Ward/Stake Theatrical Performances

Random topic here, but I just thought there might be people who could chime in given the breadth of knowledge on this forum. Anyway, a lot of our cultural halls have theatrical lighting above the stage. Yet, I've never seen a ward or stake theatrical performance. I'm assuming that ward/stake theatrical performances were common back in the day for the Church to have installed theatrical lighting in our cultural halls. If my assumption is correct, how common were ward/stake theatrical performances back in the day and when did they fall out of fashion? Also, do any of you have any memories of ward/stake theatrical performances? It would be cool to hear about them.

By the way, I know the Church released a statement in 2018 discouraging large pageants, which might explain why we no longer do ward/stake theatrical performance today.

I've been a member since 1980. I'm the various stakes we've lived in we've had a variety of events that used the stage lights. A few were actual plays, including musicals. But most of the events have been talent shows of various kinds, including cultural festivals. People talked about "road shows" on the past that sounded like each ward in the stake putting on some sort of skit, but I don't recall seeing that since I joined.

As a mid-west teenager in the early '80s, roadshows were a yearly thing. We had tryouts, rehearsals, and presentations. I remember a friend of mine performing "I'd do anything", which I've since learned is from Oliver, but I'm pretty sure we were performing something our leaders had completely made up themselves! As an introvert, I secretly enjoyed roadshows since it was an opportunity to get a little bit out of my shell Stake and regional basketball tournaments were also a thing back then, and definitely produced more ward rivalries than probably was desired. I expect that the Church was at a point in its growth, where it made sense to take a lot of what was going on in the church in SLC, and leverage that throughout at least the rest of the USA. And since there were (and continue to be) a lot of ex-pats from Utah, they could bring that background to the rest of the States.

My personal thought (with zero knowledge) is that we can see how the Lord has continually improved our youth programs throughout the years, line upon line, here a little there a little. While the roadshows and other types of programs were a ton of fun, they definitely consumed a lot of leader time and concentration. Now, youth programs help leaders and youth focus even better on things that are of most importance in their lives.

Currently, our local building has an unused stage that isn't set up well for other class usage, and would be ideal if it could be converted into a large meeting room (it won't ever be, but still would be nice). I expect most newer church buildings make better utilization of the floorplan based on current usage patterns.

I'm curious to know if new meetinghouses still have a stage as part of their floor plans.

The stage in one of our older buildings was converted using folding doors into two classrooms. The folding doors can be opened and the area can still be used as a stage.

Our building that is only eight years old has what is called a stage but is really a platform raised up about three steps from the cultural hall floor. It has a curtain and can still be used for productions.

A stake where I lived in 1984 did roadshows and actually traveled them between the two main buildings in the stake. They were original, written by the wards, and performed two times on the same evening. That is the last time I saw a roadshow, though.

I see an occasional dramatic or similar production from time to time. Last year a stake did Women at the Well (Kenneth Cope) over three performances as an event for neighbors who were not members to come and visit.

Other than that, the main use of stages I have seen in the last few years is for talent shows, usually in conjunction with youth annual fundraising activities. They also work well for short productions associated with ward Easter or Christmas activities.

Thanks for sharing your memories. I'm fascinated by these types of events that were quite prominent at one point, but no longer happen.

Adding on to the info I'm seeing here, The Inter-Stake Center at Temple Hill in Oakland, CA still has productions in a full size theatre

Our ward is getting back into this. This may not be the best place to post this but thought I’d throw this out to see if anyone has any info to help me. Our ward is wanting to do a shadow projection play. These have been popular recently usually for christmas. My question is where do I get a white sheet big enough to cover the entire stage and how do people hang it? So far I haven’t been able to find anything. One solution is to use multiple large white sheets but having one solid sheet looks so much better. I’ll post a link to a YouTube video that shows what I’m talking about if you’re unfamiliar. Thanks!

https://youtu.be/afmPJXQBxws?feature=shared

Try checking if there's a projector screen right above the stage. Our building has a retractable projector screen right above the stage that many people don't know about because when it's retracted, it's hard to tell that it's a projector screen without taking a good look at it.