Savior of the World Performance

Earlier this year Nathan and I had the opportunity to volunteer with our stake performance of "Savior of the World" during Easter. It was a performance filled with music, retelling the Easter story from the Bible. 

Nathan and I are good friends with the director, and she called Nathan one day, asking him to be one of the characters. He had never performed in a play before, and thought she was asking him to be a very minor character with only two lines. (The character names on the script were slightly confusing. We mixed up Caiphus and Cleopas.) After several weeks had passed, I pointed out to him that his character was actually a person onstage for a third of the play. Oh what anxiety there was then! He was so doubtful of his abilities. 

Nathan spent 3 months attending rehearsals twice a week and practiced music at home as well. We had 'date nights' working on his lines together. I gave suggestions on his voice inflections and acting styles, and reassured him that he'd do a fine job. (And secretly wished I had thought of auditioning for a female part- ooooo how I wished I could be onstage as well!) H also grew out his beard for 5 months so his character would look authentic. No fake hair was happening here!

The week of the performance I contacted Sheryl Wardell, the director, and asked if she needed any last minute help. She did not have a make-up artist lined up, and asked me to head that up. Oh my- the cast was nearly 50 people. Even if I could be super-efficient and finish a face in only 5 minutes, that was still going to be over 4 hours of work each  night before the performance. And I knew each face would take longer than 5 minutes. (Seriously- have you ever applied eye liner on men? It takes a while, with all the twitching and blinking they do.)

I was able to recruit a helper or two from my art students- two sweet teenage girls who enjoyed applying make up. I made charts showing how to contour male or female faces, and we got to work. I was delighted with their willingness to help- especially since they were Catholic and would be helping with an LDS performance. (Side note: I love the friendly way Texan churches help each other. Right before we moved, the LDS youth in our stake helped cater a fundraiser meal hosted in a Catholic church to benefit a Baptist charity group. I love it! Surely the Lord smiles on us when we can work together and find common ground like that!)

We were able to get everyone prepped for stage in about 2.5 hours. It was rather tricky working with donated supplies- they weren't the high quality stuff you'd normally use on stage. We were basically working with cheap eye shadows and foundations. I think it still worked tolerably well. 

I was also asked to take cast and orchestra pictures before the show, so I made a quick dash to the stage for some hurried pictures.  I think these turned out pretty well. 

The performance was absolutely amazing. Sheryl had received permission to rewrite the play, adding several scenes to enrich the story line. The music director also wrote several new scores, adding transitional music to every scene and adding such depth with the background music. These talented women spent months re-working and improving this performance. The dedication of these women was inspiring. 

The show was powerful. The spirit was felt strongly and I was touched every single time I watched it. These performers really put their soul and testimony into their performance. They effectively shared their love of Jesus Christ through their talents. 

Every night the audience was packed. This performance was a free gift to the community, and had been advertised through several venues. We were blessed with attendees from several different churches and walks of life, and we hoped this show would share our testimony of Christ's divinity. 

We were floored when Nathan's parents decided to drive 5 hours from Louisiana to come see the performance. We felt so incredibly spoiled to have them there, and Nathan's Dad recorded the show. (Now if only I can get access to those recordings......)

I am amazed at their dedication in supporting our activities. We felt so loved! They are mind-mindbogglingly busy people, and very rarely have any bits of spare time. 

(Even so, a couple weeks later they drove 3 hours to Dallas just to watch my kids compete at the state DI tournament. That's a total of 6 hours of driving to watch an 8-minute performance! They seriously need an award! We adore them.)

Here are a few glimpses backstage of cast members...

And some glimpses onstage during the performance...

It was such a pleasure to work with this production! It was wonderful to see Nathan's confidence grow as well- we heard several people exclaim in surprise when they discovered it was his first time onstage. He did a fantastic job of bringing his character to life, and his musical numbers were just beautiful. I could listen to him sing all day.

Once again, I was surprised at the powerful way music can touch my heart. I felt the Spirit testify again that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. I felt renewed awe and reverence for His resurrection, renewed hope in His invitation to be like Him, and renewed dedication to follow His teachings.