Theatre Bristol proudly presents

The Wizard of Oz

Supplemental Study Material
Theatre Bristol 423.968.4977 www.theatrebristol.org

Dear Educator,

We are very excited that you have chosen to include Theatre Bristol’s production of The Wizard of Oz in your fall curriculum! Who hasn’t dreamed of going “Somewhere over the Rainbow”? Whether your first experience with The Wizard of Oz was Frank Baum’s classic book or the glorious MGM motion picture, Dorothy and her friends have a way of capturing our imagination in a way few stories can.

Theatre Bristol is very proud to be able to bring this modern classic to the stage for your enjoyment. Hundreds of hours of rehearsals and preparation time have gone into this show, readying it for you and your children. Get geared up for an adventure like no other!

As you prepare for your visit, use the suggested activities inside to enhance your students experience with the play. We have included a broad base of materials to cover many subject areas and enhance your standard curriculum. I hope you find it helpful! As our partner in education, please feel free to adapt the information and activities to best suit the needs and abilities of your students. You are invited to make copies of this study guide for fellow teachers as well as your students.

We hope you enjoy The Wizard of Oz. We look forward to seeing you at the theatre!

Sincerely,

Theatre Bristol Education Department

School Performances: September 10, 11, 12, 17 & 18, 2003 at 9:30 and 11:30 a.m.
Public Performances: September 12, 13 & 14, 2003
All performances at the Paramount Center for the Arts.

Teachers: Just a Reminder!
- Chaperones are not seated until all school groups are seated. They sit separately in the special VIP seating area on the sides and rear of the theatre.
- No babes in arms please. Your cooperation is requested. Performances are for school children.
- Reservation changes may be made by the lead teacher only.
- Confirmation cards must be returned by date indicated.
- Please make every effort to arrive on time, no later than 9:15 for the 9:30 show or 11:15 for 11:30 show - with your help we will start on time!

Synopsis of the Story
Little Dorothy Gale of Kansas longs to go somewhere “Over the Rainbow”. Somewhere where there is adventure and excitement. Somewhere where she is not in the way, but is appreciated. One day when old Miss Gulch threatens to take her dog away from her, Dorothy decides to run away. She soon meets Professor Marvel, a carnival man who convinces her to go home.
Unfortunately, on the way home, Dorothy gets caught in a tornado just as she reaches her house. The twister takes Dorothy and Toto over the rainbow to Munchkinland, dropping the house on the Wicked Witch of the East and killing her. There, Dorothy meets Glinda the Good Witch of the North and the Munchkins. They celebrate her getting rid of the witch and send her off to the Emerald City to meet the mighty Wizard of Oz in the hopes he will be able to send her home.
Along the way to the Emerald City, Dorothy meets some amazing friends who each have things they want the Wizard to give them. The Scarecrow wants a brain, the Tinman wants a heart and the Cowardly Lion wants some courage. The foursome makes their way to the Emerald City, slipping through spells cast by the Wicked Witch to stop them. Once there, they meet the Wizard. He says that yes, he will give them what they want, but first they must kill the Wicked Witch.
Escaping great danger, they do kill the Wicked Witch by melting her with a bucket of water. They then return to Oz, triumphant, where they are each granted their desires. The great Oz decides that he will take Dorothy home himself in his balloon. However, Dorothy doesn’t get in the basket in time and is left behind. The Good Witch, Glinda, appears and tells Dorothy she has had the power to go back to Kansas all along—that all she had to do was click her heels three times and say to herself “There’s no place like home.”
Dorothy then travels home to Kansas, never forgetting Oz, but always knowing that “There’s no place like home.”

Themes
The Wizard of Oz can be used in a classroom theme study of friendship, tornadoes,
rainbows, family, home, fantasy, love and imagination.

Cool Websites
www. Literature.org/authors/baum-l-frank/the-wonderful-wizard-of oz/ — Full text of the famous story this play is based on.

www. ozwiz.net — Music, lyrics, clip arts, original script, scene images and other oz links. Use the tools at this site to really make the story come alive for your kids.

www.eskimo.com/~tiktok/ozteach.html — Teaching ideas centering around everyone’s favorite story. Covers subjects in Math, Science, Geography, Language Arts, Art and Music. Exhaustive but wonderful.

www.nancypolette.com/LitGuidesText/oz.htm — Classroom activites of all sorts which are based on the Oz Books. Wonderfully fun site!

Vocabulary
*Twister—A Tornado; a disturbance of the atmosphere is which strong winds swirl in a spiral pattern.
*Diploma—a piece of paper that says that a person has graduated a specific institution.
*Courage—the ability to be brave in the face of danger.
*Fortitude—firm courage; the patient endurance of danger or pain.
*Munchkins—the little people who inhabit Munchkinland where Dorothy ends up after she travels over the rainbow.

Suggested Reading
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Ozma of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
Glinda of Oz
The Lost Princess of Oz
The Magic of Oz
The Road to Oz
The Tinman of Oz
The Scarecrow of Oz
All by L. Frank Baum

Imagine
Imagine a land all your own. What would it look like? What kind of people would live there? What would they wear? What would they eat? Now imagine that you get to visit this place. On a separate sheet of paper, write a story about your experiences there and color a picture of what it would look like.

A History of Oz
Lyman Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York in 1856. He was an American journalist, playwright, film producer and author of juvenile stories. While working as a newspaperman in South Dakota he wrote his first book, Father Goose: His Book (1899) which became an immediate bestseller. In 1900 he published his most famous work, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a story about a little girl carried by a cyclone to the magical land of Oz. His stage dramatization of the book was produced in 1902. Baum published several other stories of Oz, including Ozma of Oz (1907) and The Scarecrow of Oz (1915).

