Second Street Players (SSP) is opening its 2026 season with the powerful and timeless drama The Diary of Anne Frank and is inviting local actors to audition for the production.
Director Marge Ventura will hold open auditions on Friday, October 24, and Saturday, October 25, 2025, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Riverfront Theater, 2 S. Walnut St., Milford. Callbacks, if necessary, will take place on Tuesday, October 28, at 6:00 p.m. at the same location.
“We’re looking for dedicated performers who can bring truth and emotional depth to these historic roles,” said Ventura. “Anne’s story continues to resonate across generations, reminding us of the enduring human spirit even in the darkest times.”
The play, which features a cast of five men and five women, tells the true story of Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl forced into hiding with her family and friends in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam in 1942. Through her diary, Anne documents the daily struggles, hopes, fears, and moments of joy within the confined attic where they lived for more than two years before their capture.
“The challenge of this production is its intimacy,” Ventura added. “The audience is drawn into the confined world of these characters—their laughter, despair, and courage. It’s a story that needs to be told and remembered.”
The diary, which was written by Frank during the time she hid from the Nazi’s, began when she was given a diary for her 13th birthday just before the family went into hiding. Originally, Frank called her diary “Het Achterhuis” or “Secret Annex,” and she wrote about events while the family was in hiding, short stories, and passages from books she read. She even began writing a novel. When the Minister of Education of the Netherlands, where the family was hiding, appealed to the population to hold onto war diaries and documents, Frank rewrote the diary into one running story.
Before she finished, however, the family and others hiding in the Secret Annex were discovered and arrested. Two of the people helping them hide were able to take Frank’s documents and hide them before the annex was ordered emptied. Frank and her sister, Margot, died of typhus in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Her mother, Edith, died in Auschwitz. Only Frank’s father, Otto, survived and he made it his life’s mission to tell her story. Until he died in 1980, he fought to keep her story alive, a mission that continues with the Anne Frank House. Her diary has been translated into over 70 languages and has been adapted for both stage and screen.
Performances are scheduled for January 30, 31, February 1, and February 6–8, 2026. Those auditioning must be available for all show dates and rehearsals during the two weeks prior to opening night. Auditions will include cold readings from the script.
Anyone with questions may contact Ventura at [email protected]. Additional information, including casting details, is available on the SSP website at www.secondstreetplayers.com.
The Diary of Anne Frank is produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service. Second Street Players emphasizes diversity and inclusion in all aspects of its productions. This show is supported, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
