"There is nothing I would like better."

That is what Joseph says during the pageant to a very large and loud group of children that ask him to play stickball. Jeff (Joseph) is always playing with the kids during rehearsals and between rehearsals.

This picture shows "Joseph" holding Joseph. This is just a candid shot of Jeff holding the baby of one of the directors during a rehearsal. The baby is only 2 months old and they named him Joseph.

Jeff becomes so familiar with the children during rehearsals that during performances they have no fear interacting with him on stage. He told us about one performance in which a young girl named Rachel came and gave him something while they were on stage. It was not scripted, but Jeff's mike was on and he simply said "Thanks Rachel". After the performance a woman came up to Joseph, full of emotion, and expressed her surprise and deep gratitude that her "ancestor was remembered in the pageant." It seems that her great-great-grand-mother was a child in Nauvoo and had recorded in her journal the following account regarding the day that Joseph and Hyrum left Nauvoo to go to Carthage and the martyrdom. Joseph and Hyrum were riding horses as they left Nauvoo and families came out and lined the streets to bid them farewell. Joseph saw her, got off his horse, and greeted her personally. Her name was, of course, Rachel.

That little moment in the pageant between "Joseph" and Rachel was not in the script, but it was small personal miracle to the descendants of another Rachel, who were visiting the pageant on just the right night. Every night in Nauvoo seems to be full of such stories.


"We learned that to build Zion required that we give all that we had. And when more was needed, we gave of ourselves." Parley P. Pratt from the pageant script.

Well, today the Blue Cast arrives and they will be with us tonight as we do our final dress rehearsal. Tomorrow is opening night. We are all very excited.