“Gold Coast: Treasures of California,” this year’s theme for the annual Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, offers a rich overview of the state’s significant museums, such as the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, destinations like Hearst Castle in San Simeon, and one of the newer additions, the Hilbert Museum of California Art gracing the campus of Chapman University — all in a span of roughly 90 minutes.

Pageant Director Diane Challis Davy and her volunteer researchers selected 12 museums, along with several art sites within driving distance from the pageant, culling works intriguing enough to be transformed into the show’s signature tableaux vivants, or living pictures.

This year, it seems that Challis Davy and her crew have taken a somewhat different approach to the show: Instead of cleaving almost exclusively to the formula of turning figurative paintings, such as “Recreation” (1857) by Jerome Thompson (at the De Young Museum in San Francisco), into living pictures, they added theatrical stage scenes featuring people visiting a museum and looking at still paintings.

Susan Hoehn’s 2024 works “Blue Dog” (at the Broad) and “The Artist at LACMA” exemplify this new trend, which thus allows subjective or abstract paintings to be shown in a pageant setting. (Hoehn’s paintings are also included in this year’s Festival of Arts, Booth 104.)

Previously, for example, there were stage replications of fashion show audiences or other smaller scenes involving the acting out of situations.

This time, the audience gets the vicarious thrill of dancing at Hearst Castle or sauntering through the museums influenced by a young woman armed with a cellphone.

The Hearst Castle segment features the opulent residence in several configurations. Designed by architect Julia Morgan, the castle has a theater showing film clips of William Randolph Hearst’s mistress, Marion Davies; lavish rooms filled with sculptures and urns from ancient Greece and Rome; and a swimming pool dazzling with its mosaics.

Staged scenes of ballroom fetes with fashionably attired real dancers keep audience imaginations connected to past and present.

Among recreations of sculptures, as sculptures vivants if you will, there are several standouts, with the volunteers enacting figures displaying remarkable acrobatic skill.

“Mechanics Monument,” by Douglas Tilden (in San Francisco), comes to mind as does the majestic “El Cid Campeador,” by Anna Hyatt Huntington (at Balboa Park, San Diego).

Then again, there is the graceful 1789 “Mantel Clock,” by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (at the Getty), that prompts the imagination back to an era when keeping time might have been a gentler process than today’s cacophony of cellphones.

In a different vein, the charming Indian Chess Set (at the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena) can make one forget that chess is a war game.

After intermission, the show veers into Southern California to, somewhat puzzlingly, a statue of Helena Modjeska, a Polish emigree better known for her Shakespearean acting than for making art.

But subsequent drawings reveal that she loved to invent fairy tales for children of friends and family members and accompany them with intricate pen and ink and color illustrations. Ghosts and fairies and creatures of her own invention abounded in the pageant.

Then it was on to the beach culture. Not surprisingly, the segment emphasizes surfers and water enthusiasts in the form of Bill Limebrook’s sculptures of surfer Phil Edwards, surfing acrobats Barrie and Steve Boehne, and surf and sailing pioneer Hobie Alter in “Hobie Riding the Wave of Success.”

A giant mosaic replica of the movie poster for “The Endless Summer” underscores the legends. Built by local mosaic artist Mia Tavonatti, the piece graces Waterman’s Plaza in Dana Point.

Local audiences can transpose themselves a couple of blocks down from the pageant into the Marine Room, a once notorious biker bar turned family friendly pub, replete, under the brush of painter Bradford J. Salamon, with a visiting dog, billiards players and a cat.

Brought to life here, the painting is part of the Festival of Arts Permanent Collection.

Salamon, a former FoA exhibitor, created more local scenes, like “Monday at the Crab Cooker” and “Seal Beach Nighthawks.” Both are in the Hilbert collection.

Altogether the show features six paintings from the Hilbert Museum, established in 2022.

The pageant ends with Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” a traditional closing to the show.

“Gold Coast: Treasures of California” nightly through Aug. 29. Tickets start at $47. Visit foapom.com for more information.

Laguna Woods resident takes part in third pageant

By Daniella Walsh

Correspondent

When the Pageant of the Masters announced auditions in January for its “Gold Coast: Treasures of California” production, Laguna Woods resident Reggie White decided to give it another shot.

After all, he had taken part in the pageant for two seasons already.

Last year, White appeared in Daniele Tamagni’s photograph “The Playboys of Bacongo,” part of the pageant show “À La Mode: The Art of Fashion.”

“I posed the entire summer last year and was also an alternate,” White said in an interview. “I had to stand still a lot.”

In early June, the pageant notified him that he was in the stage cast again.

“I get to walk through a simulated museum in the (California) Museum Suite,” he said. “This year, I am only in costume with no makeup, which is simpler than last year. I did several walk-through rehearsals and two in costume.”

White explained that there are two teams of actors – a blue team and a green team, which perform in alternating weeks. Altogether he performs for one month of the season, though he did not perform on opening night.

White taught himself to stand still for 90 seconds – the time required of the cast members to pose in the tableaux vivants.

“You have to freeze,” he said. “Some people can’t do that,”

In 2022, White was accepted for the pageant show “Wonderful World,” celebrating global culture.

“The stage piece was about holy rollers. It was a long, 15-minute piece, and I was singing in it,” he recalled. “Singing was easy. I sing in church. I learned the lyrics and really enjoyed myself.”

Altogether the pageant involves more than 500 volunteers who contribute more than 60,000 hours to the seasonal production.

