The Iconic and Intimate Writings of Anne Frank and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Were Shared During a Special Performance at QPAC
Actors Olivia Konteatis and Marcel Daly brought history to life during Wednesday’s performance of Letters from Anne & Martin held at QPAC as part of a collaboration between the QCC-CUNY LGBTQIA+ Consortium, Kupferberg Holocaust Center, (KHC) and QPAC in a semester-long project entitled “Performance as Prevention.”
This two-person short play, attended by members of the College and surrounding community, highlighted the lives of Anne Frank and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., featuring the direct words from The Diary of Anne Frank and Dr. King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.
Marcel Daly is an actor, teaching artist and musician originally from Bellevue, Nebraska. Since graduating from the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Vocal Performance Bachelor Program with a focus in Musical Theatre, Marcel has performed across the US and internationally at theatres such as Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City, Rose Theatre of Omaha Nebraska, as well as toured with UNO Jazz Asia Tour through Shizuoka, Japan and Beijing, China.
Olivia Konteatis is a New York based actor and singer. She is a graduate of NYU Tisch and The New Studio on Broadway and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fish Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
Audience members were welcomed by Susan Agin, Executive and Artistic Director of QPAC and Dr. Phyllis Curtis-Tweed, Provost, Academic Affairs, who offered greetings on behalf of President Christine Mangino. Following the performance, the actors and educator Deb Radloff from the Anne Frank Center USA participated in a talk back with the audience about the parallels between the two figures and their moments in history, as well as how we can learn from Anne Frank and Dr. King to combat intolerance today.
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