The Hiding Place is the place to be in May

By Anne Eickstadt

SUBMITTED PHOTO Belvidere Daily Republican
Betsie, Nollie, and Corrie ten Boom (1905) all have a their own impact in The Hiding Place by the Main Street Players of Boone County.

Editor

The Main Street Players of Boone County will be presenting The Hiding Place, the true story of Corrie ten Boom this month. The ten Boom family were devout Christians living quiet, ordinary lives as watchmakers in Holland when the Nazis invade and occupy their country. This is the true story of the ten Boom’s efforts to help the persecuted, the family’s subsequent arrest and imprisonment, and their incredible faith.

“We’re trying to branch out and try different things to appeal to many different people,” said director Gary Tate. “I had read the book, many years ago. I saw the movie. I visited her house. I thought it was great – it has so many different levels. I’ve been wanting to do it for some time and I offered to direct.

“The show starts out in 1964 when Corrie goes back to Ravensbruck, East Germany, where she had been held in a notorious women’s concentration camp. She is now in her late 70s, speaking at a church. At the end of her speech, a guard who had been mean to her at the camp, asked her forgiveness.

“The show then flips into the past to 1940 when the whole ordeal started. The play only covers the time period from the Nazis arrived to ten Boom’s time in the concentration camp where she was cruelly treated.

“This is not a children’s play. Millenials don’t know anything about the Holocaust. Plays like this may help them understand so it won’t happen again.

“I have been to Auschwitz,” Tate said. “It was originally built as an army camp. It was unbelievable. They put us into the gas chamber, closed the door, and turned out the lights. Bruchhausen was built as a concentration camp.

“All the people in Main Street Players are doing research on that time and those circumstances. Cody is studying this in school. That is why he is in the play.

“This is a great experience. I think they [MSP] are doing a great job. It’s a deep play. It’s going to be remarkable.”

Character/Actor list:

Corrie ten Boom – Julie

For complete article, pick up the May 2 BDR.