Reexamining My Portrayal of Otto Frank

Myself as Otto Frank, and the great young actress, Emily Beck, as Anne Frank.

I was wrong.

I hate to admit it, but I was.

I recently had the honor of playing Otto Frank in Purlie Production's The Diary of Anne Frank.  Otto is Anne's father, and is responsible for helping his and his business partner's families hide from the Nazis during World War II.  I was familiar with the story, and I knew that Anne had a stubborn streak of optimism that shown through even their darkest times.  I reasoned that she got that from her father.  If you read the diary, you will see that although she often reflects bitter antagonism towards her mother, she is respectful and loving towards her father.

I did my best to emphasis that optimism and sense of hope in Otto.  I felt like he had made his decision to stay in Amsterdam because he thought things would be bad but not that bad.  That it was worth staying to wait them out, and besides, Otto was a successful businessman and employer.  There were people who were his great friends, like those who were helping hide them.  Why give all that up by starting over in another country?  This is something he had already done by moving from Germany to the Netherlands.  Maybe he didn't want to start over again.

As things got worse, and it became clearer that there was a greater danger than he realized, he tried to stay as encouraging as he could.  He refused to fall into despair, and always did things to help the group endure and focus on hope.

But I was wrong.

Otto Frank did not just simply try to ride it out.  He did try to escape, much further out than Amsterdam. According to documents released in 2007, as discovered by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, Otto Frank sought out a visa for his family to go to the United States.  A visa request that the United States turned down.

So instead of escaping to the United States, they hid in an attic.  Eventually, all were killed except Otto. They were valiant.  They were brave.  They were hopeful.  But in the end, the Nazis found them.  

It seems harsh, but maybe we just don't understand those times.  I mean, couldn't the Nazis have snuck spies and saboteurs in the mix of Jewish refugees?  And after all, we are a Christian country, aren't we?  Why let in people of other faiths?  How much more Christian can you get than denying help and aid to the alien, the stranger, the persecuted, those in need of help to save their lives?  I mean, what kind of a country do you think we are?

And now I need to rethink my portrayal of Otto Frank.  He knew more than I thought he knew.  He knew enough to try to get out of the country.  I need to reflect this new knowledge and use it in the way I bring his character across.  I'm not quite sure how to do that just yet.  But I'm thinking on it.  It's a great acting challenge, but that's okay.  I like to be challenged in theater.

The Diary of Anne Frank is an important play with an important message, and it needs to be told over and over again.  Because we can't let it happen again.

Maybe I'm overly pessimistic.  The United States has grown and evolved, hasn't it?

If another crisis happened, where hundreds of thousands were being threatened with violence and persecution and needed to escape, the United States would step up to it's global responsibilities and take it's fair share of refugees.  We wouldn't let hatred and fear and intolerance rule us.

Would we?

UPDATE November 13, 2016.

I was wrong again.

The United States has not grown or evolved.  All  the things I feared have come about, or at least we have elected the man who has vowed to head us in that direction.

I will continue to pray for the United States, and for all those whose lives are now threatened.

May God help us all.

On the Meaning of A Christmas Carol: Saturday Political Soap Box 81

I love performing in A Christmas Carol.

When I am fortunate enough to play Scrooge, as an actor I revel in the range of emotions the character goes through, the change from selfish ogre to generous and kind patron to those around him, and as the story implies to assist those around him in what ways he can, AND to assist ALL the children living in ignorance and want ALL around the world.

Regardless of what part I play (Fezziwig seems like a juicy part to me), I still love to be part of the message of this show.  I can't think of a more special and important Christmas message.

Here is the message:  We need to care for each other or we are doomed.

What good does all the money in the world do us, if we have earned it by impoverishing others?  Who are we if we pay our employees whatever little the social and economic system lets us get away with, knowing and not caring that they will not have enough to get by on?

Scrooge learned through the Cratchit family the harsh realities of his disregard and mistreatment of those he employed.  He observed their meager existence, and the vulnerabilities and lack of decent health care Tiny Tim and the family had to endure.  He reformed and began to treat Bob Cratchit as a fellow human being and not just as a cog in his profit-generating wheel.

Scrooge learned through Marley that "mankind was his business".  That if his firm and activities were not contributing to the profit of his firm, but also to the "profit" and welfare of mankind as a whole, then he was accomplishing nothing.

Scrooge learned through the Ghost of Christmas Past all the real human emotion, contact and love he had given up in his worship of the "Mammon" idol.

Scrooge learned through the Ghost of Christmas Present of the joy he was missing, of how the Cratchits loved each other despite their meager resources, how Tiny Tim would suffer because of those limited resources, and how children all over the world were being hurt and left out by an unnecessarily cruel and selfish system.  That the punitive measures that Scrooge supported, the prisons and workhouses, were cruel and horrible hoaxes, that merely punished the poor for being poor.  He needed to do more, and others needed to do more, to relieve the suffering caused by their own greed.

The poor will always be with us, you say?  SO WHAT!!!  Does that mean you would stop the never ending struggle to make the world a better place?  I think not!

Scrooge learned through the Ghost of Christmas Future the effects of his lack of caring would lead to, not just to his lonely and isolated death, but to the death of Tiny Tim, symbolic of all those left vulnerable to a system centered on greed and income inequality.

After his transformation, Scrooge gave to everyone he saw.  He forgave and extended a loan, realizing that there were circumstances that warranted extension.  He gave to children that were fighting.  He even gave to a blind beggar, who, as it turns out can see (only in our play script version - I doubt if this is in the Dickens original version).  Scrooge is so giddy he doesn't even care.  If there is a choice between not giving because he feels he's being taken, or giving without conditions, he'll take that chance.  He sees the man who earlier approached him about the charity to help the poor, people Scrooge does not EVEN know, and he gives generously to it.

