By Thia James

St. Mary students bring Oz to Prince Albert

May 8, 2014 | 4:51 PM

The talents of a group of St. Mary High School students are in the spotlight this week at the E.A. Rawlinson Centre for the Arts.

The students, in Grades 9 to 12, are taking part in a musical production of “The Wizard of Oz.” They have been performing to large live audiences, with a number of nightly shows on until Saturday.

During the day, they’ve been performing matinee shows, including one on Thursday morning to a number of area school groups.

“Some of our biggest audiences are the matinees,” Jason Van Otterloo, the production’s director and a drama teacher at St. Mary, said. The seats in the Rawlinson Centre are usually full during the matinee shows, he said.

“So, those are big shows. When there’s that many people watching, they’re big things.”

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The production is based on the classic L. Frank Baum story about a girl from Kansas who is swept into the fantasy land of Oz during a twister. The play, like the novel and the famous 1939 film starring Judy Garland, follows Dorothy Gale’s quest to find her way home. On the way, she meets three friends and encounters the villainous Wicked Witch of the West.

Van Otterloo said it was time for them to perform a classic.

“When I pick a musical, I look at what we’ve done recently, what we might be doing in the future, and it was time to do a nice classic musical. One that everybody knew, because there’s an appeal to that, people knowing the music coming in, to hum along with it and stuff like that.”

He pointed out this is also the 75th anniversary of the release of the film version of the Wizard of Oz.

But every year, when he’s making a decision about which musical to perform, he evaluates the talent that is at the school and sees which musicals match up with the talent that is there.

“The Wizard of Oz has a trio of guys that need to be really strong, the Tin Man, Lion and Scarecrow. And we had that available to us. And [that’s] maybe not always the case with some high school production that, you know, you have lots of guys that can do it. I knew we would have many girls that would be able to fit Dorothy’s role. So, it sort of seemed like the right musical to do at the time.”

Daniel LeBlanc, a Grade 12 student, forms part of that trio. He portrays the Tin Man, and in the opening scenes Hickory, a farmhand. He plans to continue acting, as the stage is where he shines, he said.

The Wizard of Oz has been one of his favourite shows since he was a kid, he said. “It strikes a really good balance between being a good show for the kids to come see and having some of those far deeper psychological lessons that the adults can pick up on and really keep both audiences really interested in the show.”

He described the Tin Man as a character that wears his heart on his sleeve, which is how he portrays the character. “I get to cry about everything and I get to laugh about everything. And that’s kind of just the way I am in life. It gives me an excuse to fully express my emotions.”

Michael Derworiz is the second part of the trio, playing the Scarecrow and farmhand Hunk. He said he likes that because the Scarecrow doesn’t have a brain, he’s always in the moment. “He’s just all over the place and it’s really fun.”

The Grade 11 student is looking forward to get as much drama in as he can before he graduates. To him, The Wizard of Oz has a “magical vibe” unlike any other story.

The last member of the trio is Kienan Holash, who plays the Cowardly Lion and Zeke the farmhand. He describes his character as a loyal friend and the goof of the bunch, which he finds fun to play.

But wearing the furry costume can get hot on stage. “But it looks good. And at the end of the day, that’s what counts.”

Holash is hoping acting remains part of his life, even though he doesn’t plan to pursue it as a profession.

For the students, Van Otterloo said there are a number of things they take away from being a part of a production like this. He said they work with deadlines, dealing with change on the fly, as well as leadership.

“Because, I step back when the show starts. And right now, the show’s going to happen and I’m not going to call a cue and I’m not going to lift a finger, because all of the students take ownership for it. There’s a student that really is in charge she looks after everything, and it sort of trickles down like a true theatre hierarchy where everybody knows their place, does their job, and works together as a massive machine, like a giant team.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames