By Joel van der Veen

DAVIDSON — A cast of colourful characters took an audience down the Yellow Brick Road for a delightful journey at Davidson School last weekend.

The elementary drama club presented The Wizard of Oz to a crowd of more than 240 people in the gymnasium on Dec. 4.

The play — based on the classic books by L. Frank Baum and the 1939 film starring Judy Garland — tells the story of Dorothy Gale, a farmgirl who is whisked away to the Land of Oz after a tornado strikes her Kansas home.

Together with her faithful dog Toto and the companions she meets along the way, Dorothy must defeat the Wicked Witch of the West and find her way back home.

The play featured a cast of 37 students in grades 4 through 6, made possible through a script that allowed multiple actors to portray the same character.

For instance, five girls — Heather Gust, Shayda Boychuk, Kelsey Fahlman, Lexi White and Taylei Pedersen — alternated in the role of Dorothy.

This allowed more students to take part but also provided a more even distribution of work, according to Arlene Low, one of the directors.

“We wanted everyone to have a role,” she said, adding that it opens up the production to students who might find it difficult to memorize pages of dialogue.

The script was an adaptation by Kathryn Schultz Miller of ArtReach Children’s Theatre. Serving as directors along with Low were Crystal Johnson, Ashton Mills and Correne Pedersen.

Rather than holding auditions, Low said the directors invited the students to play various drama games, working on techniques like improvisation, poise and movement.

This allowed them to witness the students in action and then cast them in roles for which they were best suited.

In addition to the acting talent on stage, the play featured contributions from other students, teachers, parents and community members.

For the full story, please see the Dec. 14 edition of The Davidson Leader.