Shalom Baer Gee/MDN The set for The Diary of Anne Frank is ready for opening night on Friday, Jan. 21.

Mouse River Players will present the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” written by playwrights Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett in 1955 and based on the book, “Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl.”

The play will run Jan. 21-23 and Jan. 28-30 at the Mouse River Players’ theater in downtown Minot. Tickets are available at mouseriverplayers.com or the box office.

Anne Frank was a young Dutch-German teenager of Jewish descent who hid from the Nazi Germans in an annex behind a bookcase with her family in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from 1942-1944. She had extensive diaries that chronicled her time in the annex and her experience as a teenager growing up.

The play will be Heather Speer’s directorial debut. Speer has been involved in theater since middle school, about 25 years. She became involved with Mouse River Players in 2017 when she and her family moved to Minot for her husband’s job with the railroad.

“When I was offered being the director of this play I was so excited because since I was young, I have loved the story of Anne Frank,” Speer said. “It was just perfect that I get to direct this one. I don’t know that a lot of people know exactly what happened.”

There are 10 cast members in The Diary of Anne Frank — seven adults and three teens. Speer’s daughter Abigail will play the lead role as Anne Frank. Abigail is 13 years old, the same age as Anne Frank when she entered hiding in the annex.

“I’m a similar age and I kind of have the same personality. I’m pretty outgoing and Anne was very outgoing and wanted to not go with the flow. She wanted to make her own path,” Abigail Speer said.

She also read “Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl” a few years ago, and that gave her some insight into the character she’ll be playing.

“It was interesting learning what her life was and what it was like in the annex and how stressful that would have been and how hard it was,” she said.

Abigail Speer said that she is a little nervous about the role because of the number of lines she will have to remember, but overall, she feels up to the task.

“I am very ecstatic about this role,” she said. “It’s the biggest role that I’ve ever had so it’s been very exciting but also challenging because there’s a lot of lines and a lot of blocking. I never leave the stage except for costume changes.”

The director said the play is very emotional, and the cast has done a good job at portraying those emotions throughout rehearsals.

“You’re gonna laugh and cry,” she said. “The emotions of it and how the cast brings those back to life are just incredible.”