THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ Adapted by Rachel Teagle From the book by L. Frank Baum For all inquiries, please contact: Rachel Teagle (408) 316-8123 [email protected] Serenbe Playhouse Production Draft 2014 SMALL CAST CHARACTER BREAKDOWN Dorothy ACTOR 1- Scarecrow (male) ACTOR 2 - Tin Man (male) ACTOR 3 - Lion (female) ACTOR 4 – With of the North, Witch of the South, Oz Guard, Auxiliary Puppeteer, etc (female) ACTOR 5 – Witch of the West, Elfra, Glinda Guard, Aunt Em, Auxiliary Puppeteer (female) ACTOR 6 - Oz, King of Flying Monkeys, Boq, Auxiliary Puppeteer (male) ALTERNATE LARGE CAST BREAKDOWN Dorothy Toto Scarecrow Tin Man Lion Elfra Boq Additional Munchkin Townspeople Witch of the North/Witch of the South Oz Guard Oz Witch of the West/Aunt Em King of Flying Monkeys Additional Flying Monkeys STAGE: In an arc through the audience runs the yellow brick road, functioning like an apron, to accommodate travel and distraction from scene changes, with a path down the middle of the audience for the Witch of the West's entrance and the poppy scene. PRELUDE The audience gathers in Kansas. Perhaps Aunt Em passes through, looking for Dorothy. Dorothy passes through avoiding Aunt Em, her nose in a book. A tornado siren signals the audience to enter the space, and they travel down a path passing by characters they will see later in the play. SCENE 1: THE COUNCIL WITH THE MUNCHKINS DOROTHY Toto? Toto! Are you okay? I thought I'd lost you. Toto, I don't know what I would have done. I swear, Kansas has got to be the absolute most boring, awful place I've ever been. If it wasn't for you, Toto, I'd go nuts. On a good day, it's gray and flat with nothing to do but chores. And on a bad day, a giant tornado picks you up and drops you in the middle of...in the middle of SHE NOTICES HER SURROUNDINGS FOR THE FIRST TIME. Wait. This is not Kansas. This is definitely not Kansas. I think things have just gotten interesting. All right Dorothy, let's think this through. First: Where are you? Not Kansas, so far so good. Maybe it's somewhere like Missouri, or Canada? Or is it Neverland, or Fairyland, or Liliput, or... What was that? A MUNCHKIN MAN, BOQ, AND A MUNCHKIN WOMAN, ELFRA PEEK OUT, ALONG WITH A HERD OF CONJOINED MUNCHKINS. DOROTHY WHIRLS AROUND. ALL MUNCHKINS GASP! THEY NOISILY HIDE. DOROTHY Great. Now I'm hallucinating. That tornado must have given me a head injury. THE MUNCHKINS BEGIN LOUDLY WHISPERING. ELFRA Did she see us? BOQ I don't know! ELFRA Quick, stay still! EVERYONE FREEZES DOROTHY I can see you you know. BOQ You can? 1 DOROTHY Yes. You aren't very good at hiding. Wait, don't go away. I need to talk to you. ELFRA You want to talk to us? DOROTHY Yes, I do. THE MUNCHKINS ALL TURN TO ONE ANOTHER AND SQUEAL! BOQ Much honor and blessings upon you, mighty sorceress! ELFRA We are eternally grateful for your act of brave assassination! THE MUNCHKINS BOW. DOROTHY Hold on, sorceress? Assassination? What are you talking about? THEY POINT, DOROTHY TURNS TO SEE HER HOUSE CRUSHING A PAIR OF FEET WEARING SILVER SHOES. DOROTHY What? That's my house! The tornado must have dropped it. ELFRA Right on the Witch! BOQ And crushed her to death! MUNCHKINS Hooray! THEY ALL DO A LITTLE DANCE. IT IS PROBABLY VIOLENT. THE WITCH OF THE NORTH APPEARS. WITCH OF THE NORTH Morbid little buggers aren't they? But if the evil tyrant making your life miserable met a sudden and violent end, you'd be doing that little dance, too. Ah well, when in Munchkin-land. THE WITCH JOINS IN THE DANCE. DOROTHY I'm sorry, Munchkin-land? 2 WITCH OF THE NORTH Boy, for a blood-thirsty sorceress, you sure don't know much. DOROTHY Oh, I'm not a sorceress. ELFRA But you're wearing white in your dress, and that's the color of sorceresses. DOROTHY My dress is blue and white. BOQ That means you're a friendly sorceress. Blue is the color of the munchkins! MUNCHKINS Yay! DOROTHY I'm telling you, I'm not a sorceress. Sorceresses aren't even real, they're just in stories. My name is Dorothy Gale. I'm just a normal girl. I— WITCH OF THE NORTH Then, “Dorothy Gale, normal girl” how did you kill the Wicked Witch of the East, hmm? MUNCHKINS Hmm? DOROTHY It was an accident, I swear! A big tornado picked up my house in Kansas and... BOQ Kansas? Never heard of it. DOROTHY Well it's nothing like this place, no munchkins or witches, just normal ordinary people. Doing ordinary things. WITCH OF THE NORTH Ordinary? Like what? DOROTHY Like pulling weeds and washing dishes, and hanging laundry out to dry. ELFRA Ooh, laundry, sounds exotic. 