The Hiding Place*

As a young lady, Corrie was smitten with Karel, a friend of her brother. But Karel only thought of Corrie as a good friend, and he married someone else. Corrie had many difficult situations in her life.. and her father was a wise and strong man who gave her much strength. The play jumps to World War II, and the ten Boom house in Holland is being used as a safe haven for Jews. Corrie’s sister Betsie is concerned about their involvement in the underground, but they get in heavy, and soon the house is raided and all are beaten and taken off to jail. Act 2: Corrie and Betsie end up in Germany in Ravensbruck camp, that seems like hell itself. Betsie dies there, and Corrie tells the audience all of her emotions as she deals with her sister’s death. In the final scene, she meets a man who was a guard at the camp and he asks her forgiveness. Again she tells the audience of all her feelings. An emotional drama with a powerful message of forgiveness and of God being with us even in the deepest pit.  One of my more popular and favorite Christian plays.

Cast of 21 adults, (11 male, 10 female) plus extras. 60-75 mins.

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

CORRIE:  (May be played by two actresses or one using makeup… starts as a 23 year old… then 50.)  140 lines of dialogue
PETER:  (Corrie’s nephew, son of Nollie.  In his 20’s… older if you like but modern day would make him about 80 or 90) 80 lines
BETSIE:  (Corrie’s older sister.  weak in health…but strong in faith.  In her 50’s) 70 lines
CASPER:  (Casper ten Boom, Corrie’s father.  Ages from 50 to 75.  Full beard.  wise, soft spoken man)  48 lines
KAREL:  (A friend of Willem’s from college whom Corrie was smitten with.  In his late 20’s) 30 lines
WILLEM:  (Corrie’s brother.  A newlywed and young pastor… in his 20’s.  Probably has a beard) 11 lines
TINE:  (Willem’s wife.  Also in her 20’s) 7 lines
KIK:  (Willem’s son.  18-20) 13 lines
SMIT:  (Name is not really Smit.  Age not really known.)  17 lines
EUSIE:  (A Jewish man hiding at the ten Boom house.  Name is Meyer Mossel, early 30’s… balding, smokes pipe) 6 lines
META:  (A Jewish lady also hiding there.  Age not known.)  5 lines
MARY:  (Older Jewish woman…  has asthma.) 2 lines
WILLEMSE:  (Plain clothes man from the Gestapo) 12 lines
KAPTEYN:  (Plain clothes man from the Gestapo) 15 lines
GESTAPO AGENT:  (A Gestapo agent… also plain clothes) 7 lines
YOUNG WOMAN:  (appears briefly with Karel.  No lines)
WOMAN ARRESTED:  (Lines are offstage… any age)
THE SNAKE:  (Female in charge of prisoners at concentration camp) 14 lines
GUARD:  (Cruel guard at concentration camp) 20 lines
PRISONERS #1 & #2:  (Lady prisoners) 1 or 2 lines
MIEN:   (Lady prisoner who befriends Betsie and Corrie) 5 lines
NURSE:  (At camp hospital) 1 line
EXTRAS:  (Female prisoners, male and female guards, pastor at church service, woman arrested in scene 5, parishioners)

Excerpt:

Betsie: Father… did Corrie tell you that we are having a visitor this
morning?

Father: Besides Kik? (she nods) No.. who is our guest?

Betsie: Its a Mr. Smit.

Father: Does he need a watch repaired?

Betsie: No, Father, he is not a customer.

Father: Where do we know him from?

Betsie: Well.. we don’t know him. He is coming to inspect the house.

Father: Inspect the house? For what? Do we have bugs? I don’t remember
seeing any bugs?

Betsie: No… we don’t have bugs. It is not that kind of inspection.
Father, it is so we can help people.

Father: That is good. We should always be willing to open our home to
anyone who needs help.

Betsie: Ya.. that is what we think too. So now, we need to have the house
inspected. Father, it is so we can hide the Jews.

