on a scene in which we see Anne and
Peter reminiscing about a past that no
longer holds them hostage.
It’s utterly impossible for me to build my life on a
foundation of chaos, suffering and death. I see
the world being slowly transformed into a
wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that,
one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering
of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I
somehow feel that everything will change for the
better, that this cruelty too will end, that peace
and tranquility will return once more. In the
meantime, I must hold on to my ideals. Perhaps
the day will come when I’ll be able to realize
them!
(Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, p.333)
GLOSSARY
When Virginia calls Anne’s diary an albatross
she is making an allusion to the enormous sea
bird described in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's
poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).
Coleridge uses
the albatross as a
metaphor for an
overwhelming
psychological
burden than
feels like a curse.
Crematoriums are facilities which house special
furnaces used for the disposal of human
remains. In the context of the play, the word
refers to the massive crematoriums built to
dispose of the many people who were gassed to
death in the Nazi concentration camps.
L’chaim! is a Hebrew toast to a person’s health
and well-being. It translates roughly as “To life!”
Anne’s reference to Michael’s Puritanical
heritage is based on her mistaken assumption
that all Americans are descended from the early
Puritan settlers at Plymouth Rock, or that at the
very least all Americans espouse the same
conservative religious views. Michael points out
that he is Jewish like she is.
Schnapps refers to a
strong alcoholic
beverage made from
various fruits. The
name comes from
the German word
schnaps which
means “swallow.”
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QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What value is there in “rewriting history” the way that Sobler does in imagining an alternate
future for Anne Frank?
2. How would you respond to Virgina Belair’s statement that, “The real war… was happening out
there. The battlefields. The frontlines”?
3. What does Anne mean when she says, “I didn’t die, but I didn’t survive either”?
4. At the end of the play Anne says, “You don’t get to leave the past behind. You just have to learn
to live with it.” How do each of the characters learn to live with their past in the course of the
play?
5. Do you agree with Anne’s statement that, “There are no stories without suffering”?
6. On Tuesday, August 23, 1943, midway through her time in hiding in the Secret Annex, Anne
Frank wrote this in her diary:
Dearest Kitty,
A new idea: during meals I talk more to myself than to the others, which has two
advantages. First, they’re glad they don’t have to listen to my continuous chatter, and
second, I don’t have to get annoyed by their opinions. I don’t think my opinions are
stupid but other people do, so it’s better to keep them to myself. I apply the same tactic
when I have to eat something I loathe. I put the dish in front of me, pretend it’s delicious,
avoid looking at it as much as possible, and it’s gone before I’ve had time to realize what
it is. When I get up in the morning, another very disagreeable moment, I leap out of bed,
think to myself, “You’ll be slipping back under the covers soon,” walk to the window,
take down the blackout screen, sniff at the crack until I feel a bit of fresh air, and I’m
awake. I strip the bed as fast as I can so I won’t be tempted to get back in. Do you know
what Mother calls this sort of thing? The art of living. Isn’t that a funny expression? (p.
126)
What does Anne’s Mother mean by “The art of living,” and how does this expression apply to
the lives of the characters as they are portrayed in the play?
Who else but me is ever going to read these letters? (Anne Frank, The Diary of a Young Girl, p.142)
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ACTIVITIES
1. Stage a debate on the theme: “Be it resolved that Anne Frank and her diary would never have
become famous if she had survived the war.”
2. In the play, Anne takes the story from her diary and re-tells it as a novel, a play, a screen play, a
suite of short stories, etc. Choose a story that is familiar to you and rewrite it in a different
genre.
3. The Frank family and their companions were not the only ones to go into hiding, although they
are arguably the most famous. Research other stories about the ways in which Jewish families
sought to evade the Nazis during World War II.
4. Anne Frank was in hiding from shortly after her 13th birthday until a couple of months after she
turned 15. Create a timeline of your life during this age span. How might your life be different
today if you had been in hiding like Anne was during these years of your life?
5. In the play we see Anne working through the emotional aftermath of the trauma she
experienced during the war. The Canadian Mental Health Association defines Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder as “an anxiety disorder characterized by reliving a psychologically traumatic
situation, long after any physical danger involved has passed, through flashbacks and
nightmares.” What evidence is there in the play that Anne is reliving the trauma of her years in
hiding?
6. Compare the Anne Frank that emerges through her writing in The Diary of a Young Girl with the
character of the imaginary adult Anne portrayed in The Secret Annex. What personality
characteristics of the real Anne does the Diary reveal, and how do we see these same
characteristics reflected in Sobler’s fictional Anne?
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
English Language Arts – Memoir, Drama, Characterization
History – World War II, Postwar America
Psychology – Memory, Post Traumatic Stress
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RESOURCES
Albatross (metaphor). Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albatross_(metaphor)
Alix Sobler. http://alixsobler.wordpress.com/
Anne Frank Museum website. http://www.annefrank.org/en/
Frank, Anne. 1991. The Diary of a Young Girl, The Definitive Edition. Ed. Otto H Frank and Mirjam
Pressler. Translated by Susan Massotty. Anchor Books.
Post-traumatic stress disorder. Canadian Mental Health Association.
http://www.cmha.ca/mental_health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/
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