The Wizard of Oz
Supplemental Study Material

Dear Educator,

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.

I hope you enjoy The Wizard of Oz. We look forward to seeing you at the theatre!
Sincerely,
Amy Neal Bussey
Director of Education, Theatre Bristol

School Performances: May 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 & 11, 2001, 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. daily
Public Performance: Sunday, May 6, 2001, 2:30 p.m.
All performances at the Paramount Center for the Arts.

The Wizard of Oz is sponsored by The Bristol Mall and King Pharmaceuticals

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.
- All reservation changes must 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!

Teachers
Book a free in the classroom workshop! Call Amy at (423) 968-4977 for more information.Workshops are limited, so please call early. In-classroom workshops are made possible in part by the generous contributions of the State of Tennessee and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

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. oxwiz.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!

Attention Tennessee Schools Tennessee Ticket Subsidy Program
The Tennessee State Legislature and The Tennessee Arts Commission provide a ticket subsidy program. To find our if your school is eligible, call the Arts Council of Greater Kingsport, which serves Hancock, Hawkins & Sullivan Counties, (423) 392-8420. The Johnson City Area Arts Council serves Carter, Greene, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington Counties, (423) 928-8229.

Did You Know?
All Theatre Bristol productions and workshops meet or exceed Virginia Standards of Learning and Tennessee State Educational Standards. For more information, please call.

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.”

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.

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

Suggested Reading
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
Ozma of Oz by Frank Baum
The Emerald City of Oz by Frank Baum
Glinda of Oz by Frank Baum
The Lost Princess of Oz by Frank Baum
The Magic of Oz by Frank Baum
The Road to Oz by Frank Baum
The Tinman of Oz by Frank Baum
The Scarecrow of Oz by 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. In the spaces below, write a story about your experiences there and color a picture of what it would look like.

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?

Have students write a short essay on what home means to them.

Mathematics & Science
Make a yellow brick road of paper for your classroom floor (or go outside and use sidewalk chalk). Calculate how many bricks it would take to make your yellow brick road cross the hall, run across the playground, down the street. What if the individual bricks were larger or smaller?

Water melts the Wicked Witch and what else? In Baum’s book, Dorothy says the Witch melts like brown sugar. Have students build small brown sugar witches and melt them. Explore what other substances are water soluble by attempting to dissolve different solids in water.

Art
Have students draw their favorite Oz characters or places, or make Oz sculptures, masks, collages, etc.

Have students set up an Oz museum using Oz memorabilia or other materials from home. They could also use the objects they created from the idea above.

Have students draw their favorite scene from the play. Send them in to us and we’ll post them in the front window!

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.

Did you know that Theatre Bristol offers classes and workshops for kid and adults? Call today to find out more!

Theatre of The Stars
Our fabulous summer camp program for kids from ages 6 to 18. Youngsters explore an array of arts activities including drawing, music, acting, dance, costuming, directing and stagecraft. Each camp culminates in a final performance for family and friends. Stars on Stage culminates in a full-scale production for young audiences. Come see why we believe these are the best summer arts camp around!

Once Upon a Time, for ages 6-8, June 24-28, 9:00-3:00 each day, $100 per student

Magical Fantastical Theatre, for ages 9-12, July 8-12, 9:00-3:00 each day, $100 per student

Stars on Stage, for ages 13-18, July 15-26, 9:00-3:00 each day, $200 per student

Showbiz Saturday
Get geared up for our last Showbiz Saturday of the year! Born to Perform will be held May 25 for grades 6-12 from 9:00—3:00. Guaranteed to be a ton of fun as students dance, sing and act their way to stardom. If you’re bound for Broadway, this day is for you! A fantastic day full of tips on how you can be a star!

Spaces for all of our programs are limited. Call the theatre to register today!

Dear Educators/Parents/Voters—thanks for taking the time to read over this information regarding Tennessee Arts in Education government funding!

State of Tennessee Cuts Funding for the Arts—You Can Help! The news isn’t good from the Tennessee Arts Commission. We’re braced for funding and program cuts that may have long-reaching implications for the children in the 65+ school districts who participate in Theatre Bristol’s events annually. According to Rich Boyd, Executive Director of the Tennessee Arts Commission, the Arts Build Communities Program and the Ticket Subsidy Program will both be completely eliminated next year as a way for the Tennessee legislature to solve the growing budget impasse in Nashville. The Ticket Subsidy Program allows poor children from rural or economically distressed communities in Tennessee to participate in our activities by subsidizing their field trips to Bristol. Theatre Bristol is the primary destination for the majority of these children, according to the Arts Council of Greater Kingsport and the Johnson City Area Arts Council, agencies who administer these programs. Theatre Bristol’s roots are in children’s theatre and we rely on our youth programming for about 75% of our operating capital. If the school shows are cut back, we face a bleak future. As adults, we can scramble to make ends meet and adjust. But the children of our area still deserve the finest arts opportunities available to them to encourage them to dream and wonder. Talk to your representatives to find out more about how they plan to solve this dilemma in Nashville. Call, write or email your representatives and let them know how much the arts means to you and your students, how much you’ll miss the Ticket Subsidy Program, and how much you, as a voter, would appreciate the representatives support of the arts - your voice counts, you can make a difference!

Not sure who your representative is? Log onto www.state.tn.us for listings by district of both the Senators and House Representatives. If you don’t have access to the internet, check at your local library or chamber of commerce.

Parents/Teachers—this is great opportunity to get your students/classes to write their representatives and learn about government! Teach them how they can make a difference and how their voice counts too!

Theatre Bristol is the region’s oldest children’s theatre, educating, inspiring and entertaining children of all ages for 36 years!

Theatre Bristol is a not-for-profit cultural and educational organization whose activities are made possible in part by generous financial support from the National Endowment for the Arts; Tennessee Arts Commission; Virginia Commission for the Arts; Arts Council of Greater Kingsport; Johnson City Area Arts Council; City of Bristol, Tennessee; City of Bristol, Virginia; and corporations, foundations and individuals from throughout the region. Theatre Bristol is a 501 (c) (3) organization and all contributions are tax-deductible.

Theatre Bristol
512 State Street
Bristol, TN 37620
423-968-4977
www.theatrebristol.org
theatreb@3wave.com