Synopsis
Slam Frank opens with an Artistic Director addressing the audience, explaining that they are attending the opening night of a small regional theatre company’s production. During his monologue, he delivers a confused land acknowledgment, praises the LGBT community, and announces that one actress quit during dress rehearsals, requiring an ensemble member to assume two roles.
Following a montage of contemporary news clips and political memes, the cast performs a musical number about going into hiding from the Nazis in 1942 (“Write It All Out”). Margot sings about feeling forced to hide, while Anita (Anne) performs an energetic rap about documenting everything happening around her. As the family settles into the attic, Edith, portrayed as a strong Black woman, instructs the household on how to behave in hiding. She chastises her husband Otto, characterized as neurodivergent, for being distracted by a fidget spinner used to manage his anxiety. Edith also rebukes Anita for attempting to assert a Latinx identity, insisting that her name is Anne and that she should model herself after Margot, who rarely speaks. Otto reminds Anita of the diary he gave her as an outlet for expression. The ghost of Anita’s abuela appears, urging her to write on behalf of her ancestors, leading Anita to begin journaling (“An Immigrant Girl”).
The Van Daan family arrives: Mr. Van Daan, depicted as a misogynistic white cisgender heterosexual man; Mrs. Van Daan, portrayed as a submissive trophy wife; and their son Peter. Mr. Van Daan is shown manspreading, dismissing his wife’s discomfort, while Edith complains to Otto, who fails to grasp the situation due to his neurodivergence. Anita expresses discomfort with Margot’s increasing Jewish religious observance and begins developing a romantic interest in Peter. Mr. Van Daan discards Peter’s dance shoes, claiming a need to conserve space. Peter confides in Anita about his feminine side, while Edith, Otto, and Mrs. Van Daan lament their respective struggles against societal expectations as a Black woman, a neurodivergent person, and a woman (“Fighting Expectations”).
As 1944 approaches, tensions rise over rationing (“Cabin Fever”). Edith and Mr. Van Daan argue over authority in the attic, with Edith asserting that the men must contribute more labor. Mr. Van Daan delivers a monologue about feeling threatened as an insecure white man, after which his actor physically crosses the stage to Edith, who responds with a piece of Black feminist slam poetry likening patriarchy to Jewish confinement in the attic.
Mr. Van Daan later forces Peter to exercise, while Edith encourages Mrs. Van Daan to leave her husband and provides her with feminist literature. When Mr. Van Daan mocks Anita’s diary writing, Peter defends her. A radio broadcast announces that the Dutch government plans to publish firsthand wartime accounts, including diaries, inspiring Anita to revise her writing for publication (“Rewrite My Diary”). Edith and Otto inform Anita that publication would require suppressing her Latinx identity and ceasing to write in Spanish. After being told she must be white, Anita is visited again by her abuela’s ghost (“Abuela I Can’t”), whom she rejects, calling her “grandma.”
Mr. Van Daan discovers Mrs. Van Daan reading feminist literature and angrily confronts her. Edith accuses him of being the source of the attic’s problems. When Mr. Van Daan demands his wife leave with him, she refuses. Edith, Mrs. Van Daan, and Anita perform a feminist anthem celebrating liberation (“Herstory”). As Mr. Van Daan departs, he and Otto share a moment lamenting that women cannot understand men as men understand each other. Otto misinterprets this interaction as romantic and attempts to kiss Mr. Van Daan, then apologizes, attributing the misunderstanding to his neurodivergence.
Following Mr. Van Daan’s departure, Margot lights Shabbat candles and reads from the Torah, drawing puzzled reactions. Anita confides in Peter that she previously had no one to talk to, disregarding Margot, and admits she has largely forgotten about the Nazis, focusing instead on familial stress. Peter reveals that he is non-binary, prompting Anita to identify as pansexual (“Something Between”). Otto comes out as gay, Edith as asexual, and Mrs. Van Daan as having a fetish. As the other characters replace their Star of David patches with pronoun pins, Margot silently gathers the discarded stars.
Struggling to write amid mounting pressure, Anita is again visited by her abuela, who urges her to reconnect with her roots. A surreal sequence depicts Anita’s childhood in the barrios of Frankfurt, a CIA-backed coup bringing Nazis to power, her family’s journey through German jungles, assistance from an Indigenous, shamanic Moses figure, and her grandmother’s death (“Don’t Forget Where You Came From”). Anita resolves to write her diary in Spanish rather than what she calls the colonizer language.
A radio announcement of the Allies nearing Amsterdam prompts reflection (“Aren’t You Grateful”). The characters discuss post-war plans, with Anita advocating continued activism across causes. The cast pledges various acts of allyship, including mutual sterilization to save the planet and ensure abortion access (“We Can Be Allies Too”). Margot finally speaks, proposing the creation of a safe space for people like them in Palestine (“Safe Space”). When Anita notes that people already live there, Margot dismisses the concern. The cast don black hats, exaggerated noses, and adopt caricatured movements associated with antisemitic imagery while singing about colonizing Palestine, extracting rent, conquering the Global South, and expanding empire. Margot urges Anita to remember her people.
In “Anita’s Decision,” Anita mourns that her family has become oppressors but reiterates her belief that people are good. Concluding that Jews inherently occupy space that does not belong to them, she writes a letter revealing the attic’s location and throws it from the window.
The Nazis arrive and execute each resident as they assert their identities, leaving Anita and Margot last. Margot confronts Anita, who argues that every Jew sacrificed saves thousands of lives. Margot silently removes her microphone and exits the show.
Adolf Hitler appears from the audience, applauds, reviving the cast, and announces that he has been inspired to transition into Adeleine Hitler. He declares the Holocaust canceled. The attic residents express relief that they no longer need to confront Palestine. Hitler praises Anita for changing the world. The cast, excluding Margot, performs a final number, advocating uncompromising pursuit of justice, including suppression of dissent (“Justice”). They remove their costumes, piling their shoes onstage, and reveal shirts bearing activist slogans—some of which overlap with Nazi rhetoric—as a montage plays featuring diverse groups alongside footage of antisemitic attacks and the Nova music festival massacre.
