Rinne Groff's Compulsion officially opened at the Public Theater on Thursday, February 17. Oskar Eustis directed the production.

The play centers on Sid Silver (played by Mandy Patinkin), a man obsessed with the diary of Anne Frank. The character is inspired by Meyer Levin, the journalist and screenwriter who helped publicize the existence of the diary, and who came to believe that the chance to adapt it for the stage had been stolen from him.

The show, which is a co-production with Yale Repertory Theater and Berkeley Repertory Theater, also stars Hannah Cabell and Matte Osian.

Opening night guests included actors Liev Schreiber, Joan MacIntosh, and David Greenspan, directors Michael Greif, Nick Kent, and Leigh Silverman, playwrights Diana Son and Jonathan Marc Sherman, and Patinkin's wife, actress Kathryn Grody.