The Diary of Anne Frank
Written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
Sound Designer: Jeremiah Tuner
Directed by Sanaz Ghajar
Stage Manager: Kayla Basco
Costume Design: Emma Arends
Lighting Design: C. Touchet
Scenic/Projection Design: David Tennet
Louisiana State University School of Theatre
2018-2019 Season
Artistic Direction
For this production, I built the show around the theme of “the sins of our past can be reflected on the sins of the present. Although this is a historical peace that tells the story of a travesty long ago, those same travesties have imbedded themselves into our present day. I also designed around the motif of using the contrast of silence and noise to reflect the never-ending danger the Frank family was In.
Hitler Speech
Early in the show the script calls or a speech given by Hitler. I wanted to build this around the motif that the transition cues are reoccurring nightmares Anne was experiencing. I used chants screamed by white supremacist during the 2017 Unite the Right rally as a rhythmic bed underneath. The rhythmic nature of the chants added texture to the Hitler speech, all the while still giving a pocket for the speech to be experienced by the audience and not drowned out.
War Planes
This cue revolved around the motif of silence vs noise repressing the danger the Frank family experienced daily. I wanted the war planes to sound both intimidating and as historically accurate as possible. I wanted the planes to be loud and commanding to contrast the silence of the scene before to discomfort the audiences.
Trains & Screams
At the end of the show, Anne and her family are captured by Nazi Officers. We wanted to build a sound cue that not only represented her, and her family's, journey to the concentration camp, but also the lost souls of the holocaust.
