“Zion Spreads Her Wings”

“The water of the Hirose River was cold and clear that day,” says a Japanese brother recalling his baptism. “We could even see fish swimming in its depths. My life was a flower, opening once again.

“Time is an arrow. My sons … men, now. My little daughters … women. Grown. My sons served missions, two in our homeland, and one in Brazil. Zion spreads her wings.”

This reverent vignette comes from the Church’s climactic sesquicentennial production, Zion.

This hour and twenty-minute production will run in the Tabernacle September 24, 25, 26, 30, and October 1, with two performances nightly at 6:30 and 9:00 P.M. The October 1 performances are reserved primarily for out-of-town conference visitors. Tickets, free but required for admission, are available through stakes (limited), at the Activities Committee office (50 East North Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84150), the Visitors’ Centers on Temple Square, or from Promised Valley Playhouse, 132 South State Street, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101.

The production committee is particularly encouraging production specialists from the stakes to observe the performance and, if possible, attend workshops held October 2 from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M. at Promised Valley Playhouse.

Even though the Zion performances held in the Tabernacle will include numerous choirs, orchestras, dancers, multi-media presentations, a cast of seven hundred, and a production committee of almost thirty, the script is “infinitely adaptable.” A production book, choral book, a tape, and a filmstrip make it easy to produce locally.

Elder Gordon B. Hinckley assured Regional Representatives at their 5 October 1979 meeting: “I make you a promise that every one who sees [Zion] will come out with tears of gratitude and a heart bursting with appreciation for the great heritage of 150 years of faithful service.”

In this scene from Zion, pioneer father Robert Parker returns bearing his lost son Arthur.