| “Honoring the past; engaging the present; and planning for the
future,” is the motto of a collaborative effort that is underway to
revitalize the Marion Easter Pageant. The hope is to call on those
who have helped with the Pageant in the past and to engage the youth
of today so that the Pageant will thrive and be passed on.
The mission statement of this collaborative effort is:
To revitalize the tradition and legacy of the Marion Easter
Pageant by highlighting and celebrating the life of Jesus Christ
through drama, dance and music. Engaging and uniting our community
through the reenactment and sharing of the gospel in the spirit of
the Lord’s mission.
They have also returned to the original principles of the
Pageant:
 | (1) Total anonymity for all participants; |
 | (2) No remuneration of any participants; and |
 | (3) No political involvement or affiliations. |
Because of this, no names of the group are being used or given in
any stories about this effort to revitalize the long-standing
community effort. Also no one participating in the Pageant will be
named in the program.
The Marion Easter Pageant was first performed in 1937 and was
last done as a full production in 2003. The deterioration of the
Memorial Coliseum and waning interest contributed to the demise of
the full production. In years following 2003 there were some
attempts made to do the music and the video in various local
churches. This is an attempt to recreate the Pageant in its
original home with both a large movie screen and a high-quality
music presentation. |