The Wizard of Oz: May 2011

The Wizard of Oz: Our All School Play

This year we performed a rewritten version of the Wizard of Oz. We started working on it in January with the 2nd – 7th graders. We went over the story, acted out scenes, watched the movie, and talked about what the real meaning of the story was. From there, we began to rewrite it together. We wanted to bring in more contemporary struggles that Dorothy might have, and add our own Running River flavor to the story. What we did come up with was hilarious, but deep at the same time….a real learning experience for the whole school. Most of the K-1 children were munchkins, but one of our first graders ended up playing the Scarecrow.

Just to give you some idea of the changes we made: the scarecrow was stuck in front of a t.v. instead of on a pole; the tinman rusted while out in the rain; the lion was trying to read self help books to get more courage and confidence, and the witch was opening up a fitness center and determined to get the ruby running shoes that Dorothy got when her house landed on the other witch…..she wanted them to spruce up her wardrobe and help her be the coolest and fastest witch in the land, as well as to get the magic powers the shoes possessed. In the end, the witch still melted, but when Dorothy went back to Kansas she found a way to help Miss Gulch find her true self…which wasn’t a mean old lady!!