Featuring a host of local youth, the performances will begin at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 23-25, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, February 26 in BC’s Harman Chapel Auditorium. Admission for each performance will be $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Members of the BC family will be admitted for free.
Written by Bradley Winkler and based on the book by the same title by John and Elizabeth Sherrill, The Hiding Place recounts the harrowing details of Corrie Ten Boom’s life during the Nazi occupation of Holland in World War II. Together with her sister, Betsie, Corrie hid Jews in the Ten Boom family home in Haarlem for four years. Betrayed by Dutch collaborators, Corrie and her entire family are arrested and thrown into the Nazi-run Dutch prison in Sheveningen. Separated from her family in the prison, Corrie leans on her faith in God to survive.
When the allies invade Europe in 1944, Sheveningen’s prisoners are transported to the Ravensbruck concentration camp in Germany. There, Corrie is reunited with her sister, Betsie, but they must develop an even deeper faith and trust in God as they are systematically starved and worked to death by their Nazi captors. But even in this darkness and despair, Corrie and Betsie never stop trusting in God’s faithfulness.
As part of a cast of local youth, Jessi Davidson plays the role of Corrie at the time of the Nazi occupation, while Alexandra Stout plays the older Corrie who becomes a noted Christian speaker after the war. Corrie’s sister, Betsie, is played by Kathryn Yates.
The remainder of the Ten Boom family includse Papa, played by Clayton McChesney; brother Willem, played by Brian Fisher; and sister-in-law Tine, played by Kylie Bowers. Noah Jennings plays Commandant Rahms of the Sheveningen prison, and Jaysun Davis plays Commandant Metzler of Ravensbruck. Other cast members include Aaron Sudderth, Claire Fisher, Ashley Burton, Megan Cox, Sarah Jacobs, Megan Moore, Carrington Shelton, Emma Miller, Ethan Stout, Emma Donchetz, Emily Ward, Cassidy Davis, and Melissa Denson. The play is directed by Bluefield College theatre professors Charles M. Reese and Rebecca McCoy-Reese.
Bluefield Youth Theatre at Bluefield College began in the fall of 2007 when dozens of local youth responded to a call for auditions for the production of Treasure Island, a performance that would become one of BC Theatre’s largest and most popular ever. From that event, the vision was born to create a theatre company designed specifically for training and performance experience for the youth and children of the two Virginias.
In December of 2007, the concept came to fruition with The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the pilot production of Bluefield Youth Theatre. Today, more than 100 local youth have performed in Bluefield Youth Theatre for audiences of more than 20,000. The Hiding Place will be the group’s 21st production, following two repeat performances of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; The Adventures of Robin Hood; Oliver Twist; Charlotte’s Web; Arthur at Merlin’s King’s Academy; A Christmas Carol; Jungle Book; Aladdin; Peter Pan; Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Mulan; The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree; The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian; The Little Mermaid, Jr.; [email protected]; Beauty and the Beast, Jr.; and Annie, Jr.
For more information, contact the Bluefield College Theatre Department by phone at 276-326-4244 or by email [email protected].