“As long as they’ll have me, I’ll come,” White said. “Everyone should experience the pageant at least once.”

Undeterred, the couple went out and bought a new one.

“We decorated it last night,” Larry Sharp said with a laugh as they and grandchildren Harry and Madeline and their dog Daisy sat in line at Clubhouse 1 ready to roll.

“We’ve joined every parade here for the Fourth of July. We weren’t about to miss this year,” said the 14-year residents of the retirement community.

Patriotism runs in the family: Carol Sharp’s mother was an Army nurse during World War II and her dad was a Marine.

“My mother-in-law outranked her husband. He had to salute her,” Larry Sharp said.

“Any day is a beautiful day in the United States, land of the free,” someone called out.

For Richard and Maggie Gardner, residents just since September, this was their first parade in the Village.

“We bought a golf cart. We’re up for the parade and the party,” said Richard Gardner. “We’ll party at least till sundown.”

Roughly 100 elaborately decorated carts rolled off at 11 a.m. to follow two designated routes, one taking off from Clubhouse 1, the other from Clubhouse 5, and both ending at Clubhouse 2 for a celebration with live music.

Streets and front lawns along the route held clapping and waving spectators cheering on carts representing Village clubs like the Electric Car Club, the Chinese American Club, the Aquadettes and the Laguna Woods Bible Club. American flags in every shape and size, from small hearts to near bedsheets, were everywhere.

American eagles were well-represented, with one large white one being kept blown up or deflated, depending on needs, by its own generator, run by Rhonda Guilin and Jennifer Brown.

“The generator is there to deflate the eagle when we drive through the tunnel,” they said. “We met such nice participants last year, we wanted to join in. Let freedom ring – we’re all Americans.”

The golf carts were joined by bikes with flags and patriotically dressed riders, at least one motor scooter and a cart defying description carrying a smiling driver.

Waving children and well-behaved dogs enlivened the scene.

Somewhere toward the back of the lineup, someone played “Who Let the Dogs Out,” at top decibel, while closer to the front, a subdued guitarist played patriotic music.

Hoots and whistles provided further accompaniment as the procession wound its way through the streets.

Not to overlook was one lone driver dressed in authentic Revolutionary War uniform in the midst of it all.

Coming 56 years after the historic Woodstock Music and Art Fair in upstate New York, Laguna Woodstock was again organized by the Boomers Club, this year for at least the 16th time.

More than 1,300 wristband-wearing music fans in tie-dyed garb and recreated hippie gear gathered on the patio dance floor, in the clubhouse and on the front lawns under canopies brimming with food and libations and groovy vibrations, the sweet, pungent scent of pot wafting over the scene.

Jimi, the guitar-playing skeleton, was back at his post under a tree, and strung-up bras danced in the breeze with a sign designating the underwired losers for burning.

Sign-carrying “protesters” snaked through narrow paths decrying the war in Vietnam and various issues of social justice.

Kevin Kennedy, a seven-year resident of the retirement community, was a kid in Oklahoma when Woodstock shook the nation’s elders.

“It did not have much of an impact on me when it happened,” he said. “I’m catching up now.”

Dressed in an approximation of the hippie garb, he said he likes to dance, listen to music and smoke pot.

“I have peace in my heart,” he said.

With peace and love as the fest’s leitmotif, Maryann Bamberger and her husband of 48 years, Steve, wore shirts with the original Woodstock logo. They said they have attended the Boomers’ Woodstock festival every year.

“This was our time. I still listen to all the songs of Woodstock – Jimi Hendrix,” she said.  “People should have more love in their hearts; there’s so much hate now.”

Kathi Fox, a 19-year resident, also has attended the local Woodstock every year.

“Woodstock was our era. Music and watching people bring back memories from 1969,” she said. “My daughter was born that year and a man landed on the moon. We were young and hopeful. We wanted peace and love – we wanted to dream.”

Joining her was Gaye Thomson, who said she came for the music and the dancing.

“We come for the atmosphere, to watch people dance and enjoy themselves,” she said.

On the front patio of Clubhouse 2, throngs of folks, ranging from teenagers to those more than old enough to have been at the original Woodstock, danced to music by the 1969 Tribute Band, The Trip, Family Style, Funk Station and AbSOULute.

Inside, vendors touted their wares: tie-dyed bell bottoms resembling skirts, handmade jewelry and other accessories completing an on-the-spot hippie look. Food and drinks were for sale. As for the pot, it was strictly bring your own.

In the coolest corner of the building, festivalgoers lined up to have their fortunes told through Tarot cards.

Gloria Martinez, at Woodstock for the first time, said she came to have her fortune told “just for fun.” Dressed in regular clothes, she said she forgot the hippie guise.

“I graduated from college in ’67 and had my first kid in ’69. I watched Woodstock on TV,” she said.

As for peace and love, she and her husband had done a stint in the Peace Corps.

“I loved the concept of bringing peace to so many people. We need that now,” she said.

When Teresa and Jeff Casta crossed onto the dance floor, it was evident that Jeff had his own interpretation of a post-hippie look: He had fashioned his long beard into a colorful five-point star.

“That took a lot of hairspray and colored spray,” he said, calling it “a tie-dyed beard.”

Even though the couple has lived in the Village for six years (his grandparents and parents had also been residents), it was their first time at Woodstock.

