| DAN DULING OFFERS SOME FAQ’S* ABOUT HIS 25 YEARS AS SCRIPTWRITER FOR THE PAGEANT OF THE MASTERS
7/28/2005
Laguna Beach, CA – During the past 25 years, Dan Duling, the narration scriptwriter for the Pageant of the Masters, Laguna Beach’s 72-year-old theatrical celebration of art in “living pictures,” tableaux vivants, has fielded a multitude of questions about where he works and what he does. This summer, however, he’s happily pausing to take a look back at his tenure with the Pageant as he marks his 25th season. “I’m not ready to join AARP yet!” Duling insisted.
Duling moved to Los Angeles in 1977 after completing his Ph.D. in drama at the University of Texas, Austin. A member of Actors Equity and the Screen Actors Guild, he’s also a playwright whose more than twenty plays have won awards and been produced throughout the U.S. He has written for such publications as the L.A. Weekly, Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, as well as website and new media work for Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon. His film credits include the feature, “Last Lives,” based on his screenplay, which premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel.
In 1981, he got a call out of the blue, an invitation to “audition” for the job of writing narration for the show. A quarter century later, Duling is still thrilled to be a part of the extended Pageant family. He recently tackled a sampling of some of the most frequently-asked questions [FAQs] he’s attempted to answer about his involvement with the Pageant.
FAQ #1: How’d you get the job?
DULING: I got a phone call in 1981 from then Pageant director Glen Eytchison. He’d been given my number by a fellow playwright because he was searching for a new scriptwriter. I hadn’t heard of the Festival and Pageant in Laguna Beach. Still, I was intrigued.
“We do tableaux of art masterpieces in the Irvine Bowl,” Glen explained. I tried hard to imagine what sort of performance he meant. From my graduate work in theater, I knew about the roots of tableaux vivants (living pictures) in 18th century court entertainments. Mostly, however, I remembered reading how tableaux had been presented in American burlesque houses in the early 20th century as a way of getting around laws prohibiting nudity onstage.
I agreed to attend an upcoming rehearsal and submit a narration sample. The following week, I discovered the Pageant, with its marvelous staff of designers, its casts and crews of volunteers, its state-of-the-art theatrical tech, and the Irvine Bowl, a magical space if there ever was one. I observed several hundred friendly folks doing amazing work and having a lot of fun in the process. By the end of that first rehearsal evening, I knew I wanted to be part of this extended theatrical family.
FAQ #2: So you got the job. What is it exactly that you do?
DULING: Live narration is performed during every performance both as a means of enhancing audience appreciation and enjoyment of the artworks presented and as a means of filling transitions while set changes are taking place. So it’s both a) practical and b) hopefully, part of the fun.
Each year, my work begins with research leading up to a series of continuity meetings with the director and musical director Richard Henn (who’s been here two years longer than I have). The pacing of the show and the arrangement of all set changes and transitions is factored into an outline from opening overture to lights out at the end of “The Last Supper.” These meetings result in a plan of action that determines, almost six months before we open, the exact timing of the show. If you’re going to coordinate the actions of your backstage staff and volunteers, a full stage crew, two complete casts that alternate during the summer run, and a symphony orchestra, the less left to chance the better.
The two directors I have worked with, Glen Eytchison and Diane “Dee” Challis Davy, both earn my undying admiration for their abilities to pull everything together with only one complete run-through with all the elements in place before the show is presented to its first preview audience! I found that difficult to believe in 1981, and it continues to astonish me how it all comes together. It will always be a tribute to the spirit of intense cooperation that exists backstage, but Glen and Dee are the real theatrical “masters” as far as I’m concerned.
Ultimately, the script I complete becomes the text the narrator performs every night. As a playwright, I’ve always felt a tremendous responsibility to both my audiences and my collaborators, not to waste their time and most importantly, not to bore them. So it’s paramount to me that I give my narrator a script he can enjoy performing 50+ nights in a row.
FAQ #3: Who’s the narrator?