3 DOROTHY It's really not. I promise you. Just ask my Aunt Em, she may not even know what the word means. That's not fair. I don't mean to be ungrateful. Uncle Henry didn't have to take me in after all, it's awfully kind. And it's a new place, Kansas. I'm sure I'll get used to it. But... I don't want to get used to it. I mean, I know this is their life and they've worked very hard to be they are, but I read about all these amazing places and fascinating people, and I don't want to just read about them. I want to see them for myself. I can't stay in Kansas my whole life. I want my life to be so much bigger. Wow. I didn't mean to dump all those feelings on you little guys. I guess I haven't really had anyone to talk beside Toto in a long, long time. WITCH OF THE NORTH Hmm, Kansas must be one of those “civilized” places. In places like that there is no magic left. DOROTHY I believe that. WITCH OF THE NORTH But here, let me tell ya, we're just oozing with the stuff. We've got witches in every corner. Literally. I live up North, my slightly less good-looking sister Glinda lives in the South, and two wicked witches flew off to the East and West to rule over the simpler folk there. THE MUNCHKINS MAKE AN OFFENDED NOISE. ELFRA Who are you calling simple, lady? BOQ She already knocked off one witch today, don't push your luck. DOROTHY So you're a witch, too? WITCH OF THE NORTH Why yes! The Good Witch of the North, at your service. DOROTHY Well, why didn't you overthrow the wicked witch who ruled here? BOQ Say, that's a good question. THE MUNCHKINS WHIP AROUND TO LOOK AT THE WITCH. WITCH OF THE NORTH Well, uh, I'm not as powerful as the Witch of the East was. 4 ELFRA Was is right. She's going as we speak. THEY TURN TO SEE THE LAST OF THE FEET DISAPPEARING, LEAVING ONLY THE SHOES, WHICH HAVE NOW TURNED RED. THE MUNCHKINS GASP. WITCH OF THE NORTH Well, would you look at that. She was so old and so evil that she just dried right up in the sun. That's why you've got to moisturize. Evil witches are notoriously terrible at that. But my sister Glinda and I? Fresh as the morning dew. Ooh, and would you look at those shoes! DOROTHY Wait, weren't they silver? ELFRA I know, and now they're just to die for! Oops, too soon? BOQ It's like her power somehow seeped into them. ELFRA Or something else seeped into them. MUNCHKINS Eww. WITCH OF THE NORTH She sure did love these old things. You can take them , Dorothy, if you'd like. DOROTHY Really? ELFA Sure! You kill the witch, you get the shoes, that seems only fair. WITCH OF THE NORTH You know, I think that there was some sort of charm or something attached to them, but I can't for the life of me remember what that was. BOQ Gee, I hope that's not important later. WITCH OF THE NORTH And look! They fit just perfectly. DOROTHY They do. It's unbelievable. 5 WITCH OF THE NORTH It's magic. Welcome to Oz. DOROTHY Oz? WITCH OF THE NORTH Uh huh. Oz. This is a land of magic and mystery, where beauty and terror lurk around every corner and the whole world is lush and lovely and fascinating. You can walk all day and never cease to see wonders. DOROTHY Oz. I can't believe it. I finally walked into a fairy tale. Wait, did you say “all day”? BOQ Sure! DOROTHY Oh, I can't be here all day. MUNCHKINS (disappointed) Aw... DOROTHY If I'm out all day, Aunt Em is gonna kill me! Who's going to set the table? And feed the chickens, and sweep the porch and... I'm going to be in so much trouble. How do I get back to Kansas? WITCH OF THE NORTH Ooh. Yikes. From here? I do not know. DOROTHY What do you mean you don't know? WITCH OF THE NORTH Oz is surrounded by a deadly desert on all sides. It's not an easy place to travel through. DOROTHY I got here, I must be able to get back. WITCH OF THE NORTH It took a cyclone to carry you over here, you need to find something just as powerful to carry you back.