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There’s no place like Oz
Published November 19, 2009
Holly Scott is no stranger to theater, but she expects a few butterflies when she takes the stage tonight as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.”
The Snead State Community College Department of Theatre presents the first of four performances at 7 tonight at the Bevill Center on the Snead State campus in Boaz.
Scott, 16, is a junior at Boaz High School and is taking a theater class at Snead State.
“I’ve been involved with the Whole Backstage Theatre,” Scott said. “The last five years, I’ve done about 13 or 14 shows. My family is involved there too.
“I’ve always been interested in arts and music. I like to sing, and this role has just been my dream role. When I was 6 years old taking voice lessons, I always sang ‘Over the Rainbow.’
“This is my first lead role, and it’s been a lot more work. We’ve been practicing five or six days a week since the end of August, so I feel very comfortable with it. I’ll probably be nervous Thursday night, but I know my costars are really talented. They support me, and I don’t have to worry about much at all.”
Scott, the daughter of Steve and LaShanne Scott, shouldn’t worry. Her confident performance during a dress rehearsal Tuesday night bodes well for her upcoming performances.
“I do love ‘Over the Rainbow,’” she said. “Judy Garland has always been my role model. It’s just an honor to be able to play the role.”
Former Dorothy returns
Mary Page Wilson, who played Dorothy in Snead State’s 2000 production of “The Wizard of Oz” is planning to travel from Atlanta to watch the musical Friday night.
The Albertville High School graduate said she is excited.
“I have to come back and see it,” Wilson said. “I’m so excited the program at Snead is starting back. It was such an incredible program, and I think it was great for the community. I love the concept of community theater and everybody coming together for an artistic project.”
Wilson’s parents, David and Mary Lynne Wilson, live in Boaz. David is a retired Snead State professor. Mary Kate Wilson, 23, is a graduate student at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.
Wilson said she was an eighth-grader when she played Dorothy and remembered working with Johnny Brewer, who directed the 2000 musical and is directing the current one.
“I really enjoyed working with Johnny,” Wilson said. “He was an incredible director and mentor. I remember having a really close relationship to the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion. I was in eighth grade and that was an awkward time anyway. I learned a lot about myself through my friendships with those people.”
Wilson said she was particularly nervous singing “Over the Rainbow.”
“Just being on stage completely alone, I would get really nervous,” she said.
Wilson said she misses theater.
“I think I performed in theater through my sophomore or junior year of high school and then really was active in show choir,” she said. “I’ve had my nose in a book, but I do love musical theater and I go whenever I can.”
Brewer said Scott and Wilson brought different strengths to the role of Dorothy.
“I can’t compare them,” he said. “It’s like comparing apples and pears.”
Scott: ‘I love it so much’
Scott said she feels pressure about “learning the lines and being kind of stressed and worried about schoolwork. But I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I love it so much.”
Scott said Brewer and his crew have made the experience worthwhile.
“Johnny Brewer is outstanding and he’s a great leader, and he picked some of the best people to work backstage,” she said. “They put so much time into it.”
Scott’s favorite moment in the musical is near the end when Dorothy is leaving Oz and clicks her heels together and repeats, “There’s no place like home.”
“My mother watched it the other night and she was crying,” Scott said.
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