Thank you so much Drew for
being here. It’s a real pleasure for me to interview you. You’re the director
of The Anne Frank Project and also a Professor in the Theater Department at
SUNY Buffalo State, where you teach acting, voice and movements and direct main
stage productions. Please, tell us more about you…
Most importantly, I am a husband and father…those are the titles I am most proud of. My family is a constant source of perspective and joy for me. I am extremely fortunate they are so supportive of my work with the Anne Frank Project. The work of theater in general and social justice theater in particular is extremely inconvenient schedule-wise. It is important to balance the work with family to make sure all things are in their proper place. The work of social justice can be overwhelming as the multiple atrocities around the world and right in our own neighborhoods surface regularly. My students often feel helpless about their potential impact on world events—it is my responsibility not to simply teach balance, but to live balance. I think modeling what we teach is what students respect most. Honestly, its hard for me too—I want so much for every child in the world to be equipped with the tools to make their world better. This is most evident after we leave a school where we had a successful session with young people—as we walk to our cars to drive home we want every child to experience what we just had the privilege of teaching.
I am from a Jewish family with strong social justice values--Tikun Olam, a Jewish mandate repeated to us through our youth, means “Repair the World,” something that always rang true to me. I grew up in Los Angeles, California. My family was poor and didn’t have much in the way of nice things. My mother (a constant source of inspiration) did an amazing job of creating a reality where my brother, sister and I never knew we were poor. She used to sew our shirts by hand from discount fabrics she found at stores, and to make sure we never felt “left out,” she embroidered the logos of the expensive shirt companies directly on the shirts! I am sure this is where I get my talent for making theater—for making something seem other than what it is…my mom taught me how to pretend with elegance and eloquence. My mother is a wonderful rags-to-riches story as she became quite successful in the insurance industry, so we experienced a wide range of socio-economic values—I am quite fortunate to have learned the resourcefulness required of those living in poverty. I think this is one reason why I connect so immediately to those in need.
I did my undergraduate studies at San Diego State University where I was on the rowing (crew) team and changed my major five times! I majored in English, Business, Speech, Communications, Public Relations and, finally…Drama. The only major I was sure of was girls. I didn’t get serious about drama until I injured my knee, had to stop rowing and had to graduate—the fastest way to graduate was as a drama major. The last year of university was all about drama for me—I loved how theater could impact the heart of people instead of just the minds. I loved the transforming power of stories on stage. I applied to various graduate schools to study acting and was offered a position in the MFA (Masters in Fine Arts) acting program at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas). My three years at SMU were life-changing. I was trained by some of the top artists in the world. This is where I was really shaped as an artist. Truth be told, I had no idea that acting involved so much before graduate school. It was a buffet of learning everyday for three years: acting, voice, movement, dance, stage combat, textual analysis, circus, focused relaxation, speech. I went from a big kid who wanted to act to a young man who was…an artist. I am forever indebted to my SMUeducation.
Most importantly, I am a husband and father…those are the titles I am most proud of. My family is a constant source of perspective and joy for me. I am extremely fortunate they are so supportive of my work with the Anne Frank Project. The work of theater in general and social justice theater in particular is extremely inconvenient schedule-wise. It is important to balance the work with family to make sure all things are in their proper place. The work of social justice can be overwhelming as the multiple atrocities around the world and right in our own neighborhoods surface regularly. My students often feel helpless about their potential impact on world events—it is my responsibility not to simply teach balance, but to live balance. I think modeling what we teach is what students respect most. Honestly, its hard for me too—I want so much for every child in the world to be equipped with the tools to make their world better. This is most evident after we leave a school where we had a successful session with young people—as we walk to our cars to drive home we want every child to experience what we just had the privilege of teaching.
