Barton Community College - Spoke Yearbook (Great Bend, KS)

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Drama department pre ent ‘Diary offlnneFranh The spring play presented by the Bar¬ ton County Community College Drama Department was one which touched any¬ one who saw it. “The Diary of Anne Frank” is the story of one young Jewish girl’s struggle to sur- vivie as her family, along with another family, goes into hiding to escape the per¬ secution of the Jews by Hitler. The play was chronicled through daily entries which Anne made in her diary. Every scene portrayed the entrapment and anguish that these families must have felt but the sense of love and to¬ getherness that was between them was evident. Julie Rich played the role of Anne. She did a superb job in her performance of the young girl going through adolescence while in hiding. Rich said she had to learn how to act a lot yonger. She also said, “I had a very closed in feeling and a sense of what these people must have gone through. Anne quite believably came to life through Rich. David Brewer succeeded in his por¬ trayal of Peter Van Daan. He had no trouble in expressing what this moody and confused young man went through while in hiding. Brewer said, “This part al¬ lows me to expand because of the sudden mood changes from sad to happy.” Bre¬ wer did a fine job in this role. Connie Sander portayed every detail of Mrs. Van Daan with refinement. The char¬ acter is one of many changes, but Sander distinctly showed her every emotion. San¬ der said she enjoyed this as her final role at BCCC because that character is so ver¬ satile. She said, “Mrs. Van Daan has a lot of different feelings. She is fluttery but strong. I really feel the entrapment she felt.” This was one of the more contrasting roles and Sander gave a great perfor¬ mance. Mr. and Mrs. Frank could not have been more accurately portrayed that they were by Robert Feldt and P.K. Duncan. These roles were enhanced by the accents used by these actors consistently throughout the play. The pain and joy that they went through while hiding was exemplified per¬ fectly by them. The set, constructed by play production and stagecraft, was set up to show the grayness, doom and dreariness of how the people lived. It was designed to in¬ spire a closed in feeling and it succeeded. Anne (Julie Rich), Margot (Toni Dort), Mrs. Frank (P. K. Duncan), Mr. Frank (Robert Feldt), Mrs. Van Daan (Connie Sander), Mr. Van Daan (Randy Schmidt) and Mr. Dussel (Eric Rogers) drink a toast to welcome Dussel into their hiding place.

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Cougars answer a cheer at the pep assembly the Friday prior to the Homecoming game. Homecoming 23

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Mr. Frank (Feldt) and Mrs. Van Daan (Sander) manage to find some humor in their depressing situa¬ tion. Mrs. Van Daan (Sander) discusses school work with Peter Van Daan (David Brewer) Anne Frank 25