| Playwright A.S. “Pete” Peterson wasn’t familiar with the story of Corrie and Betsie ten Boom. So when he was asked to adapt The Hiding Place for the stage, his first step was reading the book.
“I immediately saw how important the story is,” Peterson told CT in a recent interview. “They’re wrestling with the biggest possible questions.”
The ten Booms protected their Jewish neighbors during the Holocaust. Corrie and Betsie were ultimately caught and sent to a concentration camp where Betsie died. Corrie survived and spent the rest of her life bearing witness to God’s presence in that agonizing season of her life.
In the interview, Peterson explains how many see Corrie as the hero of the story, but for him, the hero of The Hiding Place is Betsie. Corrie, Peterson says, watched her sister become “a kind of saint” in the concentration camp. Betsie was someone who thanked God for fleas and her own nakedness.
“It’s kind of shocking,” Peterson admits. “If you’re not careful, she really comes across as a loon.”
While writing the play, Peterson sought to portray Betsie in a way that “woos the audience into her perspective on the world.” He worked to portray her as a true human who arrived at “extraordinary conclusions.” In doing so, he hopes he has created a production that not only illuminates and entertains but depicts Corrie and Betsie as “part of our cloud of witnesses.”
Peterson’s theatrical production will air in American and Canadian movie theaters on August 3 and 5, and in international theaters on August 16. Perhaps, in beholding their great faith in a grievous time, we too can become women who are both fully grounded in the realities of life while remaining ever confident in the life to come. |