I am from a Jewish family with strong social justice values--Tikun Olam, a Jewish mandate repeated to us through our youth, means “Repair the World,” something that always rang true to me. I grew up in Los Angeles, California. My family was poor and didn’t have much in the way of nice things. My mother (a constant source of inspiration) did an amazing job of creating a reality where my brother, sister and I never knew we were poor. She used to sew our shirts by hand from discount fabrics she found at stores, and to make sure we never felt “left out,” she embroidered the logos of the expensive shirt companies directly on the shirts! I am sure this is where I get my talent for making theater—for making something seem other than what it is…my mom taught me how to pretend with elegance and eloquence. My mother is a wonderful rags-to-riches story as she became quite successful in the insurance industry, so we experienced a wide range of socio-economic values—I am quite fortunate to have learned the resourcefulness required of those living in poverty. I think this is one reason why I connect so immediately to those in need.
I did my undergraduate studies at San Diego State University where I was on the rowing (crew) team and changed my major five times! I majored in English, Business, Speech, Communications, Public Relations and, finally…Drama. The only major I was sure of was girls. I didn’t get serious about drama until I injured my knee, had to stop rowing and had to graduate—the fastest way to graduate was as a drama major. The last year of university was all about drama for me—I loved how theater could impact the heart of people instead of just the minds. I loved the transforming power of stories on stage. I applied to various graduate schools to study acting and was offered a position in the MFA (Masters in Fine Arts) acting program at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas). My three years at SMU were life-changing. I was trained by some of the top artists in the world. This is where I was really shaped as an artist. Truth be told, I had no idea that acting involved so much before graduate school. It was a buffet of learning everyday for three years: acting, voice, movement, dance, stage combat, textual analysis, circus, focused relaxation, speech. I went from a big kid who wanted to act to a young man who was…an artist. I am forever indebted to my SMUeducation.
The Anne Frank Project
website includes a quote from Anne Frank’s Diary “How wonderful that nobody
need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world” and I think
this is very true. The mission of The Anne Frank Project is to encourage
communities to utilize the words and wisdom of Anne Frank as a starting point
for the intense examination of genocide, intolerance, bigotry and racism as a
means towards finding solutions towards an elevated and shared human condition.
I totally believe that what you’re doing is really important and inspiring.
What about The Anne Frank Project initiatives?
As you know, we never imagined or planned for the 2006 theater production to become the human rights program it has become. Now, eight years later, we have defined our initiatives completely by the demands of our audience. You will notice that everything we do…and I mean everything…derives from the foundation of theater. It’s really all I know—how to tell stories for an audience. One of the foundational tenets of theater: In order to be successful you must listen. I suppose I am wired to do this. Perhaps its from my actor training, perhaps its from being obedient to my mother (she would laugh at this idea), but listening, really listening to what the audience wants instead of imposing my personal desires has really opened the project up to its current success. I would be lying to you if I told you that I knew eight years ago that AFP would be engaged in the initiatives it is currently involved in. This is one of my greatest pleasures in directing the project: To listen and surrender to the will of those who need us most. I think this is a healthy lesson to live by, to give up control, to give up ego, to change the “me” to “we.” As a teacher, it is important that I model this approach for my students so their work, both on and off the stage, can be for a purpose of service instead of personal gain.
Our specific initiatives:
Local:
AFP in the Schools
Using original performances that my students create, we perform shows and conduct workshops in area schools. These shows always contain themes that help us provide tools and vocabulary for conflict resolution, community building and identity exploration. We also conduct residencies that allow us to spend extended time in schools where we assist their students in creating their original plays. In the age of “Bullying” and disconnection for our youth, these school connections are in extreme high demand. As you may know, Western education is steeped in test-taking and standardized testing—our work has become a welcome addition to school’s curriculum. All of our work in the schools is provided free of charge as a service of the university I work for, State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo State College.
National
We have several national initiatives:
-Our annual conference (I’ll speak more about that later)
-Teacher Training: We have been asked to offer training in our method of Drama-Based education to teachers of all disciplines. Our story-building model provides step-by-step training for teachers (elementary through university) who are interested in moving their instruction from a knowledge-based structure to an action-based structure. Basically, we train teachers to move the lesson in their classrooms from the head to the heart, to the body. Rather than listening passively to information, our method asks students to stand up and create stories for performance. These stories are not crafted for entertainment purposes (although they are always entertaining), but instead to create ownership of the information so that the students will use this information for their future lives, their future stories. There is a canon of research supporting the benefits of kinesthetic, experiential learning—we are simply providing teachers with tools to apply this philosophy to their students and their disciplines. Ironically, we target this training for every discipline except theater.
