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| 2016 Nauvoo Young Performing Missionaries Check out their T-shirts! How cool is this! |
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Check out the T-shirts!
Week 3: Shows are Finally Open!
05/29/2016 -- Last Sunday afternoon, we went to Carthage Jail, where Joseph Smith & his brother Hyrum Smith (the prophet and patriarch of the Church at the time, respectively) were martyred by a mob (in 1844). We toured it then performed "Be Still" (a short show consisting of quotations of how people at the time responded to the martyrdom) in the Visitors' Center there, where it used to be performed. There was so much power in it, and the Spirit could be felt so strongly! It was an indescribable experience as we felt both the sorrow at the loss of two great men and the hope of a bright future ahead for members of the Church in Nauvoo.
This weekend, our shows opened. It is so great to be able to meet people who visit here. I love how people see my name tag and know that I am a missionary and will approach me to ask about our shows and about the history of Nauvoo and its significance to members of the Church. It is great to be able to share the Gospel and the Spirit of Nauvoo with both members and non-members of the Church.
I have been assigned to Cast B in the mornings, so I help with "Nauvoo Singers" and "Just Plain Anna Amanda" each 3 days per week. In our shows, we have already seen so many miracles. One is that I happened to save the light cues for "The Promise" twice, so when Elder Camp accidentally erased the most recent version of the show, we lost nothing. Another is that we were having trouble with a few mics before one of our preview shows and could not identify the cause, but after a prayer was said, the mics all started working perfectly, so we were able to start the show. It was amazing to witness how the Lord is mindful of us and is willing to help us overcome anything if we just ask.
Despite not being able to hear any of the mics through my monitor/speaker (only soundtrack is wired to come through), I have been able to hear every line that is a cue for me over the sound of all the machines in the booth and through a glass wall with only a small window across the booth from where I am. I do hope that we can wire mics to that monitor soon though to make hearing them a tad easier. I have really enjoyed doing lights for The Promise! I have never run a show longer than a week, so I am looking forward to this summer season of our shows. I am also looking forward to all the people I will be able to meet while here!
Pictures of (1) all of the techs in one of our two costumes, (2) the Nauvoo Temple, (3) the Mississippi riverfront from when we took a wagon ride around town, and (4) all of the techs with our scenic designer Carter Thompson (a stage YPM from 2012) on his last day with us.
Thank you so much for all your letters and
emails of support!
-Sister Sylvestre
Opening Day!
05/28/2016 -- Elder Murset, YPM coordinator, writes: Hi. We had a wonderful day of our pre-shows dress rehearsals. Today is opening day. ...had to send a few more pictures.
Cast & Crew for "Just Plain Anna Amanda"
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| Cast & Crew A for "Just Plain Anna Amanda" |
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| Cast & Crew B for "Just Plain Anna Amanda" |
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Week 2: Practice, Practice, Practice
05/22/2016: We got so much done our first week that
we did not have much to do this week, which resulted in watching the stage
missionaries work a lot of the time. At the start, they learned their
choreography, which was hard for me to watch since I love dancing so much, but
the choreographer invited me to follow along as they learned when I was talking
to her about the styles of dance she incorporated together. It was really
fun to get to dance some this week.
For most of the week, we
did run throughs of The Promise.
Because we have still yet to program the lights with Elder Camp, there was not
much I could do other than write a lot of letters. One day we went to the
paint shop at Nauvoo Facilities Management, and I got to paint the black desk
that I have been dying to paint since I saw it in a show last year. It
was so exciting!
Last week, I forgot to mention
that for the first time ever the techs have someone over us: Elder
Schultz. He and his wife were senior missionaries here for 2 years, and
he ended up helping out with tech last year and was then called to come back
this summer to help with the tech YPMs. Most of our success is due to him
since we would otherwise be completely unaware of what to do.
This week I was
appointed stage manager for Sunset by the
Mississippi, which is a fun but crazy show since no two are the same.
Right now, we are having a lot of problems with sound due to a new board not
fully installed and some signal issues over distance, but hopefully all will be
resolved before we open Saturday.
We received some bad
news this week: We will not be giving site tours since we are not officially
site missionaries. We have no idea what we will do every morning instead other
than each companionship helping with Anna
Amanda 3 days per week.
Yesterday we had
preparation time and drove to Keokuk, Iowa to get groceries. In addition
to the 2 small bridges that have been under construction and turned into
one-way roads since we got here, the bridge over the big Mississippi River is
now undergoing construction. Because of this, the inner lane on each side
is closed and the speed is slower going over it. As some of you know, I
find bridges over water to be terrifying to cross, so crossing that bridge has
gone from scary to traumatizing. Thankfully, I have enough food to take
shelter on this side of the river and shop at the local market for a while.
While in Keokuk, we met
2 members of the church, which was way cool. One just joined our church 3
years ago, which was really neat to hear about. The other is the Young
Women's president in her ward.
We had a lot of fun
(maybe too much fun) riding in Elder Camp's golf cart this week. We are really
excited that Elder Camp and Elder Schultz have let us drive it for quickly
going between places to pick things up.