Dickens was trying to make a commentary about the system as a whole.  Scrooge is only representative of the worst elements of that system.  Would Scrooge or Dickens support efforts to make the government more caring, generous or supportive?  Of course they would!  You can't change the system without ACTUALLY changing the system!

Dickens wrote in a time when income equality was an ugly, brutal problem.  As it is a growing problem today.  And I pray in some small measure that this play wakes up at least a few people.  To be more generous, kind and caring.  To rethink the focus on the idol money, and on to the value of caring about others, in our actions both on a personal level, and also to mankind as a whole.

It's what Dickens would have wanted.

It's what Jesus would have wanted.

Merry Christmas!

God bless us, EVERYONE!

Black Friday: The Dark Madness Descends

Like it or not, it has reached the level of "holiday."  It is a day that many keep track of, look forward to (?), and "celebrate." If it is not the equivalent to Thanksgiving or Christmas  it is at least the equal to the start of deer hunting season.

I understand the necessity to kick start the retail season.  Our economy, for better or worse, is based on consumption and spending.  When money circulates, everyone does better.  It just isn't pleasant to look at up close.

There is just such an unfortunate juxtaposition with Thanksgiving   Here we have a holiday designed to put us in a reflective mood, appreciative,  thankful for those blessings that we do have, only to be followed by a mass orgy of greed and coveting.  One where you seek out so-called bargains with such intensity that you are willing to trample others and push them aside.  It is like the inverse of mardi gras and lent.

And what's even worse is that Black Friday is creeping into Thanksgiving.  Stores anxious to be the first to get the mad rush of shoppers have moved their start time to Thursday evening.  I read an article that was treating Best Buy as a model of restraint because they were going to wait until open until midnight.  Insane!

Some of the retail workers are starting to raise objections to this madness, and other poor working conditions and low wages they suffer through.  There are even signs that in some places, Wal-Mart workers may strike.  I say more power to them!  This economy won't truly turn around until service workers are given dignity and living wages!  I support every effort of service/retail workers to improve themselves.

I cannot tell you personal stories of Black Friday.  We don't go.  We are content to stay at home (or, at some points in our lives - had to work) and enjoy less hectic things.  Alison and I went once a long time ago, pre-Benjamin, to a Wal-Mart Black Friday opening.  It was such a fight just to get in the store and even get a shopping cart, that we just left empty-handed.  I'm not a huge fan of blind, rabid crowds.

This year I did have a friend whose young son was having his birthday on Thanksgiving day, and she wanted to get him a Nintendo Dsi XL.  She went to Wal-mart on Wednesday night in hopes of finding him one.  There were none on the shelves.  She asked a clerk to check the back for her.  After a very long time, she finally realized that that clerk was never coming back.  She found another clerk who did go back to check.  When he came back he told her there were a hundred DSi's back there!  Only thing was they were all designated for Black Friday and that he could not bring her one.  Even if she was willing to pay regular price.  Even it was a special gift for a little boy whose birthday was Thanksgiving.  INSANE!

We need to come up with a different plan.  Cyber shop. at least during this period of insanity.  Concentrate on local merchants instead of big box retailers.  Anything but this!

So next Black Friday I hope to be doing the same thing I am this Black Friday.  Relaxing in my pajamas, enjoying my family, and venting on my blog.  Ain't life grand?

A Philosophy of Swearing

What is swearing?

The common understanding seems to be a list of forbidden words, the use of which, because of their connotative meanings, seems to offend groups of people.  Some have a long list of these words, others may concentrate on using god's name in a curse, such as "God damn it!"

The biblical admonition to not take the Lord's name in vain has nothing to do with any of that.  It has do with the misuse of the deity's name in making an assertion as true that you are doing something in the name of God that you are actually doing in the name of you.  So forcing other's to your will by claiming that the you are representing the Lord when you are clearly not would be a big no-no.  For example, if you say you are taking up the mantle of Christ but do absolutely nothing to change your lifestyle, then you have taken the Lord's name in vain.  If a country has a military goal and they wrap it in the mantle of religion (God is telling us to go and conquer so an so), you are using the Lord's name in a vain and deceptive manner.  If you say you are doing something because "God told you to", and no such thing occurred, you are taking the Lord's name in vain.  If you tell your congregation that only way to assure yourself of God's blessing is to give you lots of money, you are taking the Lord's name in vain.  Politicians are constantly twisting religion to justify their positions - you don't even want to get me started on that.

To me, swearing is most importantly using language in an exploitative or abusive manner designed to either force people to do what you want or demean them.  In that case, it is not a specific set of words but what your intent in using any set of words is.  When a student gets a bad grade and the teacher says, "Well, I suppose that is the best I could expect from someone like you" that teacher has used language in a swearing, demeaning destructive way.  When someone use the n word, in our culture, they are telling  the person or people that they are inferior, beneath them, worthless.  Swearing can even be done by a non-verbal attitude or stance.  Swearing is the language of control, exploitation and destruction.

Words have meaning and power, but those meanings shift over time and cultures. What is considered awful in one generation is considered harmless in another.  We should not focus solely on a list of forbidden words.

I have tried to teach my boys to use language in a respectful way.  I have tried to teach them not to use language in a destructive way.  I have not taught them a list of forbidden words (except the n word).   I  do tell them to be attentive to their audience and adjust their language accordingly.  We are all human and slip up.  Place love and faith at the center, and that will help see you through.