NEW YORK, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Elie Hirschfeld of Hirschfeld Productions is co-producing "Oleanna" which officially opens on Broadway October 11th at the John Golden Theatre.

Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright David Mamet is tapped to write and direct a new version of The Diary of Anne Frank, studio officials said. Disney acquired the rights to film the new version of the film that Mamet will produce with Andrew Braunsberg, Variety reported Tuesday. The true story, written by a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis with her family, marks a somber direction for Disney, known for films such as The Little Mermaid, Return to Witch Mountain, and Mary Poppins, and television shows such as Hannah Montana and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. The book recounts Frank's family's two years living in secret in the annex of her father's office building in Amsterdam during the Holocaust.

The David Mamet play Oleanna, starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, is Broadway-bound after its Los Angeles run, Variety reported Tuesday. The show business publication said the Mamet play, which was first performed in 1992, would take up residence Oct.

The lights in New York's Broadway theater district are to be dimmed Wednesday night to mark the death of actor Ron Silver, Playbill.com said. Silver lost his battle with esophageal cancer and died Sunday. Th 62-year-old actor was perhaps best-known for his roles on TV's Rhoda and The West Wing.

Ron Silver, a Tony-winning actor, political activist and free-speech advocate, has died of cancer at his home in New York, his family said.