Mesa Easter Pageant Celebrates the Savior’s Life and Ministry

Mesa, AZ – For more than 70 years, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has presented the annual Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant as a gift to the community and to the thousands of visitors that travel to see it each year.

Originally held in 1928 as a choral sunrise service atop a wooden cotton wagon, the pageant has evolved into a full-scale, professional theater production. Known today as the largest outdoor Easter Pageant, it is performed on a 9,600-square-foot stage that towers four-stories high and portrays the life and ministry of Jesus Christ through music, dance and drama.

With 450 volunteer cast members this year and at least 300 more who will participate as production staff, just getting everyone on and off stage is a massive undertaking that could be considered a noteworthy accomplishment

Yet, even more than the mechanics of the Pageant, it is behind the scenes and in the audience that the truly miraculous occurs.

Easter Pageant President, Wayne Leavitt, says, the annual pageant, called “Jesus the Christ,” accomplishes a monumental achievement in the way it is able, in a short, 65-minute presentation to give members of the community an opportunity “to understand how we, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or what many people refer to as ‘Mormons,’ feel about the Savior Jesus Christ.”

He says the pageant is able to educate and inform, helping people to see “that we truly are believers and followers of the same Jesus Christ that many of them believe in.”

In addition to changing minds, the pageant also changes hearts.

Leavitt says people of all faiths attend the pageant, which is free and open to the public every performance night.

“Many have said they have felt the spirit of the pageant and that they have come away with a better understanding of the Savior Jesus Christ. They say, from watching the pageant, they feel they know him better and feel his love,” he says.

“This presentation is beautiful and majestic as it focuses on the mission and miracles of Jesus Christ,” says Nanci Wudel, who has been involved with the Pageant since 1998 and has served as pageant director for the past seven years. She says the real power of the Pageant stems from the cast and crew and their individual preparation.

“They truly try to live as if they were walking in the footsteps of Christ during those weeks of preparation and performance,” she says.

This year, a public-invited dress rehearsal, will be held March 31 with a performance in English at 7 p.m. and Spanish at 8:30. Following that, the Easter Pageant performances will begin at 8 p.m., with English performances on April 1 and 2 and 7 through 11 and Spanish performances April 3 and 4. ASL translation will be offered the entire first week, April 1 through 4.

The pageant is performed at 525 E. Main Street in Mesa. Free parking is available on surrounding streets, west of Pioneer Park and behind the Dairy Queen on Main Street.

Seating is strictly first-come, first-served; or attendees may bring blankets and lawn chairs to sit on any available grass space. No general reserved seating is available, and no block seating reserved signs may be posted on chairs.

For additional information, visit http://www.easterpageant.org/ or call (480) 964-7164.

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