Anne Frank and an Afro-Latin Hip-Hop musical may seem like strange theatrical bedfellows but they are the premise for Slam Frank, an edgy production that reimagines Anne Frank’s story through an intersectional, multiethnic, genderqueer, Afro-Latin hip-hop lens.
Originally seen in 2025 at Asylum NYC, the musical is back in previews as of September 17 and running through November 30, 2026 at the Off-Broadway Orpheum Theatre (126 2nd Avenue, NYC), with the official opening night October 4, 2026.
Critically acclaimed, the production features scenic design by Adam Koch, costume design by Sarah Lockwood, and lighting design by Jamie Roderick. Gage Baker is the sound designer, Zack Lobel is the video designer, Nicholas Ferarri is the associate video designer, and Devin Orr is the props designer.
The original production was performed on an empty stage with an LED wall, so Koch started with a blank slate for the Orpheum, where the LED wall is double the size and the scenic elements reimagine Anne Frank's attic. Live Design chats with Koch about his design...
Live Design: Why the decision to add a set now?
Adam Koch: Infamously, Slam Frank found its voice and its audience in the original developmental production at Asylum NYC, where it was staged with the bare essentials – props, costumes, and a video backdrop. But then, with a carefully tested script in hand and looking toward the next incarnation, director Sam LaFrage and the creative team slowly built a larger design vision to express the story's other textures and atmospheres. It’s the natural dream for a new show to test small, and then expand with more design elements for its next chapter once it’s proven itself.
LD: How would you describe the set and does it represent various locations - where you limited by the size of the "real estate?"
AK: With the charmingly rugged Orpheum auditorium and stage as a backdrop, the Slam Frank production design creates the impression of an off-hours warehouse nightclub, being used by a community theater group to earnestly (though perhaps misguidedly) present their production of Anne Frank. And in the spirit of that amateur sensibility, I thought a chaotic collection of cliché scenic elements would be funny: scaffolding, a rolling staircase, festoon lights, a neon sign, and, of course, suggested ‘attic’ gables not based on any historical research.
It’s also a scrappy production at heart, and all the scenic elements are easily (and cheaply, or freely) acquired. It’s a blessing for a small show to get a full production in a larger theater, but an overblown, overdesigned set, skillfully built and crafted, would undermine what made this cult-hit fun and subversive to begin with.
LD: What was your design process – do you build a model or do any 3D rendering?
AK: Director Sam LaFrage initiated the process with a lot of great mood boards and visual research, which made his vision crystal clear. Structurally, I started by researching the size and shape of different types of readily available scaffolding products, and using those as 'building blocks,' cut, twisted, and Frankenstein-ed a surrounding stage structure that acted like the skeleton for all the other elements to hang on and within. The talented designer and scenic associate Clayton Dombach expanded those drawings into 3D models to explore the intricacies of the construction.
LD: How did you collaborate with the lighting designer
AK: Both lighting designer Jamie Roderick and video designer Zack Lobel have been dream collaborators, and I think were excited to have a fuller stage design to create within. The physical set is entirely shaped around bringing focus to the central video screen, like the jewel in our crown. And the chaotic set surround is really nothing more than a practical structure to hang lights on, which Jamie has to full effect, which I love.
All photos by Shawn Salley