“The Hiding Place,” a gut-wrenching 1971 book by Corrie ten Boom about her family’s experience hiding Jews during World War II, has taught millions about God’s faithfulness and forgiveness. A stage production of “The Hiding Place” has now been turned into a film and is reaching a new generation with ten Boom’s story.
“We had sold-out audiences, and I remember while I would be doing a monologue, I could sense the audience leaning forward. I have never had audiences be so quiet,” said actress Nan Gurley, who starred as Corrie ten Boom in the play-turned-film. “It felt amazing because I knew we were telling the most powerful story we could possibly tell.”
Gurley learned even more while playing ten Boom’s character.
“[God’s] ways are mysterious. We cannot figure Him out. We can’t base our faith on a satisfactory answer to the ‘Why?’ When you base your faith on getting a good answer for your ‘Why did this happen?’ your faith is going to be shipwrecked,” she said.
The ‘Great Director’
This version of “The Hiding Place” was written to honor Jeannette Clift George after her death in 2017. Considered a “pioneer of Christian theater,”, George founded the After Dinner Players — or A.D. Players — in Houston in 1967.
George was best known for her portrayal of ten Boom in the 1975 film version of “The Hiding Place” and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Years before the current version was ever considered, God was engineering the circumstances for Gurley to play this role.
Growing up with her father working as a drama and music teacher and both parents as actors, Gurley landed her first role at 8 years old as Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker” at a local college. Throughout her life, she acted every chance she could and took master classes in acting.
For more than a decade before the play was even an idea, Gurley worked with Jake Speck, who was managing director for Studio Tenn Theater Company. During that time, A.S. “Pete” Peterson saw Gurley in multiple Studio Tenn productions.
‘Honor of a lifetime’
Then in 2017, Speck left Studio Tenn to become the executive director for A.D. Players. Not long afterward, Peterson was commissioned to write the play. Though he had Gurley’s voice in his head while writing, he didn’t tell Speck.
Each independently knew Gurley was the one to cast in that role, but it didn’t end there. There was one other who knew it was a role for her.
“So Jake called me, and I knew instantly that this was something I had to do. To tell this story would be the honor of a lifetime,” she remembered.
After Gurley’s husband came home that day, she told him, “You will not believe the phone call I got today.”
After hearing the news, he responded, “You were born to play this role.”
At this point, the work began. Gurley started researching ten Boom’s life. She had read “The Hiding Place” in her early 20s, but that alone wasn’t nearly enough.
She read every book written by ten Boom to learn more about her life and faith. She watched every video she could find to learn ten Boom’s voice — English with a Dutch accent. She studied the script, not only to memorize the words but to learn the nuances and motivations of every scene and figure out how best to say the line with the appropriate body language.
Though she never regretted doing it, “The Hiding Place” took a toll. The tears were real any time she cried on stage. The denial she felt when dealing with death was taxing. It was exhausting to make it through both the five-week run in Houston and the four-week run in Nashville.
Strengthened by the Spirit
“As an actor, I’ve never felt so physically weak — with a combination of physical weakness and Holy Spirit power — the greatest power I’ve ever felt on stage. I felt everyone watching, every head turn, every gesture. I felt them hanging on it,” Gurley said.
“It was such a combination of, ‘When I am weak, then I am strong,’ and, ‘My power is made perfect in weakness.’ I felt it more intimately than I ever have on stage.”
Those who watched “The Hiding Place” have had nothing negative to say.
“People just keep saying how powerful it is, how it moved them — people sitting there in the theater weeping,” Gurley said.
Audience members came out saying that the production was “literally life changing.”
Valuable lesson
Ten Boom’s influence also showed Gurley that she needs to choose now what she is willing to die for so that she’ll be ready if and when that decision is needed.
Gurley addressed the reasons for watching “The Hiding Place?”
“If we don’t learn history, we’re doomed to repeat it. It is always relevant to know right from wrong, to know good from evil, to discern evil,” she said.
“This is a story that spells that out and calls evil what it is — and [has people who] risk their lives to stand against it. Every generation needs to see and remember and read about people in the past who have done that.”
Through Oct. 5, “The Hiding Place” is available to host through Faith Content Network at faithcontentnetwork.com/host/the-hiding-place. Also look for it to be streamed and/or released on DVD by Thanksgiving 2023.
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