DULING: For 13 wonderful years, I had the great privilege of working with Thurl Ravenscroft, who retired after 20 years as the “voice of the Pageant” in 1993 and passed away this spring. To the rest of the world, Thurl will always be best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger, and for his work in countless Disney animated films. But to anyone involved with the Pageant, Thurl was a beloved friend and a true pro. His nightly readings of my scripts with his distinctive basso gave my words a gravity and authority I happily exploited. Once he accepted that he was stuck with me, our collaboration and friendship became a source of great pleasure and many, many laughs. We all miss him.
In Skip Conover, Thurl’s successor, and now in his 12th year here, I found another partner who continues to make me look (or at least sound) better than I could possibly hope. With his extensive background in voice-over work, Skip also possesses two gifts for which I am eternally grateful. First, he has a wonderful, conversational style that endears him to audiences and makes them feel right at home. Writing for him, I know he’ll find all the nuances and opportunities for humor. Secondly, Skip has a strong sense of musicality and responds to music director Richard Henn’s melodies and underscoring in wonderfully intuitive ways. The harmony of music and narration, at its best – and I say this giving full credit to Skip and Rick – can enhance a “living picture” with a full range of emotional values.
I look forward to continuing my collaboration with Skip for as long as he’ll put up with my bad puns and tongue-twisters.
FAQ #4: How do you do all that art history research?
DULING: This is a thoroughly enjoyable challenge, pure and simple. Director Diane Challis Davy and the volunteer research committee bring so much enthusiasm to the hunt for new artworks and theme-appropriate materials that I would be remiss
to devote anything less than my best efforts to finding out as much as possible about everything from Javanese Buddhist sculpture to Art Nouveau. These days, the research begins even earlier, starting the minute the next year’s theme is announced and ongoing until the show opens. By which time we’re getting started on ideas for the following year. It’s a renewable cycle that is never less than fresh, challenging and exciting.
I know the library systems in Southern California intimately, have developed working relations with many of the local museums, and the Internet becomes more invaluable to me every day. But I can also remember doing my first narration scripts in the early 1980s on an electric typewriter with carbon copies and vast quantities of White-Out. Some things do not merit nostalgia.
I also like to think that my career as a playwright, always pairing down dialogue to its essentials, always interrogating texts for clarity, for dramatic or comic impact, and for building toward conclusions, has paid dividends over the years. For example, I know a sentence like that won’t ever find its way into one of my scripts.
FAQ #5: What’s the theme of the show?
DULING: During my years working for director Glen Eytchison, my response was usually, “There isn’t a specific theme,” or, “the Pageant showcases the extraordinary diversity of world art, past and present.” Since taking over in 1996, Diane Challis Davy has reintroduced themes to the Pageant. As Dee has proven, a theme focuses our search for appropriate artworks and, hopefully, assures audiences that every year they’re in for a brand new show.
Narratively, it’s been a blessing, too. Discovering linkages between vastly different artworks from different cultures and time periods encourages a sense of connection. And connection is something I’m always thinking about: how art connects us; how it has something to offer, no matter how different our ages or backgrounds; how art can inform our humanity and help us believe in community as well as individuality. This is what theater at its best has always represented to me. And helping create a theatrical experience that promotes the value of art in our lives is the ultimate win-win opportunity.
FAQ #6: Do you have any favorite artworks?
DULING: Sure! Just like everyone who attends the show, I have my personal faves. I can’t tell you the number of times when the lights have come up and I was just as astonished as everyone else at the beauty and artistry created by the extraordinarily talented painters, sculptors, costumers, headpiece and makeup designers and technical wizards backstage. I work with a team as gifted and professional as any working in Hollywood or New York. That they devote themselves year-round to this enterprise in Laguna Beach still amazes me. But when I see the delight in a young audience member’s eyes or hear the crowd react with glee at some new revelation, it all makes sense.
