I guess these are from the pre-correlation days. I've read stories in various places about what seems like a vibrant youth culture in the Mormon Church, with roadshows and activities and dances etc. But what are roadshows?

Each ward in a stake would put together a play and perform in front of the whole stake. There were lots of creative plays and elaborate sets. It was a lot of fun when they had them.

Roadshows were pretty fun! When the church killed roadshows it began the descent into what is currently a pathetic excuse for a youth auxiliary. It's no wonder that most teens aren't interested in what the church offers as "activities".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2012 08:42AM by Truthseeker.

I was in a roadshow back in the day. It was a dog vs. cat road show, with songs and costumes. I think other wards had their own skits. I believe it was a fundraiser, they invited outside people (although I have no idea if they raised money or not). I would say it was fun, but I didn't have to do most of the work either...

Hence the name. "The road" might be only between neighboring stakes, or only within the stake. The last one I was involved in, in SLC, was held in two buildings in the stake, with us taking our turn at one stage then packing up the scenery, dashing over to the other place to set up and do the show all over again while the shows that started at that building did their second performance at the building where we started.

There would usually be an assigned theme. They were rarely about anything doctrinal but usually about some sort of good sentiment or simplistic moral.

Besides roadshows, there would usually be a couple of other stage productions each year -- sometimes just the teens, sometimes the little kids, sometimes the whole ward.

And then there were ward and stake dances, dance festivals, ward movie night, ward bazaars... The church used to be a hub of activity instead of the prison colony it is now.

In the southeast, it was a major burden to travel between wards, so we used to have the Road Shows all on the same night at the Stake Center, about once a year, then all vote on the best production. It was a huge deal, and after they dumped them as official activities, there were always local youth leaders trying to find ways to incorporate aspects of them back into the church.

I remember showing up one Wednesday night, with no warning, being handed a grocery bag of "props", teamed up with a bunch of other youths, given a BoM story, and told we had one hour to make a play for the adults of both the wards that shared out building. This wasn't a roadshow, but it was one of the funnest things I ever got to do as a youth in the church.

Rolling sideshows complete with snake-oil salesmen and other types of subterfuge....