Pageant Of The Masters Wins Thea Classic Award 2020

LAGUNA BEACH, CA — Take a two dimensional painting. Recreate it in life-sized scale, with the help of set decorators, make up and costume artists, and three dimensional people. Finally? Fill an amphitheater with onlookers to take in the show, under the stars. This is the Pageant of the Masters, one of the biggest draws to Laguna Beach every summer.

In 2020, the Pageant of the Masters earned the Themed Entertainment Association's Classic award. Amid coronavirus, in lieu of a grand celebration, the awards were given in a virtual case study.

In late March, both the Festival of Arts and the Pageant of the Masters was cancelled for the year. According to President David Perry of Festival of Arts, the decision was not made lightly.

The pageant serves to inspire and expose people to art and artworks they may not have otherwise ever seen. Each year, in typical times, 140,000 visitors will view the living pictures. The pageant began in 1933, and hundreds of volunteers work together to recreate the artworks for the seasonal show. Every year, a theme is selected, and along with that, orchestral music and choral singers help create the mood. The Pageant was recognized this week by the Themed Entertainment Association's Classic award, in the category of Live Shows

Director Diane Challis Davy discussed the award, and the pageant with Theme Park Insider, recently.

"We want the audience to think they're not seeing three-dimensional people, but a very flat picture," Davy says.

The trick, she explains, is eliminating all natural shadows. Lighting is a key element in every "painting."

"We rehearse late into the night every Thursday night throughout the winter and spring, rehearsing the lighting to get it just right," she says.

Along with the lighting, set design, background painting, makeup, and volunteer performers, the Pageant of the Masters comes to life.

"Most people really love art. They like looking at art. It touches something in your imagination — that you as a person could walk into that world of the picture and become part of that artist's imaginary magical world," Davy told Theme Park Insider. "So you add the storytelling; you add the live music, and [you] enchant people.... Those volunteers are acting out our fantasies of stepping into the world of the painter."

The pageant incorporates upwards of 40 masterpieces in the 90 minute production.

The theme for 2021 was recently announced: Made in America. The show will showcase artists who made the USA their home, and were inspired by the freedoms on which this nation was founded.

The dates for the 2021 Pageant and Festival of Arts have not yet been announced.

For more information, follow: Festival Of Arts of Laguna Beach Online.