I have a fun fact I learned
this week. Actors here have to run outside to get between each side of
backstage, and to minimize adjustment needed when entering a dark dressing room
from outside, they keep one eye covered while outside. Turns out that
pirates did the same thing so that they could go below deck easily... except
instead of looking ridiculous by constantly keeping a hand over an eye, they
wore eye patches. yeah... that's right... all of them wore eye patches
and none of them were actually missing an eye. Maybe some of you already
knew this, but it completely blew all of our minds and has been discussed daily
since learning it, so I just had to share.
Photos: One is of my companion, Sister Young, and me.
Another is of the stage sisters the first time they got to try on their
costumes. (I just got mine back from being fitted so no pictures yet.)
And the third is from one of our shows.
-Sister Sylvestre
Tech Sisters at Work
05/21/2016 -- Elder Murset, YPM coordinator writes: Without our wonderful Tech Sisters, the shows would not be going on! Here they are… doing a great job.
Week 1: Off to a Running Start
05/15/2016 -- Well, it has been a busy, busy week. From the
second we got on the bus at the St. Louis airport, we were hard at work. One
of the main things we did on the bus was learn a song called Invocation.
This song is based around the verses in the Bible that say where two
or three are gathered in His name, He will also be there. It
is a truly beautiful song. We sing it nightly as a group in front of the
Christus statue in the Visitors' Center here before kneeling together for
"family prayer." Doing this nightly has become one of my
favorite things about being here.
This year, there are 4 tech
missionaries & we are all sister missionaries. We are living in the
Hatch House with the 11 band sisters, which is nice since we do not otherwise
have much of a chance to interact with them as we are usually with the stage
missionaries. The 4 of us have the basement to ourselves with one
bedroom containing 2 bunk beds and a large walk-in closet. Despite
initially having ice cold water due to a broken water heaters (that
thankfully was quickly repaired), living in the Hatch House has been
great. My companion is Sister Young, and she is amazing. I cannot
imagine a better companion. We have a lot of fun together!
Sisters Robinson & Harmer are the other techs and are also great.
Elder Murset (male missionaries
are referred to as Elders) asked me to be the driver for the techs.
Thankfully, we have a normal car not a van, so I am not too nervous about the
assignment anymore. It has actually been a real blessing that I am
driving since I am the only one who is experienced in the heavy rainstorms we
get here. I love being in a place that gets real storms!
This week, we have been working
almost non-stop from 8 AM until 10 PM daily but have accomplished so
much! At first, we did a lot of heavy lifting bringing out all the
props and set pieces, and later, I did a lot of sewing to mend set
pieces. Elder & Sister Camp (the directors) are in awe at all the
techs & stage missionaries have accomplished. The stage set record
time for finishing blocking the shows -- exactly one week from the time we
got on the bus. They are already so amazing too, and Elder Camp cannot
believe it (though there is always room to improve). We are apparently
the best group of techs ever, so there will be some changes to give us more
responsibility. Each companionship will be either part of A or B cast and
will help with the children's show in the morning so that props and puppets
from the pre-show are taken care of. The 3 off-days for our cast, we
will do tours of sites as initially planned. They are also requesting
permission from Salt Lake (Church HQ) for us to train under the pageant techs
so that we can help run that too and fill in if anyone is sick. I am in
awe that they want us to do that to the point that they are getting special
permission. (So I may get to climb up those big light towers after all,
mom.... with safety cables, of course). We also got assignments for
shows figured out. I will be doing lights for our main stage
musical, The Promise. For out outdoor variety show, Sunset
on the Mississippi, I will be backstage. I also got to choose my
historical dresses this week! I have 2 blue dresses and a green apron that I always
wear with the dresses. I cannot wait to start wearing them!
Monday, we got a little time off
to see Rendezvous in Old Nauvoo, the senior missionary
show. I love that show so much & the senior missionaries were so
excited for us to come watch that they had a lottery to determine which cast
would get to perform. They are so cute & sweet!
This week has just been
amazing! There are 25 sisters and 17 elders in the YPM group & we
all get along so well. It is awesome how well we all get along with 15
girls in one house, especially considering how diverse we all are. It
just shows how capable of getting along in harmony we are when our focus is
on the Lord not ourselves. Despite only knowing each other for a week,
we all feel as if we know each other so well. It just reinforces what
Elder Camp always says about our audition for this mission happening long
before we submitted our packets.... it happened before this life. It is
no accident or coincidence that we are all here together. I love what amazing
friends we all are.
So, the funny thing about being in
a small place is how little there is. The gas station, Caseys, also
doubles as a place to get a bite to eat... and the food is actually really
good. This week, we got donuts there one day and had a taco pizza from
there another (which sounds sketchy but was amazing)!
Thank you all for your emails! I
am sorry I am not able to respond to all of them every week.
--- Sister Sylvestre
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Saturday, May 21, 2016
Day 1 - Gathering at St. Louis Airport
05/06/2016 - After a 5 hour car ride from Memphis, Ashley arrived at St. Louis Airport to join the other Young Performing Missionaries (YPM) gathering for the 3 hour bus ride to Nauvoo, Illinois. At the airport, she received her name badge, transforming her from "Ashley" to "Sister Sylvestre."
Regrettably, Sister Ashley Sylvestre began her mission as a YPM theater tech sleep deprived from packing nearly the entire night before. Nevertheless, with much enthusiasm she met the other three YPM theater techs (responsible for lighting, sound, stage management, and props). It is my understanding that this is the first time the Nauvoo YPM productions will have an all-female tech crew. Rock on!
Sunday, May 15, 2016
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