Mexican design and make-up artists Alfredo Mora and Fernando Legarretta answered what they said was always the “big question” – how do you make-up an actress who is just stepping out of the shower and still have her look fabulous? The audience of some 50 young people from La Romana proceeded to chime in with a series of other, even more explicit, questions: how do you make someone look really old? How do you make blood gush when someone gets punched or shot?

The world renowned Mexican design artists, whose award-winning work includes “Apocalypse,” “Five Days with Nora” and “Star Trek,” explained their well-studied techniques about skin types, facial forms, prosthetic devices, cream, paint and desired effect. They took many questions from the enthusiastic group which included several Dominican make-up artists.

The maestros then decided to show as well as tell. The audience was enthralled as they watched Fernando and Alfredo make Dominican actress and radio show host Maria Angelica Ureña look like she just stepped out of the shower but still looked fabulous.  In the afternoon session, Fernando and Alfredo turned 16-year-old Henry Ernesto Rijo into a very old man with drooping jowls, forehead lines and serious bags under his eyes. In terms of the gushing blood, well, that involves fake blood, tiny hoses and small pumps to keep the blood flowing for as long as necessary.

Members of the La Romana group as well as the other participants left the day-long panel with lots of ideas and plans at the prospect of learning more about this important career.

“This has been an amazingly informative panel with lots of concepts and skills we have not been exposed to here in the DR and which we can use to our benefit in film, television, theater, every aspect of the performing arts,” said independent interior designer and events organizer, Gustavo Dion of Santo Domingo.