Through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities’ “United We Stand” initiative, the MHC has partnered with New Stage Theatre to tour the timely drama, Anne & Emmett, to various schools around the state. MHC is offering a public performance April 17. 2024 at Forest Hill High School followed by an audience discussion with the cast.
Anne & Emmett is a powerful and emotional play which focuses on an imaginary conversation between Anne Frank and Emmett Till, both victims of racial intolerance and hatred. The play is set in a place called “Memory” where the teenagers explore the similarities of their lives and the oppression from which the world was unwilling or unable to protect them.
In a remarkable juxtaposition, both Anne and Emmett share their stories in the manner characteristic of teenagers. Despite their physical distance from the violence embedded in the place called Memory, they openly discuss the injustices they confronted and the sequences of events that led to their tragic fates. These dialogues highlight the disconcerting parallels between their experiences.