-Community Grant Work: We are currently engaged in the work of a National Endowment for the Arts grant with the City of Buffalo (the city in New York where I live). We are helping two marginalized, forgotten neighborhoods to explore, create and share their stories. We are very excited about this project as we are working with our local Burmese refugee community. Like most refugee communities, they are rarely asked to share their stories as they make their way into their new lives in a new country. We are honored to learn and help craft these original stories.
-The third aspect of our national work is (thankfully) a constant flow of guest speaking invitations to various conferences, festivals, schools and organizations around the country. These opportunities tend to vary in theme but, invariably, always involve our central focus to encourage the audiences to Tell their stories!
* It is important to note that we say this phrase often in all aspects of our work. By “stories” we cast a wide definition—any time you have the opportunity to stand up and communicate your point of view to an audience who questions your stance is the time to tell your story. The audience may be 1 or 1,000 people. The story sharing can take multiple forms: music, engineering, inventing, writing, acting, healing, etc. The opposite of telling one’s story is being a bystander, the most dangerous group in any conflict. Anytime anything positive has happened in the world was because someone decided to tell her/his story. Anytime anything negative has happened in the world is because someone’s story was stifled (oppressed) or worse, had a story that needed to be heard but decided not to share it--I believe this is criminal at both the personal and social levels. Anne Frank is a constant inspiration for us all to share our stories. What if she had decided not to tell her story? How many “Anne Franks” from the world’s genocides and wars have we missed? How many stories of children victims were cut short due to the atrocities of adults? We owe it to the memory of Anne Frank and these children to continue their stories by encouraging others to share their own.
As you know, we never imagined or planned for the 2006 theater production to become the human rights program it has become. Now, eight years later, we have defined our initiatives completely by the demands of our audience. You will notice that everything we do…and I mean everything…derives from the foundation of theater. It’s really all I know—how to tell stories for an audience. One of the foundational tenets of theater: In order to be successful you must listen. I suppose I am wired to do this. Perhaps its from my actor training, perhaps its from being obedient to my mother (she would laugh at this idea), but listening, really listening to what the audience wants instead of imposing my personal desires has really opened the project up to its current success. I would be lying to you if I told you that I knew eight years ago that AFP would be engaged in the initiatives it is currently involved in. This is one of my greatest pleasures in directing the project: To listen and surrender to the will of those who need us most. I think this is a healthy lesson to live by, to give up control, to give up ego, to change the “me” to “we.” As a teacher, it is important that I model this approach for my students so their work, both on and off the stage, can be for a purpose of service instead of personal gain.
Our specific initiatives:
Local:
AFP in the Schools
Using original performances that my students create, we perform shows and conduct workshops in area schools. These shows always contain themes that help us provide tools and vocabulary for conflict resolution, community building and identity exploration. We also conduct residencies that allow us to spend extended time in schools where we assist their students in creating their original plays. In the age of “Bullying” and disconnection for our youth, these school connections are in extreme high demand. As you may know, Western education is steeped in test-taking and standardized testing—our work has become a welcome addition to school’s curriculum. All of our work in the schools is provided free of charge as a service of the university I work for, State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo State College.
National
We have several national initiatives:
-Our annual conference (I’ll speak more about that later)
-Teacher Training: We have been asked to offer training in our method of Drama-Based education to teachers of all disciplines. Our story-building model provides step-by-step training for teachers (elementary through university) who are interested in moving their instruction from a knowledge-based structure to an action-based structure. Basically, we train teachers to move the lesson in their classrooms from the head to the heart, to the body. Rather than listening passively to information, our method asks students to stand up and create stories for performance. These stories are not crafted for entertainment purposes (although they are always entertaining), but instead to create ownership of the information so that the students will use this information for their future lives, their future stories. There is a canon of research supporting the benefits of kinesthetic, experiential learning—we are simply providing teachers with tools to apply this philosophy to their students and their disciplines. Ironically, we target this training for every discipline except theater.
