As the opening date for the fall play, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” comes closer, students in the cast focus more on the details of every action during rehearsals and put the finishing touches on the set.

Since the beginning of September, preparations for “Anne Frank” have been underway and on Oct. 16, the actors conducted a typical rehearsal while also being observed and photographed by Sun Sentinel photographer Carline Jean. She was more than impressed with the students’ professionalism and their intricately designed set.

“I thought the set was beautiful, I saw a smaller replica of it and I thought [the students] did a great job creating it,” Jean said.
She also recognized the advanced mastery in the design for the set and this school’s uniqueness of students.

“It [the set] looks very professional,” Jean said. “I go to plays a lot and I would not have thought this to be done by students…but then again this is Dreyfoos.”

Theatre students worked hard to get into character, utilizing rehearsal coats, which are worn by the actors in order to “get into the time period” and also a series of warm-ups to set themselves in the correct state of mind to perform their respective part. Each student remained on stage throughout the rehearsal and as the students read their lines, the roof of the annex was being placed on top of the set, adding a new dimension to the typical, one-story set typically utilized by the department.

Throughout their rehearsal, students shared laughs with theatre teacher Bradley Barfield along with responding to critiques used to make the production accurate to the time period and situation, this included decisions as minute as to pull a string to turn on a light vs. twisting the bulb to create the most realistic actions as possible.