Father: Are we getting new Jews? They come and they go… but they don’t
seem to stay long. I like to talk with them. God has brought them here for
a reason.. so we must share Christ with them. I start with the old
testament… it is a common ground.

Betsie: Ya.. and when the gestapo comes.. we must be able to hide the Jews.
Corrie told you about that, didn’t she?

Father: What’s that?

Betsie: That we must hide the Jews! We must build a place for them to
hide.

Father: We have lots of rooms.. they cannot hide there?

Betsie: We have to fool the gestapo.

Father: They are already fools. Anyone who says we must hate someone just
because they are Jewish is a fool. How can they tell anyway. I could say
that I am a Jew. If we all said we were Jews then they could not tell who
was and who wasn’t.

Betsie: That would not be the truth, Father.

Father: Ya.. we must always be truthful. (doorbell rings)

Corrie: (from off stage) I’ll get it.. that will be Mr. Smit.

Betsie: Mr. Smit is here, Father. Now you musn’t ask too many questions.

Father: (continuing his thought) Now.. there are some that you can tell.
They have that face.. you know.. that Jewish face. Sometimes their names
give them away… They should change their names.. This Smit, is he a Jew?

Betsie: I don’t know.. no.. I don’t think so. We don’t know very much
about him. But that is the way they want it. Corrie and I will show him
around the house. (Corrie enters with Mr. Smit. Corrie has aged to 50
years… an older actress can be used or make up to make her look about 50)

Corrie: This is my sister, Betsie and our father, Casper ten Boom. Father,
this is Mr. Smit.

Father: Smit. I know several Smits in Amsterdam. Are you by any chance
related to the family who-

Corrie: (interrupting) Father, this is the man I told you about. He’s come
to, ah, inspect the house.

Father: A building inspector? Then you must be the Smit with offices in
the Grote Hout Straat. I wonder that I haven’t-

Corrie: (interrupting) Father! He’s not a building inspector, and his name
is not Smit.

Father: Not Smit?

Smit: For my own protection and also for yours.. I do not use my real name.
Smit is a common name used in the underground.

Corrie: He is really here to see about building a place to hide the Jews.
I met him through Pickwick.

Father: I simply cannot understand a person being called by a name not his
own.

Corrie: This way, Mr. Smit. (she leads him to the stairway)

Father: (to himself) I once knew a Smit on Koning Straat…

Corrie: We hide the ration cards beneath the bottom step. (she shows him)

Smit: Good. And how do you warn people.

Corrie: This sign in the window. It’s a warning sign. (she takes triangle
shaped wooden sign that reads “Alpina watches”) As long as the sign
advertising Alpina watches is in the dining room window.. then it is safe to
enter.

Smit: Good.

Betsie: And we have a special hiding place behind the cupboard for jewelry,
silver coins and other valuables. Whoever built this house left a crawl
space there. (Corrie goes to the spot and shows him)

Smit: (shaking his head) First place they’d look. Don’t bother to change
it though. It’s only silver. We are interested in saving people, not
things. (he begins up the stairs..pounding on the walls and kicking the
steps.. he and Corrie enter into her bedroom… at the higher level. lights
come up on bedroom..and down on main stage) What an impossibility! What an
improbable, unbelievable, unpredictable impossibility! Miss ten Boom, if
all houses were constructed like this one, you would see before you a less
worried man. (looks around the room) This is it! You want your hiding
place as high as possible. Gives you the best chance to reach it while the
search is on below. (looks out the window)

Corrie: But…this is my bedroom.

“The Hiding Place was so fabulous. What a great experience for the kids and for me. I know for a fact that no other play we have ever done has impacted us in such a deeply spiritual way. Parents and teachers told me the same thing. It was such a powerful testimony. (Isn’t it cool to think that these two sisters in the Lord still have a testimony after they have gone to be with the Lord?)”

Sheri Templeton, Valley Christian High School, Chandler, AZ