-Community Grant Work: We are currently engaged in the work of a National Endowment for the Arts grant with the City of Buffalo (the city in New York where I live). We are helping two marginalized, forgotten neighborhoods to explore, create and share their stories. We are very excited about this project as we are working with our local Burmese refugee community. Like most refugee communities, they are rarely asked to share their stories as they make their way into their new lives in a new country. We are honored to learn and help craft these original stories.
-The third aspect of our national work is (thankfully) a constant flow of guest speaking invitations to various conferences, festivals, schools and organizations around the country. These opportunities tend to vary in theme but, invariably, always involve our central focus to encourage the audiences to Tell their stories!
* It is important to note that we say this phrase often in all aspects of our work. By “stories” we cast a wide definition—any time you have the opportunity to stand up and communicate your point of view to an audience who questions your stance is the time to tell your story. The audience may be 1 or 1,000 people. The story sharing can take multiple forms: music, engineering, inventing, writing, acting, healing, etc. The opposite of telling one’s story is being a bystander, the most dangerous group in any conflict. Anytime anything positive has happened in the world was because someone decided to tell her/his story. Anytime anything negative has happened in the world is because someone’s story was stifled (oppressed) or worse, had a story that needed to be heard but decided not to share it--I believe this is criminal at both the personal and social levels. Anne Frank is a constant inspiration for us all to share our stories. What if she had decided not to tell her story? How many “Anne Franks” from the world’s genocides and wars have we missed? How many stories of children victims were cut short due to the atrocities of adults? We owe it to the memory of Anne Frank and these children to continue their stories by encouraging others to share their own.
In the fall of 2006 the
Buffalo State College Theater Department produced The Diary of Anne Frank,
adding something really important and intense. In attempt to produce something
new and to refresh the classic play, you chose to weave the horrors of the Rwanda
Genocide into Anne’s story set during the Holocaust. You casted two “Annes”,
one Jewish, hiding from Nazis, the other Tutsi, hiding from Hutu extremists –
both speaking Anne’s words. How the audience reacted to your show?
This was the genesis of the entire project. As I mentioned earlier, we were never intending for this production to become a project. Fortunately, I work for a university where diversity is important and obvious at every juncture. Our student body is extremely diverse and we were simply attempting to produce the play in a way that would play as immediate and personal to our students on campus. The connection and reflection to the Rwanda genocide of 1994 became a vital ingredient to the production. Firstly, it took the “celebrity” away from Anne Frank and reminded us that she was simply a little girl, three-dimensional and not the poster-child of the Holocaust. This production uniquely re-humanized her. Secondly, the use of Rwanda surfaced the idea that there is an “Anne Frank” in every genocide. Anne Frank speaks personally for herself and her family but also symbolically for all victims of genocide, particularly children.
This production spoke to so many people on so any levels—the administration immediately encouraged me to continue what we had started with the production—an activation of our campus’ policies on diversity, inclusion, global education and values. So, this production was the spark, but the fire was created by impassioned students and an inspired university administration who believe higher-education should encourage positive world change. To this day, those two groups make-up the engine of the project.
Could you imagine that your show, The Diary of Anne Frank, would define a campus path towards social change, conflict resolution and global education?
This was a surprise to me and a reality I am quite thankful for. What is of particular importance here is that SUNY Buffalo State’s administration has been 100% receptive to the idea and development of the Anne Frank Project. I am not sure if this sounds unusual by Italian education standards, but by U.S. higher education standards, this type of support from an administration on a university campus is extremely rare. We are living in a time where finances and professional preparations tend to claim a great deal of university campus’ time and focus. While these are important issues on my campus, they do not cloud the central purpose of our work: To educate and prepare students to improve the world. The Anne Frank Project collaborates directly with multiple offices, departments and programs on our campus. We collaborate with these groups to help them promote, plan and deliver their agendas, their objectives. Quite simply, the AFP is and will always be a service vehicle to assist the university achieve its diversity, global and community objectives.Many universities say they do these things, SUNY Buffalo State actually does them. It’s gratifying to work for a university where the work of social justice, the work of theater and the work of preparing students beyond simply their future professions is valued through action. The State University of New York (SUNY) is a large system consisting of 64 campuses—the Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for ALL of the SUNY system is a major supporter of the project. Again, we are fortunate to be considered an important thread in the fabric of SUNY.
