Off to see the Wizard at the Burnsville PAC
Eight-year-old Henry McCormick and 14-year-old Tia Thompson, both of Burnsville, are among the 80-actor cast of “The Wizard of Oz” which plays the Burnsville Performing Arts Center next week. Thompson is cast as Dorothy; McCormick is the munchkin coroner. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)
Children’s theater group presents ‘Wizard of Oz’ Aug. 10-12
This summer, young actors with The Play’s The Thing Productions are learning how to fly.
The Lakeville-based children’s theater group’s summer show, “The Wizard of Oz,” will see several of its cast members fitted with harnesses and zipping through the air.
Dorothy defying gravity and the Wicked Witch piloting a broom through the sky are among the host of visual flourishes The Play’s The Thing director/producer Dayna Railton is employing as she brings her summer production, and its cast of 80 young actors, to the main stage of the Burnsville Performing Arts Center from Aug. 10-12.
The production is the capstone to The Play’s The Thing’s theater camp for young people ages 4-17 that was held at Eagle Ridge Junior High in Savage this summer.
The actors at the camp were divided into two groups – a main camp, and a “munchkin camp” for the 30 or so children ages 4 to 7 who will be performing as munchkins in “The Wizard of Oz.”
“We have some very small munchkins,” Railton said. “They’re learning everything the older ones are learning – choreography, stage presence, focus, direction, projection.”
From left: Tia Thompson, Kenndi Orr, Ethan Quist and Alejandra Pastrana. (Photo by Rick Orndorf)
The production features music from the classic MGM film starring Judy Garland, including “Over the Rainbow,” “Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead,” and “If I Only had a Brain.”
“The Wizard” marks the third show The Play’s The Thing has presented in the Burnsville Performing Arts Center’s 1,000-seat main-stage theater. In 2010 the children’s group presented “Annie Jr.” there, and last summer it staged “Beauty and the Beast Jr.”
Tickets for “Wizard” are $14 for adults, $12 for students, and are available at the Burnsville PAC box office and through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787.
More information about the show is at www.childrenstheatretptt.com.
