As time moves forward, the actors will stand still. For 90 seconds.
This summer, two teams of 120 volunteer cast members will become living-art pieces in the 86th annual Pageant of the Masters, which this year explores the theme “The Time Machine.”
As organizers describe it, the 2019 Pageant, which runs July 7 to Aug. 31, “will take audiences around the globe and into the past, present, and future in search of great art and amazing stories.”
About 1,300 hopefuls came out for a casting call Friday through Sunday at the Festival of the Arts theater in Laguna Beach — each trying out for a part in the art.
It was not your typical audition.
Volunteers took measurements of 300 to 500 people each day. Every head, shoe and body was measured and recorded before the participant was photographed.
“Everything goes on cards and into a box, which is then categorized by height and gender,” Pageant Director Diana Challis Davy said Sunday, Jan. 6.
Technical Director Richard Hill will then determine what size people he will need and how to position them in each living-art piece. Sets in the show — which depict familiar works of art — can require up to nine people ranging in height from 3-foot-10 to 6-foot-4, Challis Davy said.
On Sunday, 40 volunteers moved people efficiently through the process. But, Challis Davy warned, “People have to be patient. They may not hear back from us until May.”
The objective at tryouts is to earn an opportunity to freeze time onstage. But for repeat auditioners, the weekend’s casting call also was a chance to reflect on time spent together, growing older.
Michael Steinfeld of Costa Mesa and his 5-year-old son, Jaxon, were two of hundreds at Sunday’s call.
Steinfeld has been in the pageant for 30 years, starting when he was 11. Both of his parents are volunteers in the wardrobe department. “It’s a family thing. My uncle and grandma used to be in it and my sister too,” he said.
His sister lives too far away now to participate, and his uncle and grandmother are deceased. But Steinfeld carries on the family tradition with the next generation in tow.
The audition generally had the feel of a reunion.
Volunteer Jeanette Shelly broke a quiet lull, Sunday, when she exclaimed, “Who is this kid? Look at the size of you!” as she ran up to 12-year-old Jackson Brownell and hugged him. Shelly has known Jackson since he first got on set at age 5.
“He used to tell me stories like you wouldn’t believe,” she said, recalling tales of surfing with his father and other family adventures. “I would ask his parents if they were true. And they were.”
Jackson’s San Clemente family of five, including two sisters age 18 and 20, have been auditioning for eight years. Some years the family members are selected and some years they are not.
Repeat actors say they enjoy the sense of community and bonds forged from the pageant. That’s especially true for Judy Flanders.
Flanders said a funny thing happened to her while applying makeup to a cast member nine years ago — she fell in love. Now that cast member is her husband, Bob Flanders.
Pageant of the Masters
What: The show runs July 7- Aug. 31.
Auditions: Interested in auditioning? Call 949-494-3663.
Information: foapom.com