Review Fix Exclusive: Monica Bauer Talks Anne Frank in the Gaza Strip

Review Fix chats with playwright Monica Bauer, who discusses her upcoming production “Anne Frank in the Gaza Strip.”

About The Production:

ISRAELIS AND MUSLIMS AND REPUBLICANS, OH MY! ANNE FRANK IN THE GAZA STRIP, WRITTEN BY MONICA BAUER, IS HEADED TO THE 2017 PLANET CONNECTION THEATRE FESTIVITY, WHICH RUNS JUNE 12 – JULY 9, 2017 AT THE CLEMENTE, 107 SUFFOLK STREET, NYC.

Playwright Monica Bauer‘s parable echoing the Wizard of Oz puts us in a world where Trump-supporters are the ruling majority and calling every tune. What will they think when Dorothy, the school drama teacher, casts a production of the Diary of Anne Frank with the title character played by a Muslim?? There’s no place like home! This open-hearted political satire is directed by Shaun Peknic (Assoc. Director, ONCE, on Broadway); and features Andrew Dahreddine, David M. Farrington, Aizzah Fatima, Bruce Jones, John Fico, Becca Lish, and Lauren D. Salvo.

“Anne Frank” performs June 24 @ 3:45 PM; June 25 @ 4:30 PM; July 2 @ 7:15 PM; July 6 @ 9:00 PM; July 8 @ 9:00 PM; and July 9 @ 1:00 PM. For tickets, visit PlanetConnections.org or call 866-811-4111.

Planet Connections Theatre Festivity are multiple theater, film and music festivals. Planet Connections’ artists use their work to shed light on causes that matter and inspire audiences to get involved. All of PCTF’s artists raise awareness for an organization or topic of their own selection.

Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?

Monica Bauer: I often get an image or idea in my head that sits in the back of my mind for a time, sometimes years, before it begins to grow into a play. In this case, I had written a song about Anne Frank as a modern child of war 15 years ago, and that ripened into one idea: a young girl, traumatized by war, who, under hypnosis, speaks in Dutch and claims to be Anne Frank. That girl turned into a Palestinian girl, and I tried to write a play just about that. But comedy kept creeping in, and then the Wizard of Oz showed up, and the girl who thinks she is Anne Frank became part of a play within a play!

Review Fix: What makes this different or special?

Bauer: Last year, I found out through DNA analysis that I am 71% Ashkenazi.I’m adopted, and was raised in a Polish Catholic family, so this has been an adjustment! It’s a different thing for me to write about Anne Frank and Israelis and Muslims now. And I’ve been revising the play in the first months of the Trump administration, in the shadow of the Muslim Travel Ban and the rise in Islamophobia. I have many lovely friends who happen to be Muslim, and Trump makes me crazy. So the politics of the play, and the chance to stick it to Trump through comedy, make it special right now.

Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process?

Bauer: This is the most complex play structure I have ever used, and at first I wasn’t sure I could pull off a play within a play within a play. And like the Wizard of Oz, we see some characters in the first scene in a realistic role, and in the later scenes that same person plays a different role that carries the same personality traits! But I rediscovered how much joy I could have in political comedy, and that carried me through and made the structure less an impediment and more of a surprisingly easy tool. It reminded me how much I love to make an audience laugh and think ad the same time.

Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of something like this?

Bauer: I’ve been associated with Planet Connections before, and was a finalist in their Playwrights for a Cause competition this year. so it feels like family. I divide my time now between living in sunny Arizona and coming to New York for theater work, so it’s exciting for me to feel at home with this great group of artists at Planet Connections.

Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?

Bauer: We hope to begin raising money to take the play next year to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The play was accepted by one of the Big Four theaters, but we didn’t have the money or the organization to take a company of 7 actors there this August. If we have a strong run, maybe this cast will want to help us raise the money to go next August. And there’s always the hope someone will produce it Off Broadway.

Review Fix: What do you think your audiences will enjoy the most?

Bauer: When most people think about a play with Anne Frank in the title, they don’t imagine comedy. We have a lot of surprises up our sleeves! I think the audience will fall in love with these characters, and be delighted by the clever Trump bashing we manage to sneak in along the way. And it’s in the best spirit of Anne Frank, who wrote that “despite everything, I still think people are good at heart.” It’s certainly more of a laugh riot than that other play about Middle East peace, Oslo.

Review Fix: What’s next?

Bauer:  I’m developing a two-actor adaptation of one of my most successful plays, which originally was staged with five actors on stage: “My Occasion of Sin.” The new title is “Riot Music, 1969,” and it’s a drama inspired by real events; the killing of a 14 year old black girl by a white policeman. I guess there’s something about young girls in danger that keeps coming up in my plays. I love writing comedy, but I’m equally at home making people cry.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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