“I grew up in Connecticut and actually almost went to Woodstock,” he recalled. “We love how the music has translated into today; we grew up with it. It’s still relevant today.”

“As is love and peace,” added Theresa.

Boomers Club President Howard Fox shared his enthusiasm for this year’s festival.

“Everyone really enjoyed the music this year, and the variety of vendors and food was another success,” he said.

Written by and starring Leslie McCurdy, “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” is a one-woman play based on the life of the abolitionist and “conductor” of the Underground Railroad who freed hundreds of slaves in the 1800s.

Now, thanks to a collaboration between the AAHC and the Community Bridge Builders, McCurdy will present her award-winning creation at the Performing Arts Center this Saturday, May 31, at 4 p.m.

“Harriet Tubman was a genius; she was spiritual, she had visions. Yet genius gets lost,” McCurdy said. “Now we need to use our intellect to push our history forward again.”

From 1850 to 1860, Tubman was estimated to have freed at least 70 slaves by taking them north to Maryland from the South via the Underground Railroad – not a literal railroad but a network of secret routes, hiding places and safe houses.

With the assistance of other abolitionists, she also helped fugitive slaves find routes to safety and freedom and, during the Civil War, led a raid that freed more than 700 slaves.

Tubman claimed no casualties for her group.

“I never ran my train off the track, and I never lost a passenger,” she reportedly said of her mission.

McCurdy will embody Tubman as she has done for 20 years: on a bare stage with only a trunk filled with costumes to help her recreate the tumultuous stages of the activist’s life, starting as an abused young slave and ending as a 90-year-old legend and symbol of freedom.

McCurdy recently spoke by phone of her transition from aspiring dancer to actor to Tubman performer after fracturing a hip in a fall as she was on her way to join a dance company in New York.

“I started writing after I tripped, and fell into acting when a friend took me to audition for a one-woman play,” she recalled.

Having made the cut, she started embodying Tubman from a script by Karen Meadow Jones in 1992 and 1993.

When her run ended, McCurdy decided to tour the play on her own. But after she also edited the script into a version for school audiences at the producer’s behest, she received a cease-and-desist order from the playwright’s attorney.

“I was not to utter another word about Harriet Tubman,” she recalled.

Turning her initial “now what?” into inspiration, McCurdy wrote her own one-woman play in three weeks, memorized it in days and took the show on the road.

“That play was coming right from the inside of me,” she recalled. “Now, when I perform, I channel Harriet by asking her spirit to help me use her words – note the title of the play.”

McCurdy first heard about Tubman when she was in the fifth grade in Ontario, Canada

“I was a tomboy and liked to play a lot of boys’ games. To me, Harriet was a woman who did men’s things better than men,” she said.

In Canada, she said, “there was not a lot of talk of Black people, and some still believed that slaves were heathens who had needed to be civilized.”

McCurdy also wrote “Harriet is My Hero” as an accompaniment to be performed for K-2 students.

“That play shows kids the characteristics that made Harriet a good hero and which they might want to emulate if they want to be heroes as well,” she said. “Ragdolls and marionettes help tell the story and illustrate the skills that Harriet had to learn from childhood into old age.”

Among her female heroes, McCurdy cites her mother and her aunt, former Vice President Kamala Harris, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Black, and Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the newly elected president of Namibia.

“Black women will save the world,” McCurdy said. “As an energy force, they are an impetus for a new age.”

She plans to perform “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” until 2027 and then perhaps substitute another actor into her role.

“The thought of not doing the show breaks my heart, so it’s still perhaps a no,” she said.

Meanwhile, McCurdy has portrayed Billie Holiday in “Lady Ain’t Singing No Blues,” a play that gives insight into the singer’s turbulent life. She pays tribute to African American women whose visions bring change in “Things My Foresisters Saw,” and she produced “The Darktown Strutters Ball,” a documentary focused on the contributions of Black performers throughout history.

Phillips, the vice president of the African American Heritage Club, hopes for more culture- and history-infused productions at the PAC like “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman.”

“There’s nothing wrong with music, concerts, bands, comics and parties,” he said. “However, we would like to see other types of entertainment – plays, ballets, documentaries. History in motion, if you will, real shows about the lives and contributions of real people that have been and are making real positive contributions to our society at large.”

“The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” will be staged at the Performing Arts Center on Saturday, May 31, at 4 p.m. Tickets are $20, $30 and $40, available at the box office or online at tickets.lagunawoodsvillage.com. For more information, email Community Bridge Builders at lwcommunitybrigebuilders@gmail.com.

But after graduating from the Laguna Woods Senior Clown Alley Clown College, this diverse group morphed into Roli Poli, Patty Cake, Cheesecake, Twinkles and Speedee, respectively.

The transformation didn’t come suddenly: During 12 weeks of intense classes on topics such as clown history, clown makeup, clown costumes and clown accessories, the group also honed their skills at telling jokes, doing walk-around gags and making clown magic. They mastered puppetry, face painting and a variety of skits and skills in between, along with creating the ubiquitous balloon dogs.

“The guiding challenge was to firmly develop their clown character in their hearts,” said instructor Margo Bender. “First it may come naturally and they just don’t know how to express it. The secret is giving themselves permission to be silly and enjoy.”

A clown for seven years now, Bender, aka Curly Q, chose her clown moniker after looking in the mirror.

“We were told to pick something easy to say and remember. I have extremely curly hair, so that was easy,” she said. “Everyone has a clown name; a lot of us don’t even know each other’s real names.”

