At the intersection of Market, Bush and Battery streets in San Francisco stands Douglas Tilden’s “Mechanics Monument,” a bronze statue composed of five young men climbing and hanging from a large machine. In the “Pageant of the Masters,” five young actors covered head to toe in bronze makeup create a near-perfect duplicate of the monument using a replica of the complex machinery.
Secured to the art piece using buckles and straps, the actors are given the difficult task of staying still on a rotating platform as a live orchestra plays a 90-second melodic symphony. An audience of over 2,500 watches from an amphitheater. This process, repeated 40 times with different artworks, composes the Laguna Beach Festival of the Arts’ annual “Pageant of the Masters.”
Held every night from July 5th to August 29th, the “Pageant of the Masters” is an art show where paintings, statues and other forms of artwork are replicated onstage.
The first – and most difficult – step in bringing the pageant to life is selecting which art pieces to portray. For months, pageant director Diane Challis Davy sorts through hundreds of volunteer submissions of artwork to find 40 perfect pieces. This process happens in November of the previous year, around eight months before the pageant takes to the stage.
Not only do the pieces chosen have to fit into the frame and stages of the theatre of the “Pageant of the Masters,” but they must also adhere to the theme of the show. This year, Davy chose a “Gold Coast” theme, telling the story of a young girl navigating various California landmarks throughout the show. As a Laguna Beach native who first attended the pageant as a young girl, Davy felt proud of the theme and its exploration of California’s diverse history and landscape.
After the artworks are chosen, production begins. Typically, a scene takes around 6-8 weeks to finalize, involving an intensive process of tech drawings, set construction, casting, costume and make-up design, background design and finally lighting design.
When faced with the task of recreating 40 artworks in just two hours, communication is key to make production run as smoothly as possible.
“Most of the communication occurs during our ‘fittings’ for costume and set pieces, [where] volunteer cast members have to try on the costumes and be secured in the set,” Davy states. “There are tricks of the trade and decisions are made on the spot.” The morning after a rehearsal, all of the staff members meet to discuss possible edits, referring to a collection of pictures of each scene from the previous night.
Community members are encouraged to apply as actors in the production, while becoming a make-up artist is a volunteer position that requires no qualifications and is open to anyone wishing to participate. Make-up director Michelle Pohl conducts a training camp for volunteers in the weeks prior to the pageant.
Depending on the skill level of a volunteer and how much make-up and detail is required, a look for the pageant can take as little as ten minutes or as much as an hour to execute. “We mostly use traditional stage makeup, but applied in a thicker, more painterly fashion,” Pohl said.
The make-up team uses a variety of brushes and sponges to create the textures of various art styles. To recreate Millard Sheets’ glass mosaic “Pleasures Along the Beach” for this year’s show, Pohl and her team used small brushes to mimic the highlights and shadows of the piece’s blocky, reflective style.
Most of the costumes used in the pageant are made using 100% unbleached cotton and decorated with textile paint by costume painter Kim Knowlton and the scenic artists. The team also assembles details such as buttons, bows and pockets and manipulates the fabric and design of the costumes to create shadows and movement.
“The costume work I do for the pageant is more about construction than design,” said costume director Reagan Foy. “It’s taking a piece of fabric and sculpting, manipulating it on a three dimensional person and making it as flat as possible.”
The first act of this year’s pageant featured many unique works, such as the theatre and pool of Hearst Castle, adorned with gold pillars and statues of roman gods, an Indian chess set made from ivory and a gallery view of Edgar Degas’ “Dancers in Pink,” “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen” and “Dancers in the Wings” in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena.
The second act focused on Orange County, highlighting local pieces such as Bill Limebrook’s bronze statues of Joyce Hoffman and Phil Edwards, entitled “Surfing Great.” Additionally, the act had highlighted local spots in the area through Bradford J. Salamon’s oil paintings “Monday at the Crab Cooker,” “Seal Beach Nighthawks” and “The Marine Room.” The show ended with a recreation of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” a tradition of the Pageants since 1936.
