Audiences of the sixth annual production of a musical theater production celebrating the history of the Church in Kirtland will see big changes this year. “This is Kirtland!,” which started as a small local show, is now a summer tradition for local Church members, and has become a growing destination for local tour bus companies and members traveling to and from the Palmyra pageant. New characters, new original music, and a new production team—including a new director—promise an even more inspirational and entertaining experience for this summer's audiences.
Newel and Elizabeth Whitney tell their family of a vision they shared that the word of the Lord was coming to Kirtland.
The biggest change on-stage this year is the inclusion of a new major character, Lorenzo Snow, and his conversion story. Snow, the fifth president and prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, grew up in the small town of Mantua, Ohio, a few miles south of Kirtland. Members of his family, including his famous literary sister, Eliza, joined the Church in the 1830s after Joseph Smith came to live in the Kirtland area. Lorenzo, a young college student, was baptized in 1836, after a serious season of study and prayerful consideration.
An Ohio convert himself, debut director Nate Johnson is excited about the addition of Lorenzo's story and believes it will touch more people than ever before.
Young Mary Elizabeth Rollins sings of her desire to read the Book of Mormon.
“The one thing that was missing from the production was the element of finding the gospel,” Johnson explained. “Every director searches for a way to leave a piece of himself with the show. The moments when Lorenzo is on stage and searching within himself for the truth are very touching to me!”
Johnson had theater experience previous to his “This Is Kirtland!” involvement, but his best training for this production was acting in the show with his wife Camille in previous years. He played the role of Joseph Smith and authored the spiritually stirring and musically complex, “He Lives!,” a song of testimony based on the 76 th section of the Doctrine and Covenants.
The Story of “This is Kirtland!”
The hour-long production was written by a team of locals who pooled years of professional experience in musical performance and theater, choreography, historical research, writing, costuming, set design, and construction.
Polly K. Dunn, the original director of the show, brought over 20 years of professional theater experience and training to This is Kirtland! Her creative vision of the show guided composer Sheri McMurtrey, who penned the original score, and writer and researcher Sunny McClellan Morton, who led a team of writers in bringing to life these stories of early Kirtland saints. They drew heavily on journal entries and other contemporary sources, often quoting exactly from them in songs and spoken lines.
When director Dunn moved to Utah last year, Johnson stepped in to fill her shoes and build on her considerable legacy. “Polly brought so much to the show,” says Johnson. “She was involved with the writing, the choreography, she staged it, knew about make-up and lighting. She embodied the whole thing and she had the charisma to work with adults and children alike.”
The School of the Prophets: enthusiasm for learning Hebrew and the scriptures.
Rather than try and fill all of Dunn's shoes, Johnson “decided early on to spread the wealth and find a lot of people who could take on Dunn's roles.” The decision to divide the work among a larger directing team proved especially wise just before rehearsal season started, when Johnson was called into the Kirtland Stake presidency. The new stake president, under whose leadership the show is produced, is as big a champion of the production as the previous stake president, and has provided Johnson plenty of support in fulfilling his dual responsibilities.
“We have had a lot of people step up and formed a fantastic team that will become a more sustainable model for years to come,” Johnson says. This summer, the show has an all-volunteer cast and crew of more than 60 adults and children, all local members of the Church.
“I know that everyone says the show gets better every year, and this time I really believe that to be true,” Johnson comments. “The changes to the script and the addition of a new song have made a huge difference in the production. We have an immensely talented cast this year as well.”
Joseph Smith writes and sings a love song to Emma.
Johnson, who readily admits that he misses the chance to be on stage with the show this year, says that he and the cast “are truly hoping that this show will provide a way for us to reach out more to our friends in the community as well as to the local membership.”
The Church in Kirtland
The early history of the Church in northeast Ohio (1830-1838) is significant to the historical, doctrinal and scriptural foundation upon which the Church was built. It begins with the formation of the first stake of the Church in 1834. Called the Kirtland stake, named for the small community where Joseph Smith first arrived in Ohio, the stake included a number of small branches throughout the Northeast segment of the state.
“The story of Kirtland is really the story is really the story of the Savior, Jesus Christ, as he directed and participated in reestablishing His Church on the earth,” says former Cleveland Stake President Karl Ricks Anderson, who now serves as the Kirtland Stake Patriarch and is known Church-wide as “Mr. Kirtland,” due to his extensive knowledge of local Church history.
A rousing dance number.
“There are more recorded appearances of the Savior here (in Kirtland) than anywhere else in our dispensation. Joseph Smith had 10 visions of Deity in Kirtland, it was the site of the first temple built in this dispensation, and under the direction of the Savior, Moses, Elias and Elijah all appeared and committed the keys of the Priesthood to Joseph and Oliver Cowdery so that the work of this dispensation could go forward.”
“Joseph Smith received 84 separate revelations in Kirtland, including nearly half the revelations (65) appearing in the Doctrine and Covenants, including the Word of Wisdom, the Three Degrees of Glory, the Law of Consecration, and the organization of the Church was revealed here,” Anderson continued. “Virtually all of Joseph's translation of the Bible occurred in northeast Ohio, as well, and it was from here that the Gospel was first carried to foreign lands.”
Dedication of the Kirtland Temple.
Joseph Smith made several prophesies regarding the future of the Kirtland area, including one where he declared that “Kirtland would become one of the principal stakes in Zion.” Joseph never forgot Kirtland and its destiny. According to Anderson, he spoke of it often and the night before his martyrdom in Carthage Jail, Joseph had a dream that he was back in Kirtland. “Something should be done with regard to Kirtland so that it might be built up,” said Joseph.
Come see “This is Kirtland!”
Show dates for the 2009 season are July 2,3; 9-11 and 16-18 at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
located at 8751 Kirtland Road, Kirtland, Ohio. Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m. Admission is free, though reservations are requested for large groups. Please visit www.thisiskirtland.com or call 440-256-9805 for more information.
