Gigantic chess pieces parade is Pageant of Master’s warm-up for summer show

Laguna Beach‘s iconic living art show, The Pageant of Masters, has moved beyond its festival grounds, generating drama and excitement for its summer show, “The Greatest of All Time.”

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With the theme of something-larger-than-life in mind, pageant staff is playing chess with City Hall, using giant sculptures inspired by a 19th-century ivory chess set on display at the Norton Simon Museum.

On Friday, the giant pieces for the dramatic display were paraded, to the tune of Harry Mancini’s “Baby Elephant Walk,” from the Festival of Arts grounds across Laguna Canyon Road to Forest Avenue and City Hall.

Among the collection is a 13-foot-tall elephant king.

The chess pieces are handcrafted props sculpted for last year’s show by pageant artists Dickson Janda and Alexandria Trudgen. They will be on display on City Hall’s front lawn through the end of July.

It’s a collaboration between the festival, the pageant, the city and the Laguna Beach Arts Commission.

Folks who take a photo with the pieces might even win a free four-pack of tickets by tagging the festival @FestivalPageant or the arts commission @LagunaBeachCulturalArts on social media.

The public art display also marks a milestone for the pageant, as it’s the first time a set piece has been displayed outside the show.

The idea for the public display — it might also move to the Promenade on Forest when it is completed later this summer — comes from longtime pageant director Diane Challis Davy to add momentum to this year’s show opening.

“I was very inspired by three-dimensional sculptures that have been displayed at City Hall,” Challis Davy said, especially a recent exhibit of three black crows. “Our pageant chess pieces were also built on a gigantic scale. I wondered if the city’s arts commission might like them as a display, and they were receptive.”

The idea also resonated with Mayor Mark Orgill, who with Councilwoman Sue Kempf, took part in Friday’s parade to City Hall.

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“I was thinking it would be great if we had banners or some reminders around town about what’s happening,” he said. “Now, here we are, they came up with this idea, and I think it’s brilliant. It will not only remind residents, but also visitors about what we have in town.”

“The Greatest of All Time (G.O.A.T.)” opens on July 9, marking the Pageant of the Masters’ 93rd season. The theme dreamed up by Challis Davy looks at legendary artists and masterpieces, such as Michelangelo, Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Kahlo, and Rockwell.

The show explores the timeless question: Who truly deserves the title of “greatest of all time?”

And the tableaux vivantes,  or living pictures created by volunteer actors, won’t just be static on stage at the Irvine Bowl — they’ll come alive in surprising ways, Challis Davy said. She’s also peppering the show’s narration with details not everyone knows.

And, there will be fun surprises, something Challis-Davy is known for and what continues to keep longtime attendees guessing and first-time visitors impressed.

“The ideas find me often accidentally,” Challis Davy said. “I’m still curious, interested and my job continues to be fun. I don’t think I’ve run out of theatre tricks.”

Among those gathered for Friday’s early-morning parade of chess pieces was Kirsten Whalen, a watercolorist who exhibits at the Festival of the Arts, now in its 94th year.

She yelled out, “Traveling roadshow,” as the caravan approached.

“It’s a fun outreach,” she said. “Seeing the props up close, they’re real and 3-D, not just cardboard cutouts. The pageant adds that magic.”

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