For the record, among the pieces that have had special meaning for me in 25 seasons of Pageants, I’d have to include some firsts: our first photograph by Dorothea Lange, our first presentation of paintings by Frida Kahlo, Maynard Dixon’s
“Forgotten Man” series, and works by the late California artist John Register. And I’ll never forget long-ago theatrical salutes to movie posters from the silent comedy era and classic magic posters. And always, there are the wondrous stories. Of artists all too human, striving to make sense of life’s mysteries…unfolding while the crew races to get the next set in place.
FAQ #7: What are some of your most memorable moments?
DULING: I recall the first time my daughters attended the show. After meeting everyone backstage and seeing how the Pageant is put together, Leslie and Brooke, like most first-timers, couldn’t believe their eyes. But something else impressed them that night, and Leslie kept repeating, “Everyone is so nice!” Her verdict still holds true today.
Another incident I hold dear involves our celebration a few years ago for the 70th anniversaries of the Festival of Arts (2002)
and Pageant (2003). Over the years, I’ve devoted a good deal of time and effort to chronicling Laguna’s early history, and I’d become increasingly aware of how few reliable firsthand accounts exist. Then, through a series of serendipitous coincidences, I was put in touch with Ida Griffith Hawley. Ida lived in Fallbrook and had the distinction not only of being the daughter of renowned Laguna artist William Griffith, but also of having participated in the very first “living pictures” here in the 1930s. For one glorious afternoon, I sat with Ida and marveled as she recounted her experiences as a young girl growing up in Laguna. She visited the Pageant that following summer as our guest. Sadly, she passed away last year. But meeting Ida, very probably our last living link to the first Pageants, was very, very special.
What remains my most vivid memory, however, began in the fall of 1993. Briefly, a firestorm, which did enormous damage to Laguna’s neighborhoods, threatened the Festival and Pageant before being turned back. A couple of weeks later, heavy rains caused a major mudslide above the Irvine Bowl that did more than half a million dollars’ worth of damage to the backstage areas. I’ll never forget the long hours of cleanup—of putting it all back together—invested by the staff and volunteers. Many feared there wouldn’t be a Pageant that summer, but in the end, the show went on without a hitch. The united effort that made that comeback from fire and mud possible is permanently filed for me under “Pageant Family Values.”
FAQ #8: Why do the volunteers keep coming back?
DULING: The simple answer is “because it’s fun.” The more complicated answer has something to do with being proud to be a part of something as unique as the Pageant. And it has to do with director Diane Challis Davy and her staff working overtime to find new ways of letting the volunteers know how important they are not only to the success of the Pageant, but to the spirit of its history and traditions. Why else would 92-year-old David Young still be volunteering as a Festival board member for over 50 years? Why else would certain cast members keep returning after more than three decades?
Because they care about what it is that we all work on together. Because even though it’s become bigger than all of us, it’s something that we can look at and say it’s ours.
Put in that context, my 25 years don’t seem that unusual. Who wouldn’t want to have this opportunity to work with so many people who love what they do, and do it so well? Bottom line, I hope I’m just getting started.
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[Note: For an overview of Dan Duling’s non-Pageant career, including synopses and excerpts from some of his plays and screenplays, you’re invited to check out www.danduling.com]
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The Pageant of the Masters is performed nightly from July 7th through Thursday, September 1st, with its celebrity gala fundraiser on Saturday, August 27th. For tickets and other information about On the Road, the 2005 Pageant of the Masters, call 949-494-1145, or toll free 800-487-3378.
The Festival of Arts and Pageant of the Masters are sponsored in part by Mercedes-Benz of Southern California; UBS, a global financial services leader; KOST Radio 103.5; the Ritz-Carlton of Laguna Niguel; and Adelphia Media Services. The Festival of Arts is a nonprofit organization that produces The Festival of Arts – California’s Premier Fine Art Exhibition and the Pageant of the Masters. For general information, call 949-494-1145 or visit the website at www.LagunaFestivalofArts.org. The event is located at 650 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, California.
Proceeds support the arts in and around Orange County.
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