Stage Players rework ‘The Wizard of Oz’

By Sara Pecora

“Dorothy in Oz”

Presented by Rage of the Stage Players

April 15-16, 21-23, 28-30… “Dorothy in Oz”

Presented by Rage of the Stage Players

April 15-16, 21-23, 28-30 at 8 p.m.

$15 cash at door

$10 ticket with a valid school ID on April 21

Henry Heymann Theatre in the Stephen Foster Memorial

412-851-0922

The much beloved classic “The Wizard of Oz” has undergone an extreme makeover in Rage of the Stage Players’ newest performance, which transforms it into a mature, darkly humorous tale. Set in a mental institution, Dorothy (known here as Dottie) and her companions are patients, trying to find a way out. Each character is more damaged than his original incarnation: Dottie is bipolar, “Skarekrow” is a heroin-addicted goth rocker, The Tin Man (known as Rusty) is a biker with anger issues and an ax and the Cowardly Lion (Mr. Lyons) is a sexually frustrated deviant. As in the movie, however, each of the characters is seeking the same thing: the hospital’s administrator, “the Great Oz.” A crazed doctor known as the Wicked Witch of the West Wing and a ditzy therapist named Glinda round out the cast.