“It’s really a wonder that I haven’t dropped all my ideals, because they seem so absurd and impossible to carry out. Yet I keep them, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.” — Anne Frank, from “Diary of Anne Frank.”

Frank, despite life-threatening conditions, found a way to persevere and remain positive. Jane Cox, ISU Theatre director, says she thinks that is something worth commemorating.

“I really admire in real life and theatre, human beings with a kind of indomitable spirit — people who pick themselves up and try again, people who are courageous and try to go on with the hands that they were dealt,” Cox says.

Cox references historian Barbara Tuchman, who says in every time period throughout history there has always been more evil than good around, but evil has never managed to overcome good.

“The good has always survived,” Cox says. “I think that’s an important thing to think about.”

Cathryn Tell, junior in performing arts who plays Margot Frank in the play, says she agrees.

“I think the most important message is to realize that even though there are terrible things going on, something good can come out of something that is evil,” she says.

Cox says “Diary of Anne Frank” is still relevant because of the lessons it teaches.

Also, she says the performance will commemorate the upcoming 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Tell says it is important to remember that, although the experiences of Frank and many others seem like something of the past, similar things still occur.

“I believe that while we are improving our society, there are still many areas in which people are being oppressed,” Tell says. “I believe it’s relevant in the fact that there is an era that people find so appalling nowadays, and yet if we look at the society we live in and the cultures in other parts of the world, the exact same things are happening.”

The themes of the play, Cox says, are as important today as they were years ago.

“There is still a great need for human beings to treat one another with respect and dignity, and I think when we see the play it brings us closer to the characters, closer to those ideas,” Cox says.

She says live theater occurs in a setting that makes it easier to feel connected to characters than in videos and movies, and although many may know of Frank’s story — and even how it ends — Cox says seeing it live was moving.

“It was the second professional production I ever saw in the theater, and I still to this day can remember how I felt at the end,” Cox says. “Some of that comes from the fact that you know this story is true and these people existed.”

Although survivors of the Holocaust have told their stories, Cox says Frank’s story is different because it comes from the perspective of a young girl with many hopes and dreams.

“She even mentions in the script that she wants to be remembered after her death,” Cox says. “It’s amazing in some ways that her greatest wish for what her future was going to be happened. She did survive after her death.”

Who: “Diary of Anne Frank”

Where: Fisher Theater

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday

Cost: $7 student, $13 public