Miep Gies, the last surviving protector of the Frank family, died yesterday.

We thought that made for a particularly poignant time to talk to writer/director Philip Odango of Norfolk’s Generic Theater. Odango’s soon-to-open play, Letters for a Young Girl, celebrates Anne Frank’s story from the perspective of a 13-year-old girl in Darfur going through modern day genocide. The play includes characters of all the Anne Frank figures, including Miep Gies.

Gies, on left, from an 1989 photo.

AltDaily: Yesterday saw the passing of Miep Gies, who not only helped hide Anne Frank and her family for two years, but later was instrumental in saving Anne Frank’s diary for posterity. I’m sure, as a playwright who has dealt extensively with Frank’s work, this news had an effect on you. What were your first thoughts when you heard?

Philip Odango: My thoughts were of the profound impact of the historical what-if, had Miep not preserved Anne’s diary. Had the pages been lost to time, Anne’s story would have just like that of the countless millions of voices that perished in the war, unheard and perhaps forgotten. Instead, Miep’s diligence in keeping Anne’s spirit alive serves as a testament to Miep’s willingness to protect Anne even after Anne’s death. Anne Frank’s story is enduring and endearing because of Miep Gies’ guardianship.

Do you remember the first time you read The Diary of a Young Girl? Did you connect to the story?

I read The Diary of a Young Girl in middle school, which began my vested interest in the Holocaust. I connected to the story on a literary and  imaginary level, similar to that of someone getting totally absorbed in someone else’s world through their eyes. Anne writes with such an astute observation that I could not help but feel immersed in her seemingly claustrophobic yet adventuresome narrative.

Children in Darfur.

What made you come back to the story now? And how did you make the connection between her story and of a child in Darfur?

I think Anne’s story stuck and never left me. Her narrative style had helped craft the voice in my head as a writer by inspiring me to make keen observations and translating them into storytelling experiences. Stories that transport the protagonist into imaginary worlds, such as The Chronicles of Narnia and Alice in Wonderland, have influenced my artistic intuition of finding parallel worlds in everyday situations. Having been well-read of the crisis in Sudan and having spoken with actress Mia Farrow on the topic, I draw similarities of the endurance of the human spirit in two people displaced in time, and where each serves as the other’s shadow self. The protagonist in my play is also female. Both her and Anne Frank are 13-year-old girls enduring war and genocide in different circumstances, separated by 60 years of history. Yet their story, the human story, is the same. In literary parallels, the girl in Darfur experiences the library book The Diary of a Young Girl similarly to how the heroine in E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Nutcracker experiences Drosselmeyer’s nutcracker toy.

I get the sense that the Holocaust and Anne Frank’s story are, for one reason or another, easier for Americans to sympathize with than the situation in Sudan and other modern African genocides. Is this something you agree with? If so, as a writer, did you marry these narratives as a way of helping audiences understand what’s happening in Darfur?

After World War II, the world said “never again”, and that proclamation seemed like a finite ending to a rather violent book. Although the occurrence of genocide continued following the Holocaust, it seemed rather unimaginable for contemporary people to measure any future atrocity to the scope and impact of the genocide in Europe. As a writer, I interpret “never again” as a steadfast imperative, and not a wavering question. Whether the atrocities occur in Rwanda, Khmer Rouge, Ethiopia or Darfur, there will always be a resilient 13-year-old girl making astute observations about her crumbling world while surviving to defy death. Whether it’s one race or another, the spirit of Anne Frank lives on through these untold lives, and these lives all share the common voice of “let me out and let me be free!”

The play.

Your play has a character based on Miep Gies, except in a modern, Sudanese form? What was your process for making this transformation?

The only character in the play that is Sudanese is the 13-year-old girl from Darfur. All other characters are Dutch or German, as based on their historical character. The Miep Gies we see in Letters is the character we read about in her book, as are the other characters living in the Secret Annex. It is as if the Darfurian girl awakens in Anne Frank’s shoes, however the events in Anne’s diary are happening inside a war-torn Sudanese hut. Like in The Nutcracker, the objects in Sudan familiar to the heroine become part of her imaginings of Anne’s stories.

What can you tell us about Miep Gies and her family that we probably don’t already know?

Her husband Jan was instrumental in the escape of the Frank family to their hiding place. Miep lived with no regret, and had she been given the opportunity to go back in time, she would have gladly done everything again the same way.

Gies put her life at risk to save the Franks. What do you see as the modern equivalent with Americans and Darfur? How can we be today’s Miep Gies?

Miep Gies did what she could with that she had. After the arrest of the other helpers who protected the occupants of the secret annex, Miep unsuccessfully tried to buy the freedom of her friends. Despite the danger and fear of prosecution, Miep bore witness and acted. In modern times, Miep serves as the example that we each must bear witness, for history will repeat itself. It’s a matter of choice of being a silent one or being one who takes a stand. As Anne expressed, it might not be now or hundreds of years from now, but such witness-bearing moments will present themselves to us, and we are given the choice to make a difference.

Do you feel that by helping the story live on through your play you are, in some way, channeling Gies’ spirit?

Writing the play nearly a year ago, I felt I was channeling the consciousness of those who have served as guides to others, whether these journeys be transpersonal or Herculean. These guides open within us portals: connective pockets of opportunity to bring each other to great understanding of our human experience. Anne Frank’s story creates within the girl from Darfur, within all of us, the opportunity to see the world from another’s eyes. Miep’s story of unwavering resilience in the face of danger behooves us in the present day to remember that Anne’s story is a universal one, and that we each can choose to be like Miep and take a stand.

Letters for a Young Girl runs January 28 – February 7  (Thursdays – Saturdays at 8 pm, Sundays at 2:30 pm) at the Generic Theater Down Under Chrysler Hall  (215 St. Pauls Blvd, Norfolk VA 23510). For more info, visit their website: http://www.generictheater.org