The Bright Star Touring Theatre, a national company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, took 482 elementary and middle school students on two remarkable journeys April 11th at the Lancaster Elementary School. The troupe first performed their adaptation of The Wizard of Oz for grades PreK-3 and later, for grades 4-7, “Jack’s Adventure in Space.”
Donna McGrath
Dorothy watches as the Witch melts onto the stage at Lancaster Elementary School in the Bright Star Touring Theatre’s adaptation of the Wizard of Oz on April 11th.
In “Somewhere over the Backrow,” Dorothy (portrayed by Emma Suzik) meets the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion (played by Wesley Harman). In their interpretation, the Tin Man began life as a munchkin cursed by the wicked Witch. When the Witch makes Dorothy clean the floors, Dorothy accidentally spills the water bucket, much to the Witch’s surprise and the audience’s delight.
“I liked when the Witch got melted like a popsicle,” one young student declared after the curtain call and lively question-and-answer session.
After Dorothy defeats the Witch and the Wizard announces his plans to leave, he puts Scarecrow in charge of Oz, Lion in charge of the animals and Tin Man in charge of the Winkees.
The Bright Star actors tied their performance to classroom instruction through a curriculum guide that provided discussion questions, activities and background information, including the fact that the 1900 literary classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum was originally published as 14 separate novels.
“It is so heartening to see the students animated and truly engaged, interacting with the actors and drawing thank you pictures for them later on,” said Jamie Tucker, board president of the Rappahannock Foundation for the Arts (RFA), which hosts the productions through its Arts for Youth Program.
Jack’s Adventure in Space
When the audience of 4th-7th graders settled in for their performance of “Jack’s Adventure in Space,” their numbers included 22 5th and 6th graders from Chesapeake Academy and one “plant”—a professional Bright Star actor named Ryan Anthony. When Anthony raised his hand with a question, he was invited to the stage by fellow actor Colleen O’Gara, who portrayed a classroom teacher as well as Earth and its neighboring planets.
Donna McGrath
In “Jack’s Adventure in Space,” performed by the Bright Star Touring Theatre on April 11th at Lancaster Elementary School, an actor portraying a student pulled from the audience (left) encounters the dazzling rings of the planet Saturn.
“The timing of this show was perfect,” said 5th grade teacher Kellee Long, who noted that the 5th graders are currently learning about the solar system. Bright Star’s curriculum guide for the show included space terminology, puzzles, and instructions for making galaxy slime.
The Teacher tells Jack about the difference between rotation and revolutions and takes the entire class to space, where they learn about the origins of the names of the planets Mercury to Neptune, and even the controversial Pluto. Students also learned about the physical features of the planets and discovered fun facts about each planet’s special path around the sun.
Jack’s questions about space were matched in intensity and range by the questions students asked the actors after their performance. “Where are you from? Why did you become an actor? How many shows do they perform? The students learned that the two actors had performed their show more than a dozen times already this year. (Bright Star Touring Theatre, while based in Raleigh, North Carolina, performs throughout the country, including regularly at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., and has visited Russia and Germany with their productions.) A final question: “How can you change costumes so fast?”
For 2024-25, the RFA received grants to support the Arts for Youth Program from The River Counties Community Foundation, The Tidewater Foundation and the Mason & Lulu Cole Trust Fund. In addition, the RFA receives grant monies from the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts to support school performances.
