USA Today: Annual Pageant at Fount of Mormon Faith

This article was originally written by Sarah Taddeo for USA Today. The following is an excerpt.

Christian Hancey is a lawyer, not an actor.

But for the next week, the Pittsford, N.Y., father of four will don a wig and 1800s clothing to play the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, in the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant at one of the faith’s most sacred places.

“It’s exciting … you get caught up in the moment and you’re happy to do it,” Hancey said.

But he’s nervous. More than 700 people from all over the world, many of them with no formal acting or dance experience, have been cast in roles for the dramatic depiction of scenes from the Book of Mormon.

They are putting on a spectacular production this week on the hill in Manchester, where Smith is said to have received the faith’s sacred texts from an angel.

The pageant started in the 1930s and is one of several major productions put on by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints around the country every year. The cast members are all volunteers, and over 30,000 spectators come out to see the show on a towering outdoor stage over seven performances between July 10 and 18.

Read Taddeo’s full article at USAtoday.com.