Easter play held at the "Holy City of the Wichita Mountains"
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After 84 years of production, "The Prince of Peace Passion Play," held in the "Holy City of the Wichita Mountains," will continue to focus on the importance of Christ's atonement during the Easter season this year. The multi-faith production takes place 80 miles south of Oklahoma City, Okla., in the boundaries of the Wichita Mountains Wild Life Refuge range, home to buffalo and long-horned cattle.
President Charles Adair of the Lawton Oklahoma Stake, in which the interfaith "Holy City" is located, lauds the play as a solemn recognition of Jesus Christ, as the omnipotent Creator of all heaven and earth. While the Lawton Stake assumes no official role in the play's production, President Adair said he views the work done by individual members of the stake as valuable contributions toward the Church's efforts to glorify Christ's name while spreading the story of the Son of God's atoning suffering and death and His miraculous resurrection.
President Adair draws wisdom from revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, in Jackson County Missouri in April 1832: "Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God" (Doctrine and Covenants 82:19). He noted a number of stake members have long records of service with the Easter pageant.
Sue Nichols, a member of the Lawton Oklahoma Stake and one of the LDS participants, says her testimony of Christ as head of the Church and her belief that people of all races, creeds and tongues are as one — sons and daughters of Father in Heaven — is never greater than when she performs as the voice of Martha, sister of Lazarus, in the play. Another stake member, Todd Robinson, appears in the pageant's various temple scenes.
The countryside of the Wichita Mountains Holy City is reminiscent of biblical Jerusalem as it may have existed during the time of Christ and is often referred to as "Oklahoma's Oberammergau," an eponym proffered to pay homage to the German city in the Bavarian Alps whose own Passion play dates back to 1634.
The Holy City of the Wichita's play prides itself as both international and Christian interfaith effort, known by most simply as the "Easter Pageant." It was the life work of Austrian-born Anthony Mark Wallock, who arrived in the United States at the age of 2 with his parents in 1892. He graduated from the Barret Biblical Institute and after a number of preparatory tenures became pastor of the First Congregational Church in Lawton.
While serving in that capacity in 1926 the Rev. Wallock led a group of the faithful to a mountain in the nearby Wichita range where a tableau of the Resurrection was presented. Out of this event grew an annual Easter Service — "The Prince of Peace Passion Play," viewed by thousands annually.
The play has, over time, become one of Oklahoma's most enduring Christian traditions. On approach, the Holy City of the Wichitas, except for prairie dogs, buffalo and long-horned cattle roving about, looks very much to fit the biblical description of ancient Jerusalem also known as, "The Holy City."
The Oklahoma Holy City's 35-foot tall — including pedestal — alabaster/marble animation of Christ stands atop the hill overlooking the village below.
This year's organizers, under the directorship of Allen Carollis, have adopted an Easter Eve schedule they hope will accommodate the great number of worshipers whose respective denominational churches, such as the Latter-Day Saints, Catholics and others who have Easter Sunday services of their own. The move to Saturday performances of the pageant allows for an evening of reverence in preparation for their respective Sabbath Day services.
This year's production featuring a cast of 350 actors and performers, joined by 42 equestrians complete with chariot scenes, will feature two performances including March 27 and the Saturday evening prior to Easter Sunday, April 3, 2010.
