The Wizard of Oz, like many iconic cultural offerings, has spawned abundant adaptations that offer different interpretations of its beloved characters and thought-provoking themes. Beginning on April 3, the Department of Theatre & Drama and University Productions will present a new look at the Emerald City and its environs with Our Oz, a brand-new play devised by José Casas, associate professor and head of the playwriting minor, in collaboration with director Jake Hooker, head of drama at the Residential College, and students.
Our Oz tells the familiar tale of Dorothy being transported from her home (this time in the industrial Midwest) to a magical and sometimes perilous realm, meeting others who feel lost and alone, and, together, finding what they lack. It features characters who are simultaneously well known and new – for example, the Tin Man character is, in Our Oz, the Tin Woman, and Dorothy’s dog Toto also serves as the play’s narrator, in a nod to Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. The characters’ journey in Oz honors the perspectives of people of color and LGBTQ+ people, as Casas noted: “Whether queer or straight, Black or White, we’re celebrating all different identities.”
Devising Our Oz
Our Oz is notable not just for the story it tells, but for the way the play has been created – as a devised work, written by Casas in close collaboration with Hooker and the students involved. Devised plays are typically created from scratch by the ensemble and creative team over an extensive time period, though the process varies from one devised work to another. Hooker described the basic idea as “generative versus interpretive.” With a traditionally created play, he noted, “primarily you are trying to honor the script and the playwright’s idea of the world they created, and in devising you are one of the makers of the work, and the performers in the show are helping to devise, craft, and enact the theme of the piece.”
José Casas, playwright of Our Oz
Jake Hooker, director of Our Oz
The process for Our Oz started during the winter 2024 semester in a course called “Devising Theatre,” taught by Casas and Hooker. In addition to teaching, Casas is an established playwright, and Hooker co-directs A Host of People, an ensemble theatre company in Detroit that specializes in devised works. Starting with the premise of creating an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the students in “Devising Theatre” took a deep dive into the world of Oz, specifically exploring The Wizard of Oz, the landmark 1939 film starring Judy Garland, and The Wiz. They explored interpretations of the works and the social contexts in which they were created, and they brainstormed ideas for a new production.
By the end of the semester, the class had created an outline of a script for Our Oz. Casas then fleshed it out, writing a draft. Once the play had been cast, Casas issued an invitation to all involved to help bring it to life. “Technically my name is there as the writer,” Casas said, “but in the end the title of the play is Our Oz, and we told our cast and crew we want it to feel like it’s our Oz – not just mine, not just the directors, but all of us in this room.” Several students from the devising course remained involved in the production of Our Oz, including cast members Alexi Gardella (BFA ’27, theatre & drama) and Annika Juliusson (BFA ’27, theatre & drama); Naomi Rodriguez (BFA ’25, interarts), the associate projection designer; Lynn Faulkner (BFA ’25, interarts), the costume design assistant; and Ty Amsterdam (BTA ’26), an assistant director.
The title of the play is Our Oz, and we told our cast and crew we want it to feel like it’s our Oz – not just mine, not just the directors, but all of us in this room.
— José Casas
Issie Contreras (BFA ’27, theatre & drama), who portrays Dorothy in Our Oz, had worked on devised productions in the past, so she had an idea of what to expect. She recognized that the ability to contribute to the process also means that sometimes, your ideas fall by the wayside. “What I’ve taken away from this process,” she shared, “is the ability to go with the wave. There are ideas that you might get really connected with, and then they might get cut.” At the same time, however, the beauty of a devised work is that every participant has the opportunity to make their voice heard, and that it’s by working as a group that the play comes to fruition. “This is a collaborative process,” she noted, “and it’s a really good experience to know that you are not the only brain working in the room.”
Issie Contreras portrays Dorothy in Our Oz
Through conversations with Casas about Dorothy, Contreras seized the opportunity to influence and round out her character’s development. “In the original film,” she noted, Dorothy is an “ingenue, she’s very naive.” In Our Oz, Dorothy is queer and Latina, and she has grown up in a small Midwestern town that did not always feel like a hospitable place. “She has been through the ringer,” Contreras explained; “I don’t imagine she’d be quite as naive if she has gone through neglect and societal pressures, understanding that her existence may be seen as a sin to other people.” Working with Casas to develop a deeper understanding of how Dorothy’s life experiences would inform her journey through Oz has enriched the character as well as Contreras herself: “Just the ability to talk to a professor in such a candid and productive way – I appreciate it so much. Knowing that my voice matters means a lot to me.”
Just the ability to talk to a professor in such a candid and productive way – I appreciate it so much. Knowing that my voice matters means a lot to me.
— Issie Contreras
For Jonas Annear (BTA ’27, theatre studies), Our Oz marks his first time performing in a devised play and in a University Productions play, but he has had other acting experiences at U-M that have prepared him for the role of the lion. In fall 2024, for example, he portrayed Mary Magdalene in MUSKET’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. “Obviously I am not your typical Mary Magdalene,” Annear noted. That experience gave him a new understanding of how to “tell alternate versions of stories through the lens of queerness on stage.”
As someone who loves finding new interpretations within an established script, Annear has found working on a devised production “both freeing and scary, but to have such a voice in the room is really cool.” From the beginning, he noted, Casas established that “the point of this process is to hear student voices on stage. He came into rehearsals and he essentially said, ‘Here is the sketch. Let’s all fill it in with color.’” In Our Oz, the lion, who is queer, is searching for the courage to come out, to live fully and authentically. Annear felt strongly that he didