Mennonite Weekly Review

For many Anabaptists, the story of Dirk Willems is as familiar as that of the Good Samaritan. Others have not heard of him.

In her play on the Dirk Willems story, Joanna King added additional characters, including, from left, Lyle Bontrager as Hans, Charlotte Jones as Elizabeth and Lynn Jones as Peter. Merlin Miller plays Dirk Willems. — Photo by Richard Boshart

A recent play, The Moment of Truth, performed at Menno-Hof in Shipshewana, Ind., aims to help Mennonites and Amish remember — and tell each other — how Willems saved a man pursuing him, though the act of mercy led to his capture and execution.

The play drew 2,400 people, including many Old Order Amish and Mennonites, for four performances June 27-29 at Menno-Hof.

“One of our tasks here at Menno-Hof is to tell the story to our own people, because we’re forgetting it,” said Joseph Yoder, Menno-Hof executive director.

Menno-Hof is celebrating its 20th anniversary as an educational center on Anabaptism. The celebration has included the play and a slideshow at the center with 400 pictures of global Anabaptists. The play raised more than $10,000 after expenses for Menno-Hof programs.

In planning the play, Menno-Hof wanted to look at nonresistance and what it means to lay down one’s life for an enemy, Yoder said.

“I wanted something that really speaks strongly in the kind of age we’re in,” Yoder said. “We wanted to encourage our Anabaptist faith and this particular way of nonviolence.”

Menno-Hof commissioned playwright Joanna King of Middlebury, Ind., and her extended family, the Jones family, which includes members of Old Order Amish, Beachy Amish, Conservative Mennonite and Mennonite Church USA congregations. The Jones family is known for their involvement in local churches and businesses, as well as for performing plays to raise money for charity, Yoder said.

In writing the play, King looked at historical sources, including the Martyrs Mirror, a 17th-century book about Christians who died for their faith, from the death of Christ through early Anabaptists. It includes the Willems story.

“We don’t know that much about Dirk Willems,” King said. “In order to create a 90-minute play, we needed to take some creative license.”