In 1914, along with several business associates, Baum formed the Oz Film Manufacturing Company. Their studio was located next to the Universal Film Company. They made a number of films based on the Oz books, but movie audiences judged them to be for children and the films were not successful. At this early stage in the motion picture industry, a children’s market had not yet been established. In effect, Baum was before his time. The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was sold to Universal.

In 1919, L. Frank Baum died on May 5, leaving America bereft of it’s most beloved storyteller of the time. His last book, Glinda of Oz was published posthumously in 1920. After his death, rights were granted to children’s writer Ruth Plumly Thompson to continue the Oz chronicles. In all, more than forty Oz books have appeared. The most enduring, though, is that first story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

In 1938, that story was made into an extraordinarily popular motion picture by MGM studios. This technicolor film classic would hereafter define the public’s understanding and interpretation of Baum’s fantastic tale.

Suggested Classroom Activities
Pre-Show Activities
General
· As a class or on their own, read the original story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
· Watch the MGM classic movie The Wizard of Oz.
· Talk about how the book differs from the movie. Ask for students opinions on why they think this is so.
· Talk about other fairy tales and make-believe stories and where they take place. Have students draw maps of a continent on which all of the make-believe places are found. (Oz, Candyland, Neverland, Toyland, etc.)
· Get carried away with a study of tornadoes-or storms in general-and have students imagine what it would be like to be caught in one.
Drama
· In student pairs, role play Dorothy and a reporter interviewing her about her adventures. Kids could also write a story for the community/school paper after she returns that reports her adventures in a journalistic style.
· Act out the scene where Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Lion ask the Wizard of Oz for their desires.
· Have each student think of how to convince the Wizard that they deserve their particular item.
· Act out the scenes where Dorothy meets each of the three friends in Oz. How might they get to know one another?

Post-Show Activities
General
· Talk about how the play differed from the book and the movie. Discuss the reasons for this (time constraints, difficulty in moving a story to a different medium, technical considerations, etc.)
· Talk about what your students might like the Wizard to give them if they could meet him. What might characters from other stories, movies, television, etc. ask him for?
· Being lost can be lonesome. What should you do and who should you turn to if you are lost? How can you help someone who is lost? How would it feel to be lost? You could use this to tie into a program that documents information on kids for security purposes.

Language Arts
· Have kids write a letter from one of the characters in Oz to another one of the characters. For example, students write from Dorothy’s perspective thanking her friends for help while she was lost or telling Aunt Em why she misses home. They could be the Wizard and apologize for being a humbug or for leaving Dorothy behind. Use your imaginations to think of variations on this letter writing theme.
· Encourage students to write their own, original Oz adventures. The students could even make themselves the main characters! How did they get there? Who do they meet? What problems do they encounter? How do they get home?
· Have students think about the word “home” and what it means to them. Is it just a place? Or something more?

Exceptional Apples
The ability to respect and accept individual differences has dramatic impact on the quality of life for all of us. Many times children feel secure with sameness, afraid of being themselves or of getting close to anyone who is. Students can develop an understanding and respect for differences through this exercise. Through this lesson, children will be introduced to the concept that everyone is the same in some ways and different in others and that these similarities and differences all have value.

Materials
One apple for each student in the class (plus 2-3 extra). The apples should be various sizes, shapes and colors. With younger children it helps to choose apples with “distinguishing characteristics” like leaves, scars, and small bruises. You will also need a sharp knife.

Activity
Tell the students that we will be spending some time finding out about how people are the same and how they are different. Put the apples on a table in front of the class. Have each student in the class pick an apple. Tell them to get to know their apple really well. Suggest they notice their apple’s special characteristics. Have them make up a story about their apple and write it down or tell it to a friend. Allow the students to share their stories with the rest of the class. Direct the students to return their apples to the table in the front of the class. Mix the apples up and ask the students to come back and find theirs. When they return to their seat, ask them how they knew which apple was theirs. They will indicate things like color, size , shape, special features. Ask what this means in relation to people. On the board, make a list of how people are different. Discuss why this is important. Next, make a list of how people are the same. Discuss why this is important. This step could also be done in cooperative groups and then shared with the entire class.

Tying it All Together
Summarize the importance of individual differences and similarities in people. Suggest that one way in which all people are similar is that everyone has a “star” inside them—something special that makes them shine, that they especially like about themselves—just like each apple has a star inside it. Cut each apple (don’t cut down the usual way, but across the center sideways). Let each child see the star inside their apple. While the students eat their apples, allow them to share something about their “star”, their strengths, their individuality with the class.

Play Character Concentration
You will need: Large blank index cards. Crayons or markers. Copy of the story for children to refer to. Scissors.
Begin by reviewing the characters in the story with the children. Record the characters names on the chalkboard. Try to list as many characters as there are children in the class
Tell the children that they are going to play the game concentration, using pictures of the characters they have just discussed. If necessary, explain how concentration is played. Tell the children that in this game they will match the two halves of a character card. Explain that they will draw the character cards themselves.
Pass out the index cards and have each child choose a story character to illustrate. Children may refer to the book for ideas. Help each child label their cards with the name of the character. When everyone is finished, collect the cards and show them to the class one at a time. Help children identify the character on each card.
Divide the cards into three or four equal groups of cards and cut each card in half. (If you have 20 total cards and divide them into four groups, you will end up with four decks of ten cards that make five characters.) Remind children that the idea is to match the two halves of a character card.
Divide the class into groups and have them play concentration with their new character cards. After each group has finished a game, the decks can be rotated so that each group will have a chance to play with each card.
Teaching Options:
Write the same number on each pair of cards to ensure accurate matches.
Illustrate several stories and combine the decks of cards to make the game more challenging.
Have each child do two cards—one of the character and one of something that character would wear or carry. (i.e.: broom, basket, oil can, or a wand)