Bender puts the current clown base at 40 members, ranging in age from 55 to 80. Then there’s clown Nutzy Klutzy, who is 100.

If age is no barrier, neither is physical ability: Roli Poli has been in a wheelchair for 45 years.

“He has a heart of laughs and laughter,” Bender said.

Clown Cheesecake is visually and hearing impaired.

“Things just take a little longer sometimes,” Bender said,

All aspiring clowns in the Laguna Woods must go through the college, meeting weekly for two hours and studying a 90-page manual that covers the entire curriculum.

“What’s funny is really quite serious,” Bender said.

At the end, the group was ready to perform five graduation skits and show much of what they had learned.

The Senior Clown Alley, part of the retirement community for 23 years, spreads cheer at a variety of venues, including Camp Pendleton picnics and other events for the camp’s service members, and invitations to the Orange County Firefighters Association’s family picnics come regularly. The group performs at assisted living facilities in the area and is available for bookings at church events, individual birthday parties and family fests.

Clowns are becoming increasingly rare at events, Bender said.

“People react with smiles. They are surprised to see clowns. After all, Ringling Brothers has only one clown, and Cirque du Soleil has ‘comedians.’ Clowns used to be lots of places …, ” she said, her voice trailing off.

“Our group is close with each other, which makes clowning even better. We don’t just like being a clown, but we like each other,” she said.

Wanna be a clown? The group puts out flyers in October and the college starts in January.

“All of our recruitment is by word of mouth and by flyer,” Bender said.

Meetings are the second Wednesday of every month from  10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Clubhouse 1.

For more information, call 949-339-7841.

“Let’s say I’m the opposite of Cirque du Soleil – no jumping, no acrobatics, no singing or dancing,” he says by way of introducing himself. “Nothing out of the ordinary, just straight-up comedy.”

Reiser, a film and TV actor, author, trained pianist and comedian, is coming to the Laguna Woods Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. to do what he says he does best: making people laugh by turning the ordinary into the extraordinary through humorous skits in which many may recognize themselves, foibles and all.

Take his skit “Too Many Glasses,” about fumbling with an assortment of spectacles. Anyone who has ever needed those things for reading, computing or whatever, requiring different ones while keeping them apart but handy, will laugh and sigh along with Reiser.

Then there’s the skit about a couple living in a dilapidated home that they finally fix up to sell, only to suffer remodeler’s remorse at having to move out of those now appealing digs.

“I do nothing out of the ordinary. People have seen comedians before,” he said in a recent phone interview. “I have a good filter system. I sort out what makes me laugh in private and what I want to share. And I have always avoided politics or social commentary – that’s not the way my brain works. Some are good at poking sticks into sacred cows – that’s not my personality.”

Reiser’s aim is to simply make people happy during a nice evening of simply laughing.

“I’m not smart enough to make things up,” he said. “I tell people what happens in my house, stuff that happens in everyone else’s house. We look at people as friends; people enjoy knowing they are not alone.”

He doesn’t tailor his material to audiences in specific locales, say Florida or Texas or New York, but instead focuses on what so many have in common.

“I talk about my life, my marriage. It’s all very cathartic. I tell people about an argument with my wife. I can vent and hope the audience takes my side,” he said laughing.

But wait – not smart enough?

This man has authored four books: “How to Get to Carnegie Hall,” a tribute to the friendships and advice that guided him through his career, plus the New York Times bestsellers “Familyhood,” “Couplehood” and “Babyhood,” chronicling the experiences, joys and learning processes implied in the titles.

He recently finished co-writing, with singer/songwriter Michael McDonald of Steely Dan/Doobie Brothers fame, a biography titled “What a Fool Believes,” named after McDonald’s R&B hit.

“I wanted to know the world behind the scenes of the pop music,” he said

Reiser has primarily made a name for himself starring in TV shows and films, including the Emmy-winning sitcom “Mad About You” with Helen Hunt, “My Two Dads,” “Beverly Hills Cop” and “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F,” “Aliens” and “Whiplash,” and the Netflix series “Stranger Things,” among others.

He owns the company Nuance Productions, named after a line in his movie “Diner,” in which his character explains discomfort with the word “nuance.”

He also has co-written the script and stars in the 2023 movie “The Problem with People,” a story set in Ireland about two cousins, one Irish, the other American, trying to end a generations-long family feud.

“It does not end well,” he said.

Reiser was born in New York City in 1956. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music (piano and composition) at Binghamton University, where he was active in community theater. He said he discovered his knack for comedy doing stand-up in New York clubs during college breaks.

He has lived in Los Angeles since 1983.

“My two boys were born and raised here, but they both have New York accents – that’s my greatest accomplishment, avoiding ‘Valley Speak,’” he said.

In his spare time, Reiser plays and listens to music, with an ear for sad classical (Bach, Rachmaninoff) and old blues.

“I never tried to be a musician. I just enjoyed music, and it was the fastest route out of college,” he recalled, although he did write the theme song for “Mad About You.”

At age 68, Reiser does stand-up comedy every two weeks because he loves connecting with people, he said. As for fitness, he does vigorous stretching and heeds his wife’s input regarding that extra piece of cake.

Now about those jeans rolled up at the hem.

“I dress on stage the way I dress in life,” he said. “I like to cut out as many decisions as possible.”

Any thoughts about retirement?

