Post Classifieds
Anne Frank Project builds on Rwandan experience
By Jennifer Waters
On September 12, 2012
In 2006, the Buffalo State theater department produced "The Diary of Anne Frank."
Today, the project has taken her words of wisdom and transformed them into a yearly
conference with the vision to provide the world with the necessary tools to end social
injustice.
A trip to Rwanda back in January revived the project and gave its volunteers more
reason to spread the word about ending bigotry, hatred and violence.
This year's event will run today through Saturday as part of the Weeks of Welcome,
and will continue on throughout the semester with awareness events and theater
productions inspired by the project.
Over the summer, theater students and staff met to expand a show they created with
the Rwandan theater company, Mashirika, and performed it in front of a board of Buffalo
State faculty and students.
The ending production is entitled "When the Walls Come Down: Truth," and includes
original dialogue, songs and poetry written by students at both Buffalo State and
Mashirika.
The production started in Rwanda over three days of working with Mashirika to put
together songs, dialogue and dance. Students then spent the summer writing and
putting together songs and dialogue composed entirely of cast poetry.
"Not many theater students get the opportunity to write their own play," said junior
theater major Brittany Wysocki, who has been involved with the Anne Frank Project
since her freshman year.
"When the Walls Come Down: Truth" premiers tonight and then opens one week later
on Sept. 19. The students will be traveling to New York City in October to perform at a
world conference among other international theater companies, Wysocki said.
After the initial three days in January, Theater Department Chair Drew Kahn said the
end result was a play about similarities rather than differences.
The group used the knowledge they gained on their trip to create a vehicle for social
change.
"I felt I had some sort of responsibility to tell their stories and make sure we never
forget," said recent graduate Kara Ashby, who traveled to Rwanda in January. "People
are people and history repeats itself. We have to make sure it doesn't happen in this
case."
Among the convention events this year will be daily presentations running Monday
through Saturday. To help visitors organize and customize the convention, an app for
smart phones was developed.
"I think it's fantastic. It helps keep info current and updated so students know what's
going on," Wysocki said.
Wysocki said she interned last year and worked with conference coordinators to put
together the program for the app.
"It's a smart and easy way to get the technology out there, putting the conference in the
students hands," she said.
The student volunteers for the Anne Frank Project are working to take their mission
to local schools, teaching the use of storytelling to kindergarten through 12th grade
students who will then create their own play based on social activism.
Many of the student volunteers will also be presenting during the conference.
Senior theater major Shabar Rouse will be presenting a film on the second night that
was made by students who traveled to Rwanda, speaking through his own experiences.
"It's a constantly growing project that brings to life problems like genocide and bigotry
and provides an outlet for people to improve the world against social injustices," Rouse
said.
Also attending the conference this year are roughly 40 students from Ohio State, who
Kahn said want to start their own conference next year.
Jennifer Waters can be reached by email at waters.record@live.com.
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