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Community Corner

Pageant of the Masters Photo Preview!

The theme is "The Genius." The rest you know: costumed volunteers holding still for 90 seconds.

Monday's Media Night at the Pageant of the Masters brought out reporters from all around Southern California, who were treated to an up-close-and-personal look behind the scenes of this year's theme: The Genius. Everything from the magnificent costumes and makeup to the stunning background scenery is perfected down to even the smallest details.

*CLICK THE PHOTO BOX ABOVE TO SEE PHOTOS FROM MONDAY'S PRESS PREVIEW

Pageant director Diane Challis Davey said she felt that a companion show to the 2009 pageant theme, The Muse, which focused on women's roles in making and inspiring art, should be created. And so The Genius was crafted to show masculine sensibility, power, strength and intelligence inherent in masterful art pieces.

Albert Einstein once said that genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. If that's true, then there is an entire volunteer cast of talented characters, staff and crew, who are pure genius, preparing each evening for this, the 80th Pageant of the Masters season. Audiences will see depicted masterpieces from artists such as Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Norman Rockwell and Leonardo da Vinci, just to name a few.

Find out what's happening in Laguna Beachwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Pageant of the Masters will run this year from July 7 through August 31. For more information, click up the festival site here.

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