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“More Precious
than Gold”
The Sacramento California Temple Youth Cultural Celebration, Part
4
(continued from Part
3)
The Work behind the Miracle
The miracle of the pageant came together,
supported by mounds of labor from hundreds of adults. The core team
started working late and long hours on this more than 15 months
ago, beginning with brainstorming the story.
They agreed that this was all about
the experience for the youth and that they should not forget that
even in the intoxication of their enthusiasm. Though many of them
were artistic professionals, in creating this they should park their
egos at the door. Thus, at an early meeting a committee brainstormed
ideas for the script, filling up posters all over the walls with
their ideas.
Then on the way home from that meeting,
Kieth Merrill, who wrote the script, had one of those moments when
the story came clearly and quickly into his mind. He pulled the
car off the road in front of a house and started writing furiously
as the ideas came easily into his consciousness.
Kieth Merrill, surrounded by the principal actors
and actresses he worked with in the show.
He said, “A man from the house
kept watching me suspiciously and finally came up to the car and
showed me he was a policeman and didn’t like me sitting there
in my car taking notes. I told him I’d be happy to move, quickly
turned a U-turn, parked on the other side of the road, and continued
writing.”
What he envisioned, in that flash of
inspiration, is that this would truly be a story about teenagers
for teenagers. The cast would not be about adults — and so
only a couple of adults had any role in the show.
Kieth laughs that he’s had so
many movie scripts handed to him over the years by writers who told
him that they were inspired in every word that he’s learned
to look at the inspiration behind writing a little differently.
He said, “Anything that inspired the audience, invoked the
Spirit or enticed them to believe in Christ, came from the Lord.
And anything they didn’t like, Scott and I did by ourselves.”
The entire 60-page script was written
in three days, but the auditions went on for three or four weeks.
Kieth and Scott wanted everybody who wanted to have a turn to try
out. If somebody, wracked with nerves, asked if they could try it
again, Kieth and Scott always said yes.
“Most of them come frightened
and scared to death,” said Kieth.
Some of their picks may have at first
seemed unlikely, but they blossomed. Others needed this particular
success experience at this time because of tender situations in
other areas of their lives.
“You fall in love with the kids
by the time it’s all over,” said Kieth. “We just
couldn’t say goodbye when it was over. These are 14- and 15-year-olds
performing in a huge arena before an audience of thousands, and
yet they stepped up and did a fantastic job.
“We told them. The thing you
need to do is prepare yourself, not just in terms of acting, but
by really living the gospel. By stepping up and performing as a
lead in this event celebrating the temple dedication, you are a
leader now among the youth. If there is anything in your life you
need to change or to do, now is the time to do it.”
Click
here to go to Part 5, the Final Part of “More Precious Than
Gold”
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