Writer’s Note: As this article reached completion, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced that its summer pageants, including the Palmyra Pageant, would be cancelled in 2021 due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the Church said that the Palmyra Pageant would be discontinued and its planned, final presentation, originally scheduled for 2020 and postponed until this year, would not be rescheduled.
Eight years ago, Debi Mills’ anticipation of her first assigned role as a cast member in the Palmyra Pageant melted away when she learned who she would portray. Then, to her astonishment, a mid-summer night’s dream restored her excitement and deepened her faith.
For seven consecutive summers, Debi, her husband Doug and their three children, Mike, Coralee, and Dustin, have packed their van, famously named “Bullwinkle”, and driven to upstate New York where the pageant unfolds each July. The event, spread over two weeks, is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and displays stories from the Bible and the Book of Mormon in an out-door setting with a musical format. The location is within a few miles of the small town of Palmyra and near the site where the church’s founder, Joseph Smith, recovered an historical record on metal plates buried in a hillside. He translated the ancient writing on those plates to produce the Book of Mormon.
Many thousands of church members and many more people not members of the church have trekked to this rural setting rich with scenery and history for more than 80 years to witness the pageant. For people like the Mills who perform and staff the pageant, the annual two- to four-week commitment is a work of devotion.
“Our pageant experience actually began with a trip in the summer of 2009 to the city of Nauvoo, Illinois where another Church pageant happens annually. We really enjoyed the performance and inquired as to how we might volunteer to be participants in the drama,” Doug said. “We applied and a few months later we were selected, and we became part of the cast for 2010 and 2011.”
Nauvoo pageant directors normally keep performers for only two years and recruit fresh talent annually. But after two years the Mills weren’t ready for this extraordinary experience to be done. So, they turned eastward and traveled to Palmyra in 2012 seeking to volunteer there. With Nauvoo on their pageant resume the Mills were an easy choice for the summer of 2013.
After that first summer in Palmyra, the Mills decided they wanted to return not for just another year, but for many years to come. They noticed the people who were able to return for multiple years tended to be staff members. The Mills concluded they wanted that annual experience in their lives. One day while the pageant’s president walked through the cast area, Doug approached him and asked about volunteering for the president’s staff using his computer skills honed over many years working at The Ohio State University.
“I asked him if he needed anyone who could help with computers or networking. If so, I would be happy to do that,” Doug related. “Two or three days later, the president asked me to come meet with him and he offered me the opportunity to serve on the technology team. It seems someone on that team had just decided to leave the staff. I accepted on the spot and Debi happily agreed to accept a performing role each year.
“As I’ve thought back on that encounter with the pageant’s president, I’ve realized how good information leads to good inspiration and as I tried to provide him with the information, my skill set, he received the inspiration. For the past three years, I’ve been the technology team lead,” Doug said.
Debi continued with her early experience in the pageant: “I have been cast in different roles since that first summer, but my premier assignment was not to my liking at all – or so I thought. I was assigned a Book of Mormon scene, the Book of Mosiah to be exact, where many of the Nephites are persecuting the prophet Abinadi, who had come among the Nephites during the time of King Noah to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Basically, I was to play one of the king’s followers cheering the burning of Abinadi at the stake; not the part I envisioned playing my first performance at Palmyra.”
Debi continued, “I was very disappointed to play what I thought was such a negative role and I really struggled with that. I began to pray for help in understanding how to handle that character and ended up having a very spiritually uplifting experience. One night I dreamed that one of the people who had supported King Noah and initially approved of the killing of Abinadi actually came to me and expressed how terrible he had felt after witnessing Abinadi’s death. In my dream this individual explained that he began to repent and seek forgiveness for his actions and soon became a follower of Christ. That dream, that experience, changed my whole perspective and attitude. From that year forward, I actually sought out that role. I also shared my dream-like encounter during Pageant devotionals and testimony meetings which are held for the performers and staff each year.”
The demands for performance preparation and high-quality technical support are not many. Doug explained his role in support the technical side of the pageant.
“Our itinerary is this – we spend a week-and-a-half setting things up. The stage setup is done by a volunteer work crew composed of thirty-two 17 and 18-year-old young men. As the young men are working, my technology team does sets up the network and security cameras over the Hill Cumorah Pageant campus. The security cameras are monitored by a security team which is responsible for general security on the campus during the performance. The tech team also maintains the broadcast to more than 30 television sets which keep the cast and directors around the grounds aware of when they need to prepare for their roles and assignments.
Doug continued, “We support a study shelter where the entire cast can have devotionals and sacrament meetings for 750 people. We also provide a fiber optic network to run the devotionals at Zion’s camp, which is the campground the volunteers use, as well as making sure Wi-Fi is available in that camp. Finally, we make a production recording and pipe it live to directors who can then evaluate the performances.”
For the Mills one of the highlights each year is the presence of general authorities of the Church, including members of the Quorum of the Twelve. They speak at the devotionals and then spend time meeting with the performers, especially the youth.
On one occasion, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve spoke during an afternoon devotional as a strong storm was brewing in the western skies. Pageant managers began to worry that the evening’s performance might have to be cancelled. As Elder Holland addressed the pageant’s staff and performers that day, he reassured everyone that the performance could proceed as planned. Doug had his doubts.
“The performance began as scheduled that night and I was watching the radar as the storm approached during the early part of the performance,” Doug remembered. “To my amazement the east-bound storm then split in two and passed by the pageant to the north and to the south of the Palmyra region leaving the pageant undisturbed. It was quite amazing and confirmed my own testimony of the
power of the priesthood of God and the authority that his servants, such as the apostles, bear.”
Those seven years passed quickly for the Mills. The years have been interspersed with the difficulties that raising teenagers always bring; significant health issues have come and gone for Debi, particularly; but throughout the family has always fulfilled their commitment to the pageant and been blessed for it.
As they look to 2021 and beyond, their children are grown now. Doug has retired. Debi and Doug now turn their attention to serving a mission for the Church and resettling near a temple where they will continue to serve. And, quite possibly, continuing their pageant dreams in Nauvoo!
Leave a Reply