DVHS Drama is back with the tragic yet heartwarming play, “The Diary of Anne Frank”, shown Nov. 12-14 at 7 p.m.

A 1953 stage adaptation of the book “The Diary of a Young Girl”, the play features Anne Frank (sophomore Marie Bast), a young Jewish girl who hides with her family during the Holocaust to avoid being taken to a concentration camp. Sheltered in a sympathetic German family’s attic, she documents the events that occur in her daily life and portrays the fear and despair that a typical Jewish family may experience during this time period.

Unlike previous productions performed by the DVHS Drama program, which were mainly comedies that consisted of lighthearted content such as “Almost, Maine!”, “Aida”, “In-laws, Outlaws, and Other People (That Should Be Shot)” and “Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat”, the tragic history and dramatic, touching script of “The Diary of Anne Frank” makes for a darker production.

The drama program’s teacher and production director Paul Vega acknowledges that this play is a more dramatic and somber piece of theatre compared to the past couple years of comedies.

“[We] like to change it up every year,” he says. “We’ll be known for comedies one year, [and] then dramas the next, [and] then comedies again.”

According to Vega, “the cast is much closer” because of the background history of the play. The cast is also much smaller than those of previous productions because of limited roles, but a large portion of it consists of returning actors familiar to the DVHS stage, including Bast and seniors Dillon Aurelio-Perata and Devyn Diolazo. Even though the main character is clearly Anne Frank, the production is still considered an ensemble piece with its other supporting characters.

Although based off of a horrific moment in history, “The Diary of Anne Frank” incorporates a variety of emotions, indulged with sorrow and suffering but, as Vega claims, sprinkled with “funny…and heartwarming moments that everyone can learn from”.