Can you please tell us more about The Anne Frank Project conference that occurs each year in September?
Sure. The conference was born out of a desire to continue the powerful impact the original performance of 2006 had on our students. Our university President made a request that we continue to do something each year that would deal with the important themes Anne Frank writes about: forgiveness, peace, community, unity, etc. Additionally, a very special member of our AFP family also wanted us to continue what we had started—this was Sophia (sound familiar?). Sophia grew up in Amsterdam during World War II. She was the same age as Anne Frank, was Jewish and had an insatiable appetite for justice. Like many Jewish parents in Eastern Europe during the war, Sophia’s sent her away to a variety of hiding places with non-Jewish people to escape Hitler’s “final solution.” Sophia’s parents had some money so they were able to afford this luxury—a luxury that found its end after 15 different hiding places when Sophia was discovered and taken to a concentration camp for the remainder of the war. Thankfully, Sophia survived and through a variety of stories she found her way to Buffalo, New York. Sophia is an incredible soul with incredible lessons of survival, hope and responsibility to share with the world. She is a strong member of our local Holocaust Resource Center where she (and other Holocaust survivors) visitschools and organizations to share their powerful stories.
In 2006 I asked Sophia to attend one of our rehearsals of the Diary of Anne Frank to share her stories with my student cast, she agreed and has remained at the center of AFP ever since. But for one cosmic click in the universe, Sophia is an embodiment of Anne Frank herself—a fact not lost on our students. Well, Sophia suggested that we have a gathering each year to remind us of Anne Frank’s wisdom and lessons. Between the President and Sophia a conference was born! I asked colleagues from various disciplines, off campus friends and students to create active sessions revolving around Anne Frank’s quote: “How wonderful it is that we need not wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” We had the day planned from 9am-5pm and at 9pm that night I had to kick the students out of the theater! “Its over everyone!” They seemed so thrilled to not just learn new information about issues they cared deeply about, but also to have new active tools to use in their pursuit of an improved world. We were clearly on to something. Fast-forward six years later, our annual conference is a social justice ritual of SUNY Buffalo State, where we have over 30 presenters from around the globe present sessions revolving around each year’s theme. The 2014 theme was Change Through Stories. It is a thrill to watch artists, activists, educators, professionals and clergy connect and share with our students. It's a doing conference where tools and vocabulary for world improvement are shared and taught. We have about 200 student volunteers each year. We receive about 4,000 attendees each year. It is quite gratifying.
This was the genesis of the entire project. As I mentioned earlier, we were never intending for this production to become a project. Fortunately, I work for a university where diversity is important and obvious at every juncture. Our student body is extremely diverse and we were simply attempting to produce the play in a way that would play as immediate and personal to our students on campus. The connection and reflection to the Rwanda genocide of 1994 became a vital ingredient to the production. Firstly, it took the “celebrity” away from Anne Frank and reminded us that she was simply a little girl, three-dimensional and not the poster-child of the Holocaust. This production uniquely re-humanized her. Secondly, the use of Rwanda surfaced the idea that there is an “Anne Frank” in every genocide. Anne Frank speaks personally for herself and her family but also symbolically for all victims of genocide, particularly children.
This production spoke to so many people on so any levels—the administration immediately encouraged me to continue what we had started with the production—an activation of our campus’ policies on diversity, inclusion, global education and values. So, this production was the spark, but the fire was created by impassioned students and an inspired university administration who believe higher-education should encourage positive world change. To this day, those two groups make-up the engine of the project.