“Sometimes I’m tempted to stay home and take it easy. But I do stand-up every other weekend and it invigorates me,” he said. “Really, I have been very lucky. It’s true what they say. I work for free and only get paid for the trip to the airport.”

Paul Reiser will be at the Performing Arts Center this Saturday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30, $35 and $40, available at tickets.lagunawoodsvillage.com or visit the PAC box office Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Credit/debit card fees apply. There will be a GRF no-host bar.

But her generosity backfires. Thinking she’s snooping, Erik becomes physically abusive when he finds her cleaning his room. Soon he starts demanding money, issuing implied threats to force trips to the bank.

Barbara’s friends are concerned but powerless to intervene.

This vignette of elder abuse is a key component of a film titled “Making the Invisible Visible,” created and produced by the Laguna Woods group Community Bridge Builders.

The film, which will be shown at the Laguna Woods Performing Arts Center on Monday, Feb. 24, puts a glaring but overdue spotlight on the pervasive yet often ignored or misperceived scourge of ageism.

Ageism is “a form of segregation, apartheid for the old,” says the film’s executive producer, Rebeca Gilad. “And then there is also the politicization of ageism. Lastly, let’s also not forget ageism in oneself.”

While the film focuses on the indignities of aging in a youth-obsessed world, it also touches on discrimination based on race, gender, disability and sexual orientation – all insidious enough that even those at the receiving end often don’t realize what is coming at them.

The film consists of several skits, such as “Loss of Relevance,” “Becoming Invisible,” “When Does Old Age Begin,” “Elderspeak,” “Follow the Money,” “Gray Hair in the Workplace,” “It’s Up to Barbara” and “Who Me, Ageist?”

The skit “Follow the Money” illustrates the stranglehold the beauty industry has on women, and increasingly on men. The episode is related through the eyes of a grandchild who is aghast that her aunt may die from botched plastic surgery. Through a series of questions, she forces her mother to admit that she too had such surgery.

The child’s questions imply that plastic surgery is inconceivable to her, yet the segment also touches on the subject of shaming. Who benefits from our fear of aging and how will its tentacles reach the young?

In “Gray Hair in the Workplace,” an older woman is fired from her job after previously garnering awards for excellence. She hears that her job is no longer needed, but shortly after she is dismissed, the position goes to a younger man.

In “Who Me, Ageist?,” two younger women at a restaurant exhort a friend to hide her walker so as not to expose them all as “old.”

And in “The Last Game,” friends discuss prejudice in the health care system as it touches upon aging as well as race and sexual preference. Should Black patients seek Black doctors, should gays seek gay doctors, and should women use only female doctors?

Hide that walker, dye that hair and see that plastic surgeon is advice that is ostensibly well-meant, but, as the videos illustrate, it’s anything but.

The vignettes are based largely on research by Gilad.

“All examples (in the film) come from the real world,” she said. “I witnessed an incident like the one with the walker in Virginia.”

With a PhD in gerontology, Gilad drove the project in part inspired by her love of aging family members.

“I have always been interested in age and ageism,” she said. “My grandfather was a good role model.”

She also cited moving to Laguna Woods as an eye opener: “I looked at the 55- to 65-year-olds and how they treat the older residents 85 to 100.”

The film will serve as the foundation to workshops on combating ageism, Gilad said. The workshops are based on the methodology of Paulo Freire, a Brazilian pedagogue, who “believed that educators and students teach each other based on their life experiences,” she said.

The film will also serve as a trigger for conversations within small groups on participants’ life experiences. Trained group leaders will ask questions and lead participants to gain awareness of themselves and find their own paths to combat prejudices against older people.

At the root of conveying this knowledge is language. A training manual provides definitions of terms from “age” to “wellderly,” the latter meaning older people who are healthy.

“Gendered ageism” refers to differences in ageism as experienced by women and men. And, of course, “gray tsunami” refers to the growing number of older people. (In 2022 there were 58 million people over age 65 in the U.S; that number is projected to reach 82 million by 2050, according to the Population Reference Bureau in Washington.)

For those involved in the project, it has been a labor of love with deeply personal meaning.

Ed Green, 76, said that not only has he personally experienced ageism, he has overheard comments by people in their 20s about the limitations of older people.

“I have experienced antisemitism directed at me as well as comments about my age and physical abilities,” he said. “I believe ageism limits not only the older person but also the person or group fostering it.”

As a workshop facilitator, his goal will be to challenge the beliefs that many older people have of themselves.

“Aging just refers to a normal process,” he said, “not a list of things ‘older’ people can or cannot do.”

His wife, Judy Green, 70, is also among those training to conduct workshops. For her, the goal of helping increase self-awareness and reaching out to the community comes from her experiences teaching students studying to become social workers at CSULB.

“Helping students solidify field placements in agencies serving an aging population taught me to navigate meaningful discussions of our preconceptions of aging in small group seminars,” she said.

For Valerie Lipow, 70, ageism is “just another type of prejudice that distances neighbors.”

She said she experienced ageism while looking for work though not while on the job.

“I’m a woman, physically disabled and Jewish,” Lipow said. “Stereotypes abound all around me. Decisions made by others may have limited me but not blocked me.”

As a workshop leader, she hopes to “engage learners into looking closer at their assumptions about older adults.”

Sunita Saxena, 75, grew up seeing grandparents being treated with respect and dignity in her native India.

“To build a society here where every elderly person has rights inspired me to be a trainer,” she said.

