There’s no arguing the importance of the topic of “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank.” The  question at the heart of Ovation’s current production – can ethnic cleansing happen again while the world collectively looks elsewhere?

 

But it also feels a little disingenuous. Just look around our world. When did it ever stop?

 

Ovation’s production at the Aronoff’s Fifth Third Bank Theater plays like a community troupe doing educational theater, which might account for the smattering of an audience on opening night. At 70 intermissionless minutes, the play is also the correct length for a theatre-in-the-classroom.

The best element of “And Then They Came for Me” is also the element that undermines the live performance.

 

Video interviews with childhood friends of Anne Frank who did survive the Holocaust play above the stage with the quartet of actors then taking us back in time to act out “scenes” of their experiences. Nothing is more powerful than these oral histories. The live performances seem like interruptions of their recollections, which, for all their matter-of-factness, send chills down your spine.

 

Andrew Ian Adams has good energy and Ilse Apestegui is in touch with her characters, but the whole is boringly presentational for a typical adult theatergoer

“And Then They Came for Me,” through Feb. 16, Ovation Theatre, Aronoff Center Fifth Third Bank Theater, 513-621-2787 and www.cincinnatiovation.com.