Contrasting Roles

I got to do a reprise of my favorite role this year -- I got to be a ruffian again! In fact I am such an impressive ruffian that this year I got to carry a torch.




Of course, I was only a ruffian at night. During the day I was the Assistant Temple Foreman, which actually was very much like what I did as Scoutmaster. I organized the young men to carry parts of the temple up for temple construction.

That is me in the black hat in the back. The young men carry those big temple columns up the ramp on the back of the stage, and I am just directing them. I come up on stage ahead of them walking backward so that I can keep an eye on them... I just figured out why those two parts work for me, because I don't actually show my face in either scene. The ruffian scene is too dark to see me, and in the temple building scenes, I keep my back to the audience the whole time. Maybe next year they will let me show my face!

We learned that as the pageant was being created, they had a few multi-media and special effects ideas, but then came to the conclusion that they wanted everything that happened on the stage to be based on 19th century technology, so everything that we do to "build the temple" is pulleys, ropes, levers, and muscle. And it is very effective. We have to work together and choreograph the process. Sometimes the pieces don't quite come together just right, or the pins don't go in easily, but those moments simply add to the authenticity of building a large structure with our hands.



That simple process gave us an appreciation for the amazing accomplishment of building the impressive structure that is the temple with only the tools that were available to them in the 1840's.

Update on the rain

We learned that during the rain storm that washed out our dress rehearsal on Monday, we received almost 4 inches of rain in 4 hours. You could tell who were the desert dwellers, because we just stood in awe of all the water. The Country Fair field that is part of the pageant was under water. Fortunately, after the floods last year, they dug a drainage system and by Tuesday (opening night) the field was ready for visitors.

Here are a couple pictures of the water. The top image shows part of the field. They said that in some places the water was more than 3 feet deep.


The pageant has received good media coverage locally. Here are some articles from local papers:

Here is an article from the Keokuk IA Newspaper (about 20 minutes Southwest of Nauvoo across the river.)


And one from Quincy IL about 45 minutes South of Nauvoo.

Another one from Burlington, IA about 30 minutes North of Nauvoo.


A message that the directors have helped us to understand as we prepared for the pageant is that we are not "pretending" to be saints in Nauvoo. We ARE saints in Nauvoo. Each of us has challenges, each of us made sacrifices to be here. Each of us is imperfect. We have plenty of opportunities to be offended, hot, sweaty, uncomfortable, grumpy, etc. But we are learning what it means to overlook offenses, endure discomfort without complaining, help each other and try to represent our ancestors and our own families with joy. And the results are amazing. In a short period of time we have come to love all the members of the cast and crew and to love the work we are doing. And I am sure that is the secret behind the power of the pageant.

Every night, we are overwhelmed by the experience and those who come to see the pageant are visibly moved as well. We hate to see it end.

Throwing Streets

We are back in internet range and have dozens of stories to tell.

When we "lay out the city" in the pageant, the a series of streamers are thrown and stretched across the stage to represent the streets. This is referred to as "throwing the streets". Erin and Weston got to throw Main Street this year - the longest of the streets.

Here are some images of them laying out Main Street. In the first image Weston is standing behind Parley P. Pratt.







In the second image they have both turned to run to opposite sides of the stage.




Before one of the performances I was out talking to people who were waiting for the show to start. They were Orem and I talked to them a long time. As I was about to leave I felt compelled to ask them if they knew any Adams, we tried a few connections but could not find anything. Then I thought to ask if they perhaps knew any Bellows. One of them said, "The only Bellows I know is Marion Bellows. We lived near each other and we used to walk to school together."

All I could think to say is "That's my Mom!"

Her name is Elaine Anderberg; I called Mom later and she confirmed that she remembered Elaine as well.

Packed House

On opening night we arrived at the Country Fair field next to the pageant stage and were astounded at the number of people enjoying themselves at the events. We have never seen so many people there. In fact, the pageant has never seen so many people.

The work crew scrambled to add 500 additional chairs to accommodate everyone. We enjoyed a light misty shower, but otherwise the weather cooperated. Everything went well, and we met some great people.

We had to move to a different condo yesterday, and the new condo does not have internet. So I am just sneaking a few minutes on a public computer to make this post, but I doubt we will be able to update the blog for a few days. We have so much we want to share; we are taking good notes!

Cats and Dogs

We got into costume (which for Jill and Erin that also meant getting the pioneer hair) and went to the stage last night for our dress rehearsal. We had a quick meeting in the grove and then the directors told us to find shelter while a 20 minute storm passed over.

On schedule the storm hit and on schedule the storm subsided. We worked on some technical issues for a scene and prepared to start the full rehearsal and the directors told us to go find shelter again, this time for thirty minutes. We barely had time to find cover when it started to dump. We watched as rivers and lakes formed all around from the downpour.

While we sat under the canopy we shared treats and stories and laughed as we watched children and teenagers playing in the water. Who needs a water park when you have the real thing!

45 minutes later it showed no sign of subsiding and they called the rehearsal off, but now we faced the challenge of getting back to our cars in the downpour. It was hilarious chaos!

By the time we got into the car we were drenched. There was so much water everywhere, it was hard for us Utah natives to believe. We now have drying costume pieces draped over every piece of furniture in the condo.

To make up for the missed dress rehearsal we had an abbreviated run through this morning. That was interrupted by a tornado siren which is conveniently located on the pageant site. It would have been very exciting, except that we new all week that there would be a drill this morning. But still it was another reminder that we are not in Utah any more.

Back in Nauvoo!!!

We are back in Nauvoo. In fact we have been here more than a week already. It is everything that we remember. Nauvoo is a wonderful place!

We are preparing for our dress rehearsal tonight, if the weather permits. We have had wonderful weather since we arrived; clear evenings and beautiful sunsets. However, this morning it started to rain and has been raining most of the day. Rain does not stop the pageant, but it might stop the dress rehearsal. But everything is going very well, so we are not really concerned.

This morning we had an informal session with David Warner, who had a large hand in the creation of the pageant. We learned that there was as much effort applied to creating the environment for producing the pageant as there was to creating the pageant itself. This is no surprise to us. We realized immediately that what we are doing here is much more than just putting on a pageant. We are learning about working together, growing as families, bringing out the best in each other, and overcoming obstacles with a smile.

He referred to a talk by Harmon Rector Jr. who taught that when we work with others, especially in our families, we just should not make a big deal about anything. There are certain lines that must not be crossed, but otherwise, there is great power in encouraging and cheering and supporting each other, rather than criticizing or stressing too much about the choices of those around us.

I think this is the talk here that he was referring to...


This is a picture from last year -- it is the cast on the pageant stage. We are on the far left edge of this picture.

During the last week we have been working almost every waking moment, but now that we are ready to start performing we should have a bit more time to post some stories.

We are having a great time!