NAUVOO, Ill. — About a year ago, Pat Davis, executive director of Nauvoo Productions, decided to follow a few visitors around historic Nauvoo to see their reactions. What she saw pleased her. Visitors attending the various performances of "Rendezvous at Old Nauvoo" and "Sunset by the Mississippi" laughed where they should and cried where they should.
Then she noticed the children.
"At Nauvoo, we didn't talk to the children," she told the Church News. "We said, 'Dear, don't touch that,' "Would you hold onto your mother's hand?' That was about the only time we talked to the children."
That's all changed now. After talking the matter over with North America Central Area President Elder Donald L. Staheli of the Seventy and President Samuel Park of the Illinois Nauvoo Mission, Sister Davis wrote "Just Plain Anna-Amanda," a 30-minute musical skit for children performed in the Nauvoo Cultural Hall.
Since its first performance May 28, the popularity of the one-act production is soaring — and not just with children. The parents seem to be enjoying it as well. Not surprising, said Sister Davis, as the message of "Just Plain Anna-Amanda" is universal, that everyone is important.
"That's the bottom line. I want a child to go away thinking, 'I'm important. There's nobody else like me.' "
And that certainly is what Anna-Amanda, a Nauvoo pioneer girl, learns. In the performance, a "witty, 12-year old girl with pigtails," played by two different actresses for various performances, greets children in the audience with "Hello! I'm Anna-Amanda Adelia Appleby. I inherited Anna from one grandmother and Amanda from the other. Adelia is my Mamma's middle name and Appleby is Papa's last name and that's why my name is Anna-Amanda Adelia Appleby. Most folks call me just plain Anna-Amanda."
Then, from behind the curtains comes the voice of Mamma, "Just Plain Anna-Amanda, where are you?"
"See what I mean? I'm here Mamma," Anna-Amanda responds as the curtains open.
The musical skit continues as Anna-Amanda admits she wishes she were "somebody else," somebody important. Then a cast of fictional pioneer characters, including "Tattle-Tale" twins, "Mr. Boots," a schoolmaster and a "Freckle-faced lady," come along with items Anna-Amanda thinks will make her look important. She trades slippers to Mr. Boots for his big, muddy books he uses to work in the rock quarry for the Nauvoo Temple, trades baskets for satchels made in Boston, and gets to wear a bonnet brought all the way from England and a forgotten cloak left by the schoolmaster.
To the Freckle-faced lady, Anna-Amanda sings about herself, "She's tall, just like her grandpa, She has her mother's chin, and her imagination is so like Mary-Lynn's. She has her father's temper, her hair is dark like mine, I'm a walking, breathing fixture stuck in the sands of time. To look at me . . . you must agree, I'm a bone-a-fide catastrophe! Here you see, both He and She. Everybody else . . . but me."
That's when the Freckle-faced lady begins to teach Anna-Amanda her own importance — and a lesson in Church history at the same time. Using song, she points out her grandma's eyes were "soft and warm and true" and that her father's temper was stored up until he "used it on the mob."
"You're a walking, breathing recipient of the family legacy," Anna-Amanda is told. And yet, the little girl is reminded, she is also unique. When the schoolmaster enters, he teaches Anna-Amanda the importance of recording her family legacy.
Later, with the cast gathered around her, Anna-Amanda says, "Well, I'm the only person on earth like me. I guess that's pretty important . . . isn't it, Papa?"
To which Papa replies, "One day, when your feet have grown a little larger, and your shoulders a little broader, and your knowledge has expanded to encompass the wisdom of the world . . . you won't have learned anything more important."
"We've had grown-up people with tears in their eyes when they hear that part," said Sister Shirley Graves who, with her husband, Elder Ronald Graves, are service missionaries and coordinators with Nauvoo Productions in Nauvoo. "The little children love it and they want their picture with Anna-Amanda."
Sister Jessica Faun Smith, from Twin Falls, Idaho, and Sister Emily Stewart of Salt Lake City take turns playing the part. And both young women, who are among the young performing missionaries serving in Nauvoo, are often approached at other Nauvoo venues by children with exclamations, "There's Anna-Amanda!"
"It's like a DisneyWorld response," Sister Smith said, chuckling. "They come up with these awed expressions and big eyes and huge smiles and shake my hand. This one girl gave me a bear hug."
When asked how the children's responses affect her, Sister Smith, who returned about a year ago from the Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission, said, "I feel so humble. I'm just a big sister."
Sounds like Just Plain Anna-Amanda.
E-mail: julied@desnews.com