Savior of the World- it is finished

The Orange California Stake's production of Savior of the World is complete. Wow! What an experience. It was long, hard, and required the total commitment of cast, crew, and supporting people for nearly 7 months. But it was worth it. I will remember this forever! I believe that preparing this production and working with cast and crew was the closest I've ever come to achieving a Zion-like society, with a sprinkling of Zion's Camp thrown in for good measure.


The following is an entry I submitted to be included in the Savior of the World Book of Remembrance.

"I wanted to share some of these thoughts with all of you in person at the post-production cast party, but time did not permit. So, I will do so now in written form.

After Kim was first called to serve as the Director of Savior of the World, and even though I had never seen or heard of the play, I knew that a long and challenging road lay ahead. It was my intention to be a supportive spouse and to hold down the fort at home while she did her thing. I had every intention of limiting my involvement to setting up and taking down chairs and passing out programs at the door. Then Kim twisted my arm and "persuaded me" to come to tryouts and audition for the chorus. Reluctantly, I consented. I selected and sang a hymn for the audition committee, hoping that I would be excluded due to my mediocre singing voice.

The next thing I knew, I was being asked to "help" with role auditions by participating in group readings from the script. Before I knew what hit me, and even though I had no previous acting experience whatsoever, I found myself as a member of the chorus AND cast as Malachi in Act I AND Peter in Act II. Yikes!!

It was difficult for me to learn the variations of the repetitious chorus music, memorize all the lines for my roles, and to receive and adapt to instructions that helped create a wonderful production, but which at time they were given changed a time or two and which sometimes didn't make sense to my way of thinking. It was good for me to have a lesson in being obedient to a script and instructions which I did not always agree with.

Like most everyone else, being in Savior of the World required a consecration of my time and talents that necessitated the sacrifice of not being able to participate in other events and activities that were really hard to give up.

As we made progress in getting "off book", the rehearsals began to take on a level of spirituality that after a while actually had me looking forward to Thursday nights and Saturday mornings. There was a special feeling at our practices that I grew to cherish. As the countdown until performance time decreased from months to just weeks, our shared experience with this production became very special, even sacred. I believe we truly did enjoy a taste of a Zion-like experience. When the struggles with lighting continued past our last tech rehearsal, we pulled together as a cast and crew and did everything in our power to fix the problems and then through prayer and faith and priesthood blessings, the Lord stepped in and helped make up the difference of what we were unable to do on our own.

I want to offer a special thank you to Brodie, with whom I had the privilege of working in several scenes. I suspect that there are very few, if any cast members, who have more acting experience then he, and I know there is no one who had less experience than did I. Never the less, he repeatedly encouraged me and gave me confidence that I could accomplish what had been asked of me. He was never condescending and was always kind and patient. His sense of humor also helped us maintain a sense of perspective and to lighten up at times. Thank you, Brodie.

I also want to publicly thank Blythe for setting aside her concerns and giving to all of us and the audience the gift of allowing her newborn son Christian to participate in the manger scene. Each time the lights would come up in that scene and I would see little Christian in Marie's arms from my vantage point on the colonnade, the Spirit bore powerful witness to me of the wonder and miracle and reality of the Savior's birth, that Jesus really was once a little child, a baby who came into the world under the most humble of circumstances. It was hard to sing with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes, but I suspect the angelic choir that actually sang on that sacred occasion might have also had that same challenge.

The Cultural Hall and stage now have a special place in my heart, because it was where we shared laughs and tears and sacred moments together. In like manner to the way that Mosiah 18:30 describes how the otherwise ordinary waters and forests of Mormon were beautiful to those who there acquired a knowledge of their Redeemer, these otherwise ordinary rooms will forever bring back memories of the sacred moments we shared together. It has been a privilege and an honor to serve with each and all of you, the chorus, the cast, the technical crew, the orchestra, those assisting with costumes, makeup,
scenery, etc.

I want to publicly tell Kim that I love her dearly and am so pleased with her service as our Director. She amazed even those of us who were already aware of her many talents. As she has already shared with you, she prefers to be a private, behind-the-scenes kind of person and is not comfortable in leadership roles. Without any previous experience directing plays, she was able to help keep all of us moving forward through many obstacles and remain focused on our ultimate objective of presenting a quality production that testified through our stretched talents and abilities via the medium of the Spirit of the Holy Ghost that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the World.

My testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ has been strengthened. I love each of you and appreciate the sacrifices that each of you made to enable the preparation and presentation of Savior of the World.

Cameron Hess"