Could you imagine that your show, The Diary of Anne Frank, would define a campus path towards social change, conflict resolution and global education?
This was a surprise to me and a reality I am quite thankful for. What is of particular importance here is that SUNY Buffalo State’s administration has been 100% receptive to the idea and development of the Anne Frank Project. I am not sure if this sounds unusual by Italian education standards, but by U.S. higher education standards, this type of support from an administration on a university campus is extremely rare. We are living in a time where finances and professional preparations tend to claim a great deal of university campus’ time and focus. While these are important issues on my campus, they do not cloud the central purpose of our work: To educate and prepare students to improve the world. The Anne Frank Project collaborates directly with multiple offices, departments and programs on our campus. We collaborate with these groups to help them promote, plan and deliver their agendas, their objectives. Quite simply, the AFP is and will always be a service vehicle to assist the university achieve its diversity, global and community objectives.Many universities say they do these things, SUNY Buffalo State actually does them. It’s gratifying to work for a university where the work of social justice, the work of theater and the work of preparing students beyond simply their future professions is valued through action. The State University of New York (SUNY) is a large system consisting of 64 campuses—the Chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for ALL of the SUNY system is a major supporter of the project. Again, we are fortunate to be considered an important thread in the fabric of SUNY.
Can you please tell us more about The Anne Frank Project conference that occurs each year in September?
Sure. The conference was born out of a desire to continue the powerful impact the original performance of 2006 had on our students. Our university President made a request that we continue to do something each year that would deal with the important themes Anne Frank writes about: forgiveness, peace, community, unity, etc. Additionally, a very special member of our AFP family also wanted us to continue what we had started—this was Sophia (sound familiar?). Sophia grew up in Amsterdam during World War II. She was the same age as Anne Frank, was Jewish and had an insatiable appetite for justice. Like many Jewish parents in Eastern Europe during the war, Sophia’s sent her away to a variety of hiding places with non-Jewish people to escape Hitler’s “final solution.” Sophia’s parents had some money so they were able to afford this luxury—a luxury that found its end after 15 different hiding places when Sophia was discovered and taken to a concentration camp for the remainder of the war. Thankfully, Sophia survived and through a variety of stories she found her way to Buffalo, New York. Sophia is an incredible soul with incredible lessons of survival, hope and responsibility to share with the world. She is a strong member of our local Holocaust Resource Center where she (and other Holocaust survivors) visitschools and organizations to share their powerful stories.
In 2006 I asked Sophia to attend one of our rehearsals of the Diary of Anne Frank to share her stories with my student cast, she agreed and has remained at the center of AFP ever since. But for one cosmic click in the universe, Sophia is an embodiment of Anne Frank herself—a fact not lost on our students. Well, Sophia suggested that we have a gathering each year to remind us of Anne Frank’s wisdom and lessons. Between the President and Sophia a conference was born! I asked colleagues from various disciplines, off campus friends and students to create active sessions revolving around Anne Frank’s quote: “How wonderful it is that we need not wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” We had the day planned from 9am-5pm and at 9pm that night I had to kick the students out of the theater! “Its over everyone!” They seemed so thrilled to not just learn new information about issues they cared deeply about, but also to have new active tools to use in their pursuit of an improved world. We were clearly on to something. Fast-forward six years later, our annual conference is a social justice ritual of SUNY Buffalo State, where we have over 30 presenters from around the globe present sessions revolving around each year’s theme. The 2014 theme was Change Through Stories. It is a thrill to watch artists, activists, educators, professionals and clergy connect and share with our students. It's a doing conference where tools and vocabulary for world improvement are shared and taught. We have about 200 student volunteers each year. We receive about 4,000 attendees each year. It is quite gratifying.
What about your next theater
projects?
All of our theater projects are original or devised theater now. That means we (students and I) create original plays each year based on social justice themes…always of the student’s choice. Here’s our primary play creating schedule each year:
January: Take new group of students to Rwanda, Africa for 2-3 weeks. We explore post-genocide society including memorials, schools, villages, refugee camps, wildlife sanctuaries, prisons, families and friends. We experience first-hand the remarkable reconciliation Rwanda is achieving in 2o short years. We also spend 2-3 days collaborating with Rwandan theater artists to create an inspiration or draft of a play—we perform this inspiration together in Rwanda before returning home to Buffalo.
