PAGEANT DIRECTIONS

Care should be taken in choosing the pageant site. The actual stage
should be a level sward, with close-clipped grass that will make it as
easy as possible for the dancers. It is ideal if the background and
sides of this stage can be picturesquely wooded, and present a vista
through which the pageant players can be seen approaching. It will be
well if the pageant stage itself has a tree or so. This stage should
vary in size according to the number of people in the cast. A small
cast requires a smaller and more intimate stage. In this way scenes in
which a crowd of supernumeraries are needed will give the effect of
having more people than are actually there. On the other hand, a large
stage is needed for big effects, where a great number of people are
used. Too small a stage makes a great number of players seem a huddled
mass, and through this pantomimic effects are lost.

The pageant players should, if possible, have the sun at the side. It
is very difficult to play facing a strong light. Choice of the time of
day in which the pageant is given has much to do with its
effectiveness. Late afternoon (from four o'clock on) is by far the best
time for outdoor drama. The earlier hours are somewhat garish,--the
light too high, the contrasts too sharp and unvaried. But from four
o'clock on the light mellows, the shadows become long and sweeping, the
outdoor effects grow more and more beautiful. It is as if the first
hint of sunset were the signal for ringing down a magic curtain on a
scene where nature herself was pageant mistress. This is true of all
outdoor plays as well as pageants.

Those who direct the pageant should see to it that the youthful players