Review: Megan Sanborn Jones. Contemporary Mormon Pageantry: Seeking After the Dead. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018.

Authors

Jill Hemming Austin

Keywords

Mormon pageants, Megan Sanborn Jones, religious drama, Latter-day Saints

Abstract

Outdoor historical pageants hold a long and steady presence in the informal and grassroots culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are several reasons for the robust health of this tradition: theology that implicates living church members in the salvation of their ancestors; an enthusiastic proselytizing culture that seeks to spread the good word; and a tendency towards large-group events and performance. In her book, Contemporary Mormon Pageantry: Seeking After the Dead, Brigham Young University theatre professor Megan Sanborn Jones takes on the task of examining four of the largest church pageants in the United States: the Hill Cumorah Pageant in upstate New York, the Nauvoo Pageant in Illinois, the Manti Pageant in Utah, and the Mesa Easter Pageant in Arizona. In-depth interviews, case studies, and participant observation add a wealth of insider details and information previously unrecorded. With this grounding in fieldwork, her study represents the first book-length analysis of multiple church pageants as a coherent genre of performance. Scholars with interest in religious drama, Mormon studies, and American theater will find plenty of fresh material to examine alongside an eclectic and useful bibliography.

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Austin, Jill Hemming (2020) "Review: Megan Sanborn Jones. Contemporary Mormon Pageantry: Seeking After the Dead. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2018.," Mormon Studies Review: Vol. 7: No. 1, Article 16.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr2/vol7/iss1/16