She said she experienced vicarious prejudice in the U.S. when her daughter’s fellow students said everyone in her family worked at 7-11 stores. Saxena also once was told that she’d be more attractive if she dyed her gray hair.

“I want to build awareness that aging is a normal process and not an illness,” she said.

Dennis Backer, 78, helped write the script for “Follow the Money.”

“I remember being with my elderly mother at times when she was not spoken to directly by salespeople or even doctors,” he said. “They spoke to me, as though she could not understand or make her own decisions.

“I want to raise awareness about the lack of respect for the knowledge and experience that older individuals bring to the table,” he said.

Myung Sung’s interest in promoting seniors’ well-being intensified when she moved to Laguna Woods.

“As a retired nurse-educator, I want to contribute what I learned throughout my career and life in general,” she said. “I have noticed that many people are influenced by the external environment and become depressed and intimidated, such as others’ negative comments about one’s appearance, speech, illness and many areas of life.

“Ageism can destroy one person’s spirit that eventually would affect one’s life/world view.”

“Making the Invisible Visible” will be screened Monday, Feb. 24, at 4 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center. Doors open at 3:30 p.m. Admission is free to residents and their guests. For more information, email lwcommunitybridgebuilders@gmail.com.

After all, Glenn has a background in theater: She’s been an actor and director in the Old Pros performance group since 2008. She’s also a Hollywood veteran. In the 1960s, she was “the queen of B-movies,” she says.

But roles in the pageant don’t involve acting. In fact, the only skill required is to stand perfectly still for 90 seconds.

The annual production features tableaux vivants, or living pictures, bringing to life on stage famous paintings and other works of art, each with a human embedded in the piece.

This year’s theme is “Gold Coast: Treasures of California,” showcasing the state’s rich history and artistic legacy, with a collection of masterpieces from its most prestigious museums and iconic monuments.

Auditions for the pageant took place last month in Laguna Beach.

The show uses two casts of 150 people who rotate each week. The volunteers, wearing costumes, makeup and headpieces, pose to recreate the artwork. Measurements are precise to each piece and, beyond staying stationary as the curtain lifts, are key to getting a specific part.

“People volunteer at the Pageant of the Masters because it’s more than just being part of a production; it’s about becoming part of a family,” said Sharbie Higuchi, pageant spokesperson. “It’s a chance to connect with the community, celebrate art and history, and contribute to a tradition that inspires thousands every year.”

Glenn spontaneously joined the sizable crowd assembled on the Festival of Arts grounds to get interviewed, measured at around 37 spots (head, neck, arms, torso, back and lots more) and photographed by pageant staff.

With the seemingly endless lineup of hopefuls, the experience reminded Glenn of her old days in the film industry: “Everything was always ‘hurry up and wait,’” she said. “Surely I can hold still for 90 seconds if that was what it takes.”

Glenn’s colorful acting career began when she was in high school. Known as Carolyn Brandt at the time, she danced in Reno, Nevada, at the former Mapes Hotel, before segueing into Hollywood.

One of her more memorable films was “Rat Pfink a Boo Boo,” a humorous sendup of Batman and Robin, she said. Glenn played a rock star’s squeeze who somehow gets kidnapped but escapes, only to be caught by a gorilla.

As coincidence had it, the Festival of Arts grounds displayed a giant replica of King Kong. Glenn gamely posed with the beast, rekindling memories of working with Kogar the Ape in “Rat Pfink.”

“I have pictures of me with Kogar,” she said. “He became both family and a family joke.”

Glenn wasn’t the only Laguna Woods resident vying to become part of the living pictures.

Ray Rafla first saw a pageant show in 2018, then volunteered to work behind the scenes.

“I was a runner, getting people on and off stage. A lot of the volunteers are kids that needed help,” he said. “In my first year, I did everything I could – helped with coffee, substituted for stage volunteers.”

That led to Rafla snagging roles on stage.

“I was in a Norman Rockwell painting and in one of the ‘Last Supper’ paintings,” he said. Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece traditionally ends the production each year.

Reggie White was waiting in line to volunteer for the second year in a row.

“Last year I was in ‘The Playboys of Bacongo,’” he said, referring to Italian Daniele Tamagni’s 2008 work.

White, who was accompanied by his wife, Allison, said he had seen the pageant and attended the Festival of Arts before the pandemic, and decided to return.

“I posed the entire summer last year and also was an alternate,” he said. “I had to stand still a lot.”

Rene Andrews came accompanied by his wife, Robin. He recalled how he first heard about the pageant auditions from a customer at Stater Brothers grocery store, although he had gone to a performance in 1975.

“This is my second year, and it’s important to me,” he said. “Last year I was ‘Spectator #12’ during the fashion show segment and got to wear a big hat.”

Albert Hsu, a 12-year Laguna Woods resident, saw his first Pageant of the Masters production in 1989. He has volunteered at the pageant for four years now, he said, and was hoping for a fifth time.

“Over the years, my late wife, Olivia, and I have spent thousands of dollars on tickets for friends who have come to watch the shows with us,” he said. “I have a friend who has volunteered there for 30 years, and he inspired me to try out myself.”

Julie Tang, who accompanied Hsu, said she tried out for the production for the first time a year ago.

“He introduced me to the pageant 12 years ago and finally talked me into trying out myself,” she said. “You enjoy the people and the backstage preparations here. It’s amazing how they bring ideas to reality.”

Teri Judd has seen the pageant every year for 10 years. Nine years ago, she tried out to be an actor or costumer, she said, but didn’t get a callback.