February-May: Take inspiration play from Rwanda and develop it into a full-length script and accompanying workshop to be performed on the campus of SUNY Buffalo State.
September-December: Tour the original (devised) play with workshop to local high (secondary) schools. This service is free of charge as part of the campus’ commitment to the public school system and community. Last year, our play DearMe toured to over 50 local schools.
The Anne Frank Project has got a lot of important missions. Supporting you, people can help The Anne Frank Project in Rwanda: supporters can help you to send a child to school, to provide electricity, and to distribute cows (cows in Rwanda enables families to nourish their children, fertilize fields and acquire income from surplus corps). Supporting you, people can also help The Anne Frank Project in the United States: supporters can help you offering AFP in the school programming free of charge to all local schools and can also help you to take students to Rwanda for a cultural exchange and immersion experience. Can people from all over the world, including Italy, donate to The Anne Frank Project and support your missions?
Absolutely! We are always honored to receive donations. We do receive funding from SUNY but just enough to produce our conference each year. We are always in need of contributions towards our Rwanda and school programming. 100% of all donations go directly to the focus point the donor requests. For instance, we have had several donors contribute to our schoolwork by funding our teaching-artists who bring the plays/workshops to the schools. I would love to pay them full-time some day! We have also had donors contribute to the travel costs for our students to go to Rwanda, Rwanda children’s school fees and, like you mention, towards a cow—you are correct in your explanation—one cow will not only change a family’s life, it will change the village’s life. Contributions can be discussed with me personally: [email protected]
We are deeply thankful for all of the generosity that comes our way. We are committed to helping children, like Anne Frank, continue to tell their stories so that they will be heard.
All of our theater projects are original or devised theater now. That means we (students and I) create original plays each year based on social justice themes…always of the student’s choice. Here’s our primary play creating schedule each year:
January: Take new group of students to Rwanda, Africa for 2-3 weeks. We explore post-genocide society including memorials, schools, villages, refugee camps, wildlife sanctuaries, prisons, families and friends. We experience first-hand the remarkable reconciliation Rwanda is achieving in 2o short years. We also spend 2-3 days collaborating with Rwandan theater artists to create an inspiration or draft of a play—we perform this inspiration together in Rwanda before returning home to Buffalo.
February-May: Take inspiration play from Rwanda and develop it into a full-length script and accompanying workshop to be performed on the campus of SUNY Buffalo State.
September-December: Tour the original (devised) play with workshop to local high (secondary) schools. This service is free of charge as part of the campus’ commitment to the public school system and community. Last year, our play DearMe toured to over 50 local schools.
The Anne Frank Project has got a lot of important missions. Supporting you, people can help The Anne Frank Project in Rwanda: supporters can help you to send a child to school, to provide electricity, and to distribute cows (cows in Rwanda enables families to nourish their children, fertilize fields and acquire income from surplus corps). Supporting you, people can also help The Anne Frank Project in the United States: supporters can help you offering AFP in the school programming free of charge to all local schools and can also help you to take students to Rwanda for a cultural exchange and immersion experience. Can people from all over the world, including Italy, donate to The Anne Frank Project and support your missions?
Absolutely! We are always honored to receive donations. We do receive funding from SUNY but just enough to produce our conference each year. We are always in need of contributions towards our Rwanda and school programming. 100% of all donations go directly to the focus point the donor requests. For instance, we have had several donors contribute to our schoolwork by funding our teaching-artists who bring the plays/workshops to the schools. I would love to pay them full-time some day! We have also had donors contribute to the travel costs for our students to go to Rwanda, Rwanda children’s school fees and, like you mention, towards a cow—you are correct in your explanation—one cow will not only change a family’s life, it will change the village’s life. Contributions can be discussed with me personally: [email protected]
We are deeply thankful for all of the generosity that comes our way. We are committed to helping children, like Anne Frank, continue to tell their stories so that they will be heard.
