When Rebecca Burnham’s children joined a community production of “Peter Pan,” she had some concerns.
For one, the musical typically uses stereotypes to depict indigenous people, she said. Burnham is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who lives in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, and she worried that the show would hurt residents of the nearby Blackfeet Indian Reservation.
For another, Burnham said she disliked the musical’s theme of “never growing up.” She worried that her children would receive the wrong messages about adulthood, and that they’d internalize those ideas through months of singing and dancing.
So Burnham set about adjusting parts of “Peter Pan.” With community support and input from local indigenous people, Burnham created a version of the musical that she felt better reflected Cardston’s values and ideals.
The experience was overwhelmingly positive, she recounted, and built bridges between Cardston and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The community had done something special — and she quickly realized that she didn’t want it to stop with “Peter Pan.”
That’s why Burnham founded Summit Stages: a theater nonprofit dedicated to creating “musicals with messages and production values that both build belonging and promote wholeness,” according to its website.
And while it’s not an exclusively Latter-day Saint organization, Burnham said she and her nonprofit partner Paul Schwartz are “absolutely” building on the “firm foundation” of Church President Russell M. Nelson’s teachings about peacemaking.
Burnham said, “Summit Stages is the result of deciding that musical theater has the power to build the beloved community across divides, including religious divides.” She added, “Summit Stages exists to gather all of the people that God is raising up all over the world.”
The nonprofit is in its early stages, currently laying its administrative groundwork and seeking connections with theater professionals all over the world. Burnham and Schwartz hope to eventually produce shows as prestigious as any found on Broadway in New York City or West End in London, England — but with a focus on traditional values like community, understanding and love of God.
So far, Burnham said she and Schwartz have found some “really extraordinary people” to do this work with, such as a Muslim theater in London.
Schwartz said he and Burnham hope to be holding workshops by the end of the year. They also hope to create changes in how musicals are licensed, which would allow communities to adapt productions in ways that meet local needs.
“The mission of Summit Stages is to pull us together into a place of mutual love and respect so that we can build peace and establish Zion,” Burnham said.
In short, “we want to build a library of content that is rooted in beloved community,” Schwartz added.
Why musical theater?
Schwartz — a Latter-day Saint who lives in Orem, Utah — said that musical theater is particularly well-equipped for promoting principles of Zion.
“You have to be in harmony,” he said. “[Performing] almost forces you to be of one heart and one mind because you’re all doing one performance together with all these different moving pieces and people.”
Schwartz got involved with Summit Stages after connecting with Burnham through a mutual friend. Schwartz said he’s long been passionate about “any kind of showmaking,” on stage or on screen or behind the scenes. He’s also the founder of the nonprofit choir A Voice for Good.
Throughout his years of performing, Schwartz said he’s come to care about both the content of productions and the people involved. Actors, producers and others are sometimes treated only like cogs in a machine, but Schwartz believes that creating great art doesn’t have to come at the expense of individuals’ growth and development.
He also believes that storytelling is a powerful medium for communicating truth in whatever ways people are ready to receive it. A story “doesn’t have to be explicitly talking about the Savior to have you connect with the Savior,” he said.
Burnham noted that Jesus Christ often told stories to illustrate principles. Principles are vital, she said, but can sometimes feel abstract and difficult to understand. Stories, then, help people see how principles are applied to the real world.
And when stories are grounded in the light of Jesus Christ, “people see how that [light] actually works, and it brings us to Him,” Burnham said. She added: “Oftentimes, we try to change other people by lecturing, and they hear, ‘You’re trying to fix me.’ Without stories, often the finger is pointed outward. But when we tell stories, we enter a shared world that calls forth the best from all of us and opens our hearts so that we are open to the light of Jesus Christ to guide us forward.”
