The Hill Cumorah Legacy Project

William (Bill) Jones recounts his upbringing as a Seneca Native American and Latter-day Saint in Western New York. After discussing his views about Native Americans, race, and the Book of Mormon, he tells the story of how he, his wife, and their children acted in the 2019 Hill Cumorah Pageant. Particular emphasis is placed on the show’s casting process (including race and colorblind casting), Bill’s supervision of teenagers at the Pageant, the acting experience, and Bill’s strong emotions during the scene where Jesus visits the Americas.

Toi Clawson was a public affairs director for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. She was a cast member in 1995 for the Pageant. In 2005, Toi and her husband were asked to do public affairs for the pageant. They did this until 2012. She worked long hours, with early mornings, and she had to stay until all of the reporters went home. She and her family were disappointed by yet understanding of the 2018 announcement of the Pageant’s ending. One of her notable social media attempts was when Toi shared information about the Pageant on Facebook around 2012. Unfortunately, she was contacted and asked to take down the social media page by the Church. Then, sometime later, a similar situation happened with another pageant in Arizona, but their page got so much positive attention in such a short amount of time that the Missionary Department re-evaluated its stance and began to think of Facebook and other forms of social media as tools to use for spreading religious information.

After a quick introduction, Suzanne introduced herself and her family. She then ran through the various jobs she had for the Pageant. Suzanne then elaborated on how she progressively gained more and more responsibilities within the pageant before taking the role from Daisy Murphy as Cast Team Director. She answered what a Cast Team was—the inner groupings of people within the production that still needed direction when they weren’t rehearsing. After her time as Cast Team Director, Suzanne helped organize community service projects for the teams to participate in for the last three years of her time working on the Pageant. Overall, she believes that the people acting in the Pageant got however much they put in, with those working the hardest having the best experiences.

In this roughly 60-minute interview, Patricia Randall—a professor of costume design at BYU Idaho—describes her experiences at the annual Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, New York. In 2012, she began her work as a seamstress for the Pageant and eventually became the head of wardrobe and costume design for the production. This interview explores in depth her experiences and work at the Pageant over the years. Additionally, this interview delves into the impacts of the Pageant on Randall and the role it continues to play in her life, even now that it has ended. The interview concludes with Randall’s hopes for those involved looking towards the future.

In this interview, Gerard Loughran speaks with Patricia (Pat) Rowe about her experiences working in the ladies’ dressing room at the Pageant, assisting female cast members with their costumes and wigs. Pat and her family participated in eight years of the Pageant as cast members and members of the Pageant administration. Topics of conversation include the Pageant application process, how families were split among cast teams, dynamics among family members in the Pageant, costume work, and the involvement of children in the Pageant. Pat also shares a few memories of attending the Hill Cumorah Pageant as a child. Near the end of the conversation, Gerard provides a brief overview of the Hill Cumorah Legacy Project.

Matt Barr is an Australian photographer and videographer who now lives in Utah. In this interview, Matt tells how he was recruited in 2016 to film and photograph the Hill Cumorah Pageant. He returned in this role for several years and ultimately filmed the final run of Pageant shows in 2019. His resulting film of the Pageant is the one that is available on the Church website as of 2023. Matt explains the logistics of running such a large shoot, and he discusses his unreleased 4K HD version of the 2019 Pageant. The interview closes with a discussion of digital preservation.

This is roughly a 25-minute interview with Marc Clay, interviewed by Myles Gaston and Leo Golia. The interview starts out with introductions and how Clay was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the Pageant. Along with this, the interview touches on his experience working with the Pageant and his reaction to the ending of the Pageant. The interview also touches on steps the Church is taking to preserve aspects of the Pageant such as costumes and video. This recording ends with Clay talking about his roles and experiences in the Church.

Kimberly Sorensen is a Canadian immigrant and convert to the LDS Church. She attended the Hill Cumorah Pageant many times with her children in the 2000s¬–2010s. In 2015, she was called to assist with the wig shop for the Pageant. Kimberly had no prior experience with wig making, but she learned on the job under the supervision of her colleague Katie Maxwell. During this interview, Kimberly recalls the workflow in the wig shop, her children’s participation in the Pageant, and memories from performance nights. She also comments briefly on the Pageant dispersal process in spring and summer 2021, when all the props and costumes were given away.

In this interview, Kimberly gave us insight on what the Hill Cumorah Pageant was like, who would go to the Pageant, and how the Pageant worked from the volunteers’ perspective. Kimberly told us her story of how she converted to the Mormon religion, how it has helped her in many ways throughout her life, and what the Pageant is. She also told us her favorite story from the Book of Mormon that was shown in the Pageant. Kimberly showed us that the Pageant was more than just the show they would have on the grand stage, but rather an event that brought people together and created close friendships.

John Rutkowski is the current facilities manager for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and held this position for many years while the Hill Cumorah Pageant was being held on these grounds. During our interview, he discussed with us some of the manpower and equipment needed not only to set up and dismantle the Pageant each year, but also to care for the facilities and grounds year-round. We spoke at length about the end of the Pageant, his perspective on why the Church decided to end it, and his part in that process. He also shared with us his current role in the Hill Cumorah Rehabilitation Project and his role in that.

Maddie Vanderpool interviewed Jennie Hedworth for the second and final time to follow up on topics such as the day-to-day activities of being a transportation coordinator for an event of this size, as well as expanding on topics such as activities done during the Pageant and Jennie’s personal feelings about the Pageant.

I interview Jennie Hedworth, who was the cast busing coordinator for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. We discuss the Pageant mainly, and what it meant to her and how it has impacted her life. She went to the Pageant for years, so she shares her experiences with me as an audience member, cast member, and busing coordinator. We also discuss her family's involvement in the Pageant and what it all meant to them and how she’s raised her sons going to the Pageant every year. Along with this, Jennie shares information about how the Pageant affected Palmyra and how the Pageant coming to an end has affected the area and herself. She also discusses her religion and how she grew up.