Inside The Popular Easter Pageant That Draws 100,000 Visitors
An Easter Pageant in a Phoenix, Arizona, suburb is now the world’s largest annual such production, organizers say. The event, which runs for nine days before Easter Sunday, draws crowds of 10,000 each night and has a volunteer cast of 500.
But if you don’t live in the area — or if you’re not connected to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called the Mormon Church — the Mesa Easter Pageant, an 87-year-old festival, is likely not on your radar.
What began as a choral Easter Sunrise Service in 1938 with a narration about Jesus’s life morphed three decades later into a dramatic presentation on the story of Jesus. By 1977, it became a dramatic presentation featuring multiple stages, theatrical lighting and live animals. A soundtrack recording augmented the state performances.
In 2018, the Mesa Temple closed for major renovations, and the pageant was suspended until those were completed. Four years later, “Jesus the Christ” returned with a new script, a new score by composer Rob Gardner, and a soundtrack recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. That 500-member onstage ensemble is a larger performing group than the 360 members of the world-renowned Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.
At one point, there were seven Mormon-sponsored pageants in the United States, many portraying incidents in the 195-year-old denomination's history. In 2018, church officials said they were stopping five pageants and keeping only a historical presentation at the Nauvoo, Illinois, Temple and the Mesa event.
The Arizona pageant’s nine performances are held on the grounds of the church’s Mesa Temple, about 21 miles east of downtown Phoenix. Based solely on texts from the King James version of the Bible, the pageant’s director and several participants affirm it’s a performance accessible to those of all faiths, or even no faith.
“This is is a way for us to present the life of the Savior, and then for people to take what they need in their own lives, maybe to start on a healing journey or a faith journey, or just a joy journey, or something that makes them feel accepted and loved and and hopeful,” said Jenee Prince, who has been involved with the pageant for 21 years.
Prince, who heads fine arts programs for a charter school organization that operates schools in several states, including Arizona, said the aim of the presentation is to “just focus on what our Savior can do for us, the healing, the lifting, the love, the hope, the inspiration, you know, and and watching the stories of Jesus just come alive from the New Testament.”
Those stories include the healing of a paralyzed man and of Jesus bringing Jairus’s daughter back to life, as well as the parable of the Good Samaritan. Peter walking on the water — and sinking — is another story told, along with the crucifixion and the resurrection.
C.J. Eagar, an estate planning attorney, said his role as the Good Samaritan and his family’s involvement onstage and behind the scenes has heightened his sense of the pageant’s importance locally.
“It's so impactful on the community. We cannot go anywhere in the city right now without somebody mentioning the Easter pageant this time of year. At this point, I have probably at least 100 clients who are not members of our faith, who have said, ‘Oh, our attorney is the Good Samaritan. He's going to be there. We're going to be there,” he said.
The resurrected Lord appears at the end of the “Jesus the Christ” Mesa, Arizona, Easter Pageant, during a dress rehearsal on April 7, 2025.. (Photo Copyright © 2025 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved)
Lisa Eagar, a former hairstylist who now “mostly” runs a household that includes the couple’s five children, said being part of the worshipping throng onstage is “an incredible opportunity to testify of Jesus Christ.”
Pageant activity sometimes prompts deep conversations with the children, she said, such as when their 7-year-old said, “Mom, how do you know [Jesus] is real?” She said “I think its so great to be able to have” such conversations, allowing the children “to kind of gain their own personal witness and testimony”
While the pageant aims to strengthen believers in Christ, director Prince said the presentation is “community-focused” and “not a conversion tool.”
No missionaries are waiting to capture visitor’s phone numbers, she added. “Nobody’s going to proselytize. You’re not going to have missionaries going, ‘Hey, take this Book of Mormon.’”
However, event-goers witness one “conversion” each night. Over the pageant’s run, roughly 10,000 people at a clip will see Clint Goodman of Mesa, Arizona, undergo a religious conversion.
More precisely, it’s Simon the Pharisee,” a pageant character, who transforms. Goodman portrays the ancient Hebrew leader who goes from being skeptical about Jesus to following the renegade rabbi.
“This role portrays a lot of us because we have to, at some point in our life, whether you're born a Christian or not, decide to, like Christ said, take up your cross and follow Me,” he said in a video interview.
For most of the year, lawyer Goodman presides over a seven-attorney legal practice specializing in homeowners' association issues. Most HOA boards meet in the evenings, but for about a month, he’s unavailable for such events.
“I feel like I'm giving up a tenth of my time, which to me, is even more of a sacrifice than income, because I know what that does, but I've done it for a couple of years now,” he said. “Not only have I been able to keep up with my daily tasks in the law, because I'm the owner, founder of the firm, right, I have a lot of people that I work with, I feel like the Lord has expanded my capacity during this time, and it gets paid in dividends.”
Tim Jackson, who operates a youth sports organization in the area, was baptized as a Latter-day Saint in 2004 and now portrays Matthew, while his wife and children are onstage as followers of Christ. He said the visual aspect of seeing Gospel accounts come to life onstage is a faith-builder.
“For me, it's putting a physical picture to the Scriptures, and putting me physically there in the stories that we've learned to love and to read about and the parables, and being able to physically see that … helped me to better understand that and to deepen my testimony as well as my understanding, by going through the process.”
Prince, the pageant director, said funding comes from the church’s area leadership group, with professionals hired to erect and tear down the stage. Church employees from Salt Lake City are on hand to handle the lighting and sound, she said.
When the audience expresses appreciation, Prince said she and the cast receive a greater boost from the effort.
“We are the ones who are grateful that we get to be a part of this,” she said. “It is a beautiful, sacred experience for these families and these people, and I hope they will take that with them throughout their life.”
Mark A. Kellner is a Nevada-based journalist who has written for several publications, including The New York Post and Washington Times, where he covered faith and family topics. You can contact him here.