RIVERSIDE, Calif. (Feb. 13, 2015) -- Wallace Theatre at California Baptist University will present "The Hiding Place" Friday, Feb. 20, through Saturday, Feb. 28.

The play tells the story of Corrie ten Boom and her family, who lived under the shadow of World War II Nazism. The ten Boom family lead lives of service, providing a hiding place for people fleeing the Nazis. The setting moves from a cozy clock shop in Haarlem, Holland, to the nightmare of the Ravensbruck concentration camp and back to hope again.

Frank Mihelich, director of the production and assistant professor of theatre, remembers staying up all night to read the book in high school.

"It's just a compelling story," he said. "We want to start inclusive conversations about faith, so we want to tell stories that are either dead-on about the gospel or just about humanity."

Kiana Miskel, a junior theatre major, plays Corrie ten Boom.

"I think the biggest challenge that I have faced with playing this role is the fear of failing to give justice to such an incredible human being and tell her story the way that it needs to be told," she said.

She said the issues the play presents aren't difficult to handle, but they are emotionally draining.

 "It is an important story to be told, and I am proud to be a part of this beautiful production," she said. 

Corrie's faith also touched Mihelich.

"The thing that struck me the most, even when I read the book when I was a kid, was that she had that slogan, and it appears in the play – ‘there is no pit so deep that Jesus is not deeper yet,'" he said. "Light shines the brightest in darkness."

"I think often about my first-world problems – my latte isn't hot," he added.

Performances begin Friday, Feb. 20, at 7:30 p.m. and continue Saturday, Feb. 21, with a 2 p.m. matinee and a 7:30 p.m. show. The play will resume Thursday, Feb. 26, through Saturday, Feb. 28, with performances each evening at 7:30 p.m. and a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee. General admission tickets are $15, with discounts offered for matinees, senior citizens and CBU students, faculty, staff and alumni.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Wallace Theatre box office at 951-343-4319.