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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
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