"One Life"- Before, During (Backstage), and After the Play

In June-October, we were able to be a part of a musical about the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  It was called, "One Life," and was written by our Patriarch's 2 daughters (Rebecca Thompson-Duvall and Kari Skousen- who came to a few performances- I was able to talk to them and they were so incredibly sweet, they hugged me and said, "Oh, Sister Young!"  Just the way she said it was a huge compliment and meant a lot to me!  They told a few of us about some of the inspiration they had while writing it, like when they wrote about the mansion with the 22 rooms and then later found out that it really did have 22 rooms and also that many of the lines were direct quotes from journals and such), with the music written by Rachel Mecham Goates and Brian R. Jensen (they did a fantastic job too!  I loved the music!)  The whole thing was very professionally done and very inspired, as well.

 

I have to say that I was a little skeptical at first.  I wasn't sure if it was going to be good.  I thought for sure that we should be doing a play that was non-religious or one about Jesus Christ, that would be easier to invite non-member friends to.  However, we decided that we wanted to support our Stake, since they haven't done a play in about 8-9 years.  So we decided to try out.  The tryouts didn't go as I was expecting and I was left feeling frustrated.  I again was not sure that we should be in this play.  However, then Grant and I were chosen to be Brigham and MaryAnn Young.  I started to get excited and we began the journey.  It turned out to be a life changing experience for all of us!  We were truly blessed to be a part of this amazing play and blessed to be part of an amazing cast and crew!

The rehearsals started with a bunch of strangers singing songs.  Right from the very beginning, I could feel the Spirit attending the rehearsals and knew there was something special about this play.  I remember this guy sitting off in the corner, a bit shy, wondering how he would become "Joseph."  Over time, we started to learn each others' names.  We learned that "Joseph"s name was really Ian.  The first rehearsal that I cried, was the first time we ran through the blocking for the funeral scene.  As we walked by the "caskets," I was overcome with emotion, wondering how it would've really felt to be there after the Prophet Joseph had been murdered.  (I'm not sure that I ever made it through that scene without tears... it was very powerful.)  After we were done rehearsing, Ian said a few words.  He shared with us that he had been inactive from the church for many years.  He then thanked us for the powerful way that we had protrayed this scene and told us that he felt blessed to be able to be a part of this play.  (Apparently, his Mom had encouraged him to tryout and he had no idea that he would be given the role of Joseph Smith... an experience that would change his life.  He did an incredible job protraying Joseph and truly transformed into a very believable Joseph.  The writers told me that there is always an incredible story on how the find the actor to play Joseph, each and every time this play has been put on... along with several other stories of miracles.)

The rehearsals that started with a bunch of strangers, ended with a bunch of friends being silly.  Each night during warm-ups, there was a lot of silliness going on!  I loved it!  It was great being a part of something where everyone could just have fun and relax.  Elizabeth was great at allowing us to just be goofy and get ready in our own way.  The seriousness would come later.  She did a great job directing this play!

Something I really, really, really appreciated, was all the help people gave in helping the cast get ready each night.  A few people helped with makeup and others (Julie A and Mary T) fixed hair.  They did tons and tons of double braids and lots and lots of ringlet curls.  In many plays we have been in, I have had to do a lot of hair and makeup... like an assembly line.  Another help we received was the babysitting room.  A Mom (Kari M) and Grandma (Sis. M) had a room with lots of fun things to do for the kids during the dress rehearsals and most of the shows.  This was so nice, especially because I was on stage (or backstage about to go on) most of the second act!!  They even watched Callie during the dress rehearsals.  (The show nights she went to Grandma and Grandpa, cousin Ruthie's house, and to our neighbor, Megan's house.  She tried to come to a performance but was scared to death of the gunshots and had to leave because she started screaming in terror.  Poor girl!  She wouldn't even watch the video for some time.)  I really appreciated all the help.  I couldn't have done it without all that help!!  :)

The girls made lots of special friends during the play.  Aurora and Karina were constantly asking to find Ian.  They loved him!!  (In fact, so did all the kids, which was really neat because that is exactly how Joseph Smith was... a favorite among the children.)  Our little girls made friends with the other little girls in the cast and our older girls with the "random teenagers," which is what they were so fondly called by the director, due to the fact that most of them did not have families on stage.