“I always loved costuming, going to the theater, looking at art,” she said, adding that she previously worked in costuming in the Bay Area. “The pageant is a great combination to be part of.”

This year, the audition process was much the same as nine years ago, she said.

“I was amazed how thorough the measuring process is: the size of your head, neck, torso, waist and hips, length of legs,” she said.

Laguna Wood residents Esther Spector and her friend Klara Manyak were also in line to try out – not for the stage but for the costume shop or the makeup department.

“We are both from the Ukraine and had gone to the same schools, had worked in the same circles, costume design and fashion, but had never met,” Spector said.

Both had come to volunteer for the first time.

As for Glenn, she said she is not yet sure whether to commit, if called upon, as a full-time cast member or a substitute.

“It was a fun experience. The people in charge were the nicest people around,” she said. “I will make up my mind when it actually happens.”

“Gold Coast: Treasures of California” will run nightly at 8:30 p.m. from July 5 through Aug. 29. For more information and tickets, visit foapom.com.

(Orange County Register reporter Erika Ritchie contributed to this report.)

Many of the winners are by now known names, having won top honors in previous years. But in 2024, newcomer Adriana Greisman won big, with her color photo “Spectacular Waterlily” judged best in show.

Greisman moved to Laguna Woods Village and joined the Camera Club only last year.

“I started out as a musician, a flutist and teacher, and was taking just snapshots,” she said in an interview. “After taking classes both online and in person, I started getting serious about photography. I never saw myself as an artist but found that my eye seemed to come naturally. I found a medium that fits.”

“Waterlily” exemplifies Greisman’s post-production skills using Photoshop, but she leaves the printing to the professionals.

“I have the photographs printed on metal and canvas and only use paper for cards,” she said.

Greisman also won honors for her depiction of two young girls lost in the magic of the beach. Titled “Beach Play,” the photo evidences a mastery of light and of capturing just the right moment of apparent serenity in the girls’ expressions.

Her photo of a swimming grebe and her babies, “Grebe Parenthood,” is also evidence of capturing the essence of a scene. That photo earned her high spots in the nature category.

An avid photographer of animals, Greisman honed her observation skills in zoos. In nature, she has learned that chasing animals yields no results.

“Fifteen minutes can change things,” she said. “What it takes is skill, patience and luck.”

***

Catching the right moment is also what defines Mike Bray’s prize-winning entries, which tend to span categories that feature dramatic motion.

“I have a passion for things that are moving,” he said. “It’s all about fortuitous timing and getting the right moment.”

Bray’s photo “Thunderbirds Fly-by” won a second prize for its spot-on shot of two jets, one flying regularly and the other upside down, with their tails meeting at precise points. All one can wonder is “What are the odds?”

Another of Bray’s sports photos, “Stylin’ Surfer,” is also an action shot, except that the female surfer adds an element of allure.

“I started photographing when my kids were in youth sports and also when we had Olympic swimmers training in my Mission Viejo neighborhood,” Bray said.

While sports are his main interest, he slightly shifts gears into a form of abstraction with “The Return,” focusing on a shadow cast by a tennis player.

His photo “Wayward Umbrella” is noteworthy because he shot the closeup of a red umbrella’s spines with a cellphone, a tool increasingly common among professional photographers.

“I’m never without my phone,” Bray said.

***

Myra Posner had been a photographer for 15 years and, as a non-Village resident, waited two years to get into the Camera Club.

“I’ve always carried a camera and have been mostly drawn to landscapes and flowers,” she said. “But I enter (Camera Club) Critiques all the time with different subjects.”

Posner shoots mostly locally, and so it’s become a challenge to find new places to shoot in the area, she said. For her photo “The Dance,” of jellyfish ballerinas, she ventured out to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

In a different vein, “Sulimon” is a tranquil monochrome portrait of a young basketball player that won her a second prize.

“Photography is a great hobby,” Posner said. “If you can’t get out, you find things to shoot at home or in your yard.”

Post-production techniques like Photoshop and Luminar can be useful, she said.

“Post-processing helps improve the final photograph,” Posner said. “The camera does not see what our eyes see.”

***

Ken Furuta again nailed some first and second prizes this year. During surfing tournament season, he heads for Huntington Beach with his long 400 or 600mm lenses.

“Sports and action are the most challenging subjects for me,” he said.

After he has his desired shots, the post-processing work begins, and photos like “Slashing Through the Wedge” look as if he is right there in the water with the surfers.

Furuta also enjoys landscape and travel photography, as exemplified in “Mystic Morning at Mt. Huangshan.”

“Hopefully, every year I get a little better with experience,” he said. “Now I am also doing a lot more panning and slow-shutter speed work and am trying to be more artistic.” For example, “Razzle-Dazzle Berries,” a closeup of a sculpture by Jeff Koons, is a black and white conversion with some artistic modification.

Furuta started taking photos in 1990 and describes himself as largely self-taught. “I do a lot of reading, do research online and learn from my friends,” he said.

***

George Harper gravitates toward sports and wildlife. “Sports are easier around here with all the surfing events,”  he said, “but wildlife is getting harder to find here than in other parts of the country.”

He photographs landscapes on his trips, but, approaching age 90, he has mobility issues that keep him from traveling a lot.

“I do flowers and macro photography and work at advancing my editing skills,” he said.