What’s the goal of The Anne
Frank Project?
It’s always nice to condense our busy project into a mission, thank you for asking this.
The mission of the Anne Frank Project is to use story-building as a vehicle to teach lessons in conflict resolution, community building and identity exploration. Inspired by the wisdom of Anne Frank, we are committed to continuing the stories of those stifled by oppression of any kind.
Why did you decide to call your Project with the name of Anne Frank?
This was due to the 2006 theater production of The Diary of Anne Frank that started it all. At the end of the day this is Anne Frank’s project. We use the term “project” because it is always moving forward, always developing, always exploring. Like Anne, we are intensely curious, passionate and committed. I think Anne Frank would have been an amazing actress!
Can you leave a message to the followers of BRIDGE to ANNE FRANK?
Telling our stories is not an option; it is a necessity. We must learn how to tell our stories well so that they will be understood, reflected upon and absorbed. The only reason anything positive has ever happened in the world is because someone decided to stand up and tell their story. The opposite is true as well: all negative events in our world (war, genocide, oppression) can be directly traced to stories being suppressed…untold…worse yet, when someone had a story to tell and chose not to tell their story. This is being a bystander, the most dangerous element of any conflict.
Tell us something that I didn’t ask you. Something more about The Anne Frank Project, your motto…
“In the end, we will remember not the voices of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Thank you so much for your precious answers! I wish you, all the staff and all the students of The Anne Frank Project all the success you deserve.
The thanks goes to you and your readers! What an honor to share the Anne Frank Project with our Italian brothers, sisters and family. We are all in this together—it is a pleasure connecting our “villages.” There are far more good things happening in this world than all of the bad things we hear about. You, your readers, your website and your work are all evidence of that. It’s been a pleasure and I look forward to future collaborations. Tikun Olam-Repair the World.
For more information, please visit: CLICK HERE
To download The Anne Frank Project free mobile app, please visit: CLICK HERE
To join The Anne Frank Project mailing list, to receive news and updates, please visit: CLICK HERE
It’s always nice to condense our busy project into a mission, thank you for asking this.
The mission of the Anne Frank Project is to use story-building as a vehicle to teach lessons in conflict resolution, community building and identity exploration. Inspired by the wisdom of Anne Frank, we are committed to continuing the stories of those stifled by oppression of any kind.
Why did you decide to call your Project with the name of Anne Frank?
This was due to the 2006 theater production of The Diary of Anne Frank that started it all. At the end of the day this is Anne Frank’s project. We use the term “project” because it is always moving forward, always developing, always exploring. Like Anne, we are intensely curious, passionate and committed. I think Anne Frank would have been an amazing actress!
Can you leave a message to the followers of BRIDGE to ANNE FRANK?
Telling our stories is not an option; it is a necessity. We must learn how to tell our stories well so that they will be understood, reflected upon and absorbed. The only reason anything positive has ever happened in the world is because someone decided to stand up and tell their story. The opposite is true as well: all negative events in our world (war, genocide, oppression) can be directly traced to stories being suppressed…untold…worse yet, when someone had a story to tell and chose not to tell their story. This is being a bystander, the most dangerous element of any conflict.
Tell us something that I didn’t ask you. Something more about The Anne Frank Project, your motto…
“In the end, we will remember not the voices of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Thank you so much for your precious answers! I wish you, all the staff and all the students of The Anne Frank Project all the success you deserve.
The thanks goes to you and your readers! What an honor to share the Anne Frank Project with our Italian brothers, sisters and family. We are all in this together—it is a pleasure connecting our “villages.” There are far more good things happening in this world than all of the bad things we hear about. You, your readers, your website and your work are all evidence of that. It’s been a pleasure and I look forward to future collaborations. Tikun Olam-Repair the World.
For more information, please visit: CLICK HERE
To download The Anne Frank Project free mobile app, please visit: CLICK HERE
To join The Anne Frank Project mailing list, to receive news and updates, please visit: CLICK HERE