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Show Pageant Center hums as 1988 gets underway WWW If.fe.J.III.WPWIPWIl H illlWl.piWBlllll.WIIIII miH'l IIWWWPi IB WH i,MWmj.lW'iWIWW'MI''ll.l.lllWl'WlWIIW'lli'JW.mHII4 IIIUPWI. .-WWHIMI Willi II 1M ! ' t - 1. ! f ('f 'I J y I ! ' j The old high school sits sedately on the hill at 454 N. Center, but its sj quiet appearance belies the activity ijji going on inside as staffers prepare for the all-new 1988 Utah Pageant of the Arts. a The building, now called Pageant Center, is the place where planning, ' set construction, costume design 9 and cast selection go on nearly year 'round, as one production season closes and work begins on the next y one. ? Last week, nearly 300 children, sjfl teens and adults from around Utah 4 County and the Salt Lake area lined (! - up to fill out applications, have their pictures taken in the special two-j two-j view booth, and be measured - all in hopes of being selected for one of the three alternating casts. Carole Mikita and a camera man from KSL-TV followed some of the ap-jfl ap-jfl plicants through the audition h process and interviewed veteran cast members, technical staff and producing director David O. .i( Brockbank for a "Prime Time 'a Access" segment, scheduled to be aired this week. Around 270 people will be cast as live models for 40 pieces of sculp-, sculp-, ll ture, paintings and illustrations n-j( which will be re-created in the , tableau vivant production June 13-3 13-3 hrit July 23 onstage at American Fork , High School. ICS Additional tryouts will be tonight m$ from 6-9 p.m. and again Tuesday and Wednesday, Feb. 16 and 17, at e j the same time. "It's been fairly successful so '" far," said Brockbank, "but we're (j going to need a lot of ptople this h a' year." Teenagers and adults are especially needed to match the sizes and profiles of this year's Pageant selections, including bronze Erte sculptures, a Chinese mirror painting, orange crate labels, and Michelangelo's "La Pieta." While volunteers measure and photograph prospective cast members and type cards to be used in casting selection, sets are being built and painted in the large gym at the opposite end of the building. Eleven of the 37 new pieces are in some stage of construction, said Brockbank. Dix Davis is sculpting styrofoam into what will become a life-sized Lladro porcelain, "Circus Train." Other artists are sketching and painting storybook watercolor backgrounds, where live children will appear as fairies. Young scenic shopstage crew employees are cutting and hammering sets and frames. Two past favorites, "Blue Boy" and "Pinkie," will be pulled out of storage and spruced up for their first appearance in many years. The director starts selecting art for next year's show soon after the current one closes in July, mostly from photos in art magazines. Last year's show and this year's have both had completely new selections, with only three or four old favorites interspersed among them. But all involved say they stay involved because of the way it feels when it all comes together for six weeks during the summer. Said Brockbank, "It's all worth it when the audience responds." Dix Davis, left, Pageant sculptor, and Tanja Brockbank, Brock-bank, headgear director, check Malinda Baily of American Fork as a possible cast member in the Lladro porcelain "Circus Train," one of the creations for the 1988 Utah Pageant of the Arts. |