One of Harper’s intriguing contributions is “Mother With Child,” a black and white abstracted depiction of a mother holding a baby.

“The photo shows a small statue that is a replica of a larger one. I collected photos of babies and themes of motherhood,” said Harper, a retired OB/GYN. “I started out taking video editing classes through the Emeritus program but got more interested in photography than videography. Next I want to get into portraits.”

***

The Camera Club went through a growth spurt in 2024 due to increased outreach, educational and promotional programs, with membership soaring from 270 to 378, according to Camera Club Vice President Jack Salvador.

That success can be largely attributed to the unstinting efforts of volunteers like Mary Madden, winner of the 2024 Lydia Savedoff Award.

The award is given to members who demonstrate excellence in advancing photography for the club membership and all Villagers, said club member Joel Goldstein.

“Mary Madden was recognized for her extraordinary service, teaching and volunteering as well as for her outstanding photography skills,” he said.

Madden says she was “honored and surprised” by the award. “I had no idea I was even in the running for it,” she admits.

Madden joined the Camera Club in 2019 and became active once things opened up after the pandemic.

“The biggest part of my role is to advise on board issues and to provide value to our members and make them better photographers,” she said.

Madden was instrumental in getting a part of the recent “Good Neighbor” project off the ground wherein club members took photos of Village residents with their pets in a studio setting.

As for her own works, travel photography is among her passions. She garnered a fourth prize for her image “Serengeti Leopard.”

“Now that I am retired (from pharmaceutical marketing), I can travel more and also focus my energies on teaching and the Camera Club Photo Lab with its service to the Village.”

One can imagine Santa making a wish list of his own, ready to fill his sack with gifts for the discerning of all ages.

Winter Fantasy in Laguna Beach runs through Dec. 22 and is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The festival is celebrating its 33rd birthday this year, with more than 180 artists displaying their wares in new and refurbished booths built to last into the summer art festival season.

Artists are allowed to share booths this year, making for a greater variety of crafts than ever before. Visitors can admire and buy works by glass blowers, woodworkers, ceramicists, clothing artists, jewelry makers, mixed-media artists, painters and photographers, sculptors, mosaic artists and more.

Tucked in between are booths with unique items like Adriana Wrzesniewski’s Ukrainian-style painted eggs that span seasons with their beauty (Booth 511). Airbrushed onesies for the littlest tyke hang in another booth.

The Sawdust Summer Festival has been open primarily to Laguna Beach artists since its debut in the mid-1960s, while Winter Fantasy participants come from all over Orange County and beyond.

This year, five artists are Village residents.

Tim Hahne, a watercolor artist and ceramicist, had exhibited at the festivals between 1979 and 1996. He returned in 2021, after a two-decade stint as a Christian missionary in Romania.

In 2020, Hahne, 78, moved to the Village. The pandemic, with its closure of the Clubhouse 4 studios, forced his hand from ceramics to painting.

“Forty years ago, I sold mostly ceramics. Now I sell mostly paintings,” said Hahne, 78. “I actually have painted all my life but not seriously.”

These days, he supervises the ceramics studio at Clubhouse 4.

Given his residence in the Village, trees serve as a major inspiration.

“I take pictures of the trees and paint them at home in watercolor and outline and highlight them in ink,” he said. “It’s like painting by numbers except that I create my own numbers.”

Hahne’s ceramics tend toward the utilitarian, with sturdy, decorative plates and cups able to hold generous amounts of coffee or soup (Booth 518).

Visitors checking out the Sawdust history booth at the festival’s entrance will find photos of the first booths built in the ’70s and ’80s. In front of a booth made to resemble a spacecraft stands a young dark-haired man. That would be Starman, now aged 81 and a Village resident better known as Star Shields.

Shields had built a career as a graphic designer and airbrush artist, creating T-shirts with images of rock stars. Now he still airbrushes shirts but has expanded his repertoire to include geometric, floral or abstract designs, or whatever else strikes his fancy.

“Back in high school I started doodling and painting on sweatshirts,” he said. “I graduated in 1961 and just kept on going.”

And he’s been displaying his works at Sawdust for 40 years, he said.

If his designs run the gamut of his imagination, so does the clothing he chooses. For $75, doting grandparents can buy a colorful onesie for their little budding artist. Or, for something temporary, Shields will provide an airbrushed tattoo (Booth 625).

Hedy Buzan, a printmaker and painter who works in pen and ink, acrylics and watercolor, is a 22-year Village resident who maintains a studio in bucolic Laguna Canyon.

As a member of the Garden Club, she derives much inspiration from the vivid plant life for her small oil paintings, she said (Booth 523).

Sheri Cohen, a jeweler, and Brian Giberson, a creator of wall totems and sculptures, share a booth at Winter Fantasy and their lives in Laguna Woods. Cohen’s intricate rings and necklaces are made mostly from silver and bronze, and Giberson’s totems are made mostly from found objects and are inspired by international folklore and his own imagination. They have been at Sawdust for 13 years and have also exhibited at the Festival of Arts (Booth 810).

Some Camera Club members might remember presentations by Paul Renner, a prolific wildlife photographer who recently retired from conducting safaris in Africa. His work at Winter Fantasy bears witness to his keen eye and wide-ranging travels (Booth 322).

Winter Fantasy does not only provide a feast for the eyes and relatively little stress on the wallet, but also offers food, music, entertainment, art classes and visits with Santa. For schedules, classes and performers, go to sawdustartfestival.org/winter.