Berea Elementary School presented their drama production, The Wizard of Oz, in two performances on Saturday, February 2, with a performance for the school on Friday, February 1. The students began practicing for the production in October 2018, under the guidance of director William Carter, a fifth grade teacher at Berea. Tara Goldizen-Rick was the assistant director. Astrid Larson was in charge of music and Keely Wright and Zach Kiernan were in charge of choreography.

The stage came alive with colorful sets designed by VC graduate, Aubrey O’Brien and beautiful costumes designed by ChrisAnn Harper, assisted by Nicole O’Connor. The chorus of poppy dancers, lollipop kids, flying monkeys, and munchkins were a mix of talented third, fourth and fifth graders as were the, all important, stage crew. High School students from the VCHS Volunteer Club assisted students backstage.

Londynn Lawhorn was Dorothy and sang “Over the Rainbow” beautifully. Her dog, Toto was played by Damien Wood. The parts of Auntie Em and Uncle Henry were played by Lynnette Veigh and Tony Napoleon respectively. The Lion was played by Ciara Mead, while Sophia Quinlan played the tap dancing Scarecrow and Riley Verlin brought the Tinman to life. Meghan Winter was a very convincing Wicked Witch and Abigail Rossi was the Wizard of Oz with Lindsey Gayton playing Glenda, the Good Witch.

Despite the challenges of cancellations and delays in the days before the performance, the cast and crew were able to put on a spectacular production for the audiences to enjoy. If the cast and crew had dared to dream of a spectacular production in the months preceding, they found that those dreams really do come true this weekend!