Since the play was during the school year, you could often find the kids backstage working on homework.  They had to do this to survive.  Many of the teenagers went from early morning seminary, to school, to after school sports/activities, straight to play practice, not getting home until 9 or 10 pm and then repeating it the next day.  They were amazing, but very tired!  They had to get their homework done whenever they could.  (I don't know if we could do another play during the school year like that... it was very hard on us!)

Callie was so good at keeping herself entertained.  She loved being a part of the play and wearing her "costume," which was just a little black petticoat.  She was super broken hearted that she didn't get to perform, however, it was just too serious of a play with many parts crying parts, and a few parts where we had to "freeze," that were just to unpredictable with her being so young.  Plus Grant and I both had speaking parts and that made it even harder to get her everywhere she needed to be.  She was a trooper and will definitely get to be in the next one we do as a family. 

  Another important part of a good play is a good audience.  We were blessed to have many great audiences with all different energies.  Opening night was probably our biggest audience, as it was youth night.

 

We were blessed to have many members of our ward and our 2 stakes support us.  We also had: Sharon K and Pat B from our old ward, my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Scott and cousin Jenna drove almost 2 hours to come support us, Grant's assistant soccer coach Tracy and her daughter (Riana and Autumn's friend) Katherine, my parents, Chris and Mandy (and her sister Debbie and daughter Hannah) and kids, Celestia and boys, and many other friends of friends or family of friends, like Logan, Brooke, Aimee, and Hailey's Great Grandma, Grandma, and Aunt and Uncle that we know... and Autumn's Grandparents who came and surprised her all the way from Arizona to see the play!

 

I was introduced to Renee S's coworker, who wasn't a member of the church, but was very touched by the play and said that she cried through most of it!  She was so sweet!  

 

This was definitely a dream come true for me to play a pretty big role (1 of the top 5 women's parts.)  It was so fulfilling to have complete strangers come up to me and tell me that enjoyed my performance.  I received many compliments, from complete strangers, people I hadn't seen in years, and close friends/family, that meant the world to me!!  Things like, "You have the best smile in the world," or "I couldn't stop watching you because you were just so captivating" or "You were just glowing up there."  I can't even begin to put into words just what it meant to me.  I will never forget it.

We were quite spoiled and some members of the Stake volunteered to make us dinner between the shows on Saturday.  That was very generous of them.  We all enjoyed the yummy food and the time to sit and relax and visit with each other.

Jennifer H. took most of the pictures... she took several incredible ones both during and after the show.  A few other people took some pictures as well, including Dave W., Grant and myself, and a few others.

After the final show, Grant was able to present the "Thank Yous" to a few people, including our director- Elizabeth, musical director- Sylvie, pianist- Marjean, the hard working costume ladies- Lorraine and Diane (and her friend), the prop lady- Shannon or as we all liked to call her Pocahontas, and the tech lady- Jamie (who was not a member of the church, but was so generous to give of her time to the production anyway).  There were at least two more guys who did tech.  Also Jessica on the lights and Naomi on the curtains, who did double duty because they were also wanting to be on stage (I was really impressed by their sacrifices!)  They all did SO much behind the scenes to make the magic happen, which we all appreciated very much.

We were blessed with gifts from several people.
*Sunflowers and Rolos from Grant and Vanessa
*"You are a Star!" with chocolate from Tracy and Katherine
*Special princess and soccer chocolates from Grandma and Grandpa C.
*2 dozen long stemmed red roses from Grant for the girls and I

 

 

Not wanting to say goodbye...
It was hard to see it all end and say goodbye to our new friends.  A lot of people (including me) cried during the last curtain call.
Here are Karina, Aurora, and Danica hanging onto Ian.

Thank goodness for the cast party.  We had so much fun at the first cast party, that we had a second one.  We love hanging out together.  :)