Cast Organization and Families in Nauvoo

(Posted by Craig)

The family cast, of which we are part, is divided into Districts, and the members of the core cast serve as district leaders. We are in the Becky Laird district. (I should mention that all of the core cast members represent real people except for Robert and Becky Laird who are composite characters.) So the Becky Laird district leader is the cast member that plays Becky Laird. Her name is Shanti Rose. The Becky Laird district is just the 8 of us from our family.

We have district meetings everyday which includes scripture study time. Most of the discussions have been from the "Preach My Gospel" manual. The Preach My Gospel manual is the foundation from most things that happen here. And to make our district meetings even better, we hold them in "The Grove". The Grove is a grove of trees down the hill from the temple, where the Nauvoo saints often gathered and were Joseph, Hyrum, and other early leaders often preached.

Here is a meeting of the entire Blue cast in the Grove.

The core cast, in addition to being incredibly talented, are just amazing individuals. I have come to appreciate that from the time we arrived in Nauvoo, they have been modeling family relationships, and have been teaching us about the importance of families. To begin with, there are many children in the cast, but instead of referring to them as "kids" all the time, they have given them the nickname "Mojo"s. Some of the rehearsals are nuts, with the adults trying to figure out the blocking for a scene and the bored Mojo's getting rowdy, but the response of the core cast and the directors is to figure out ways to involve the Mojo's more, or find diversions for them, or let them show off the moves that they have learned.

In the nearly two weeks since we have been here, I have not heard a single criticism of anyone or anything from the core cast or the directors. We have had plenty of "opportunities to improve", and if we really miss something during a rehearsal, the directors will model the desired behavior, but they have not once been critical of anyone.

They have also made it very clear that if, during the performance, we have to choose between helping a child find his place or getting our own performance right, the child always comes first. It has made the whole experience a delight. And the cast quickly picked up on the attitude and the example. Everyone is very upbeat and helpful; we really have become unified and I think it comes out in our performance. I also think that all of us parents have learned to be better parents by watching their direction.

It was not until last night, however, that I realized that this is one of the great things about Nauvoo. It was a thriving and blessed community to the extent that these people from all over the world came together, and worked together, and served each other, and had a deep love for each other.

So we came to Nauvoo to be pioneers, and we ended up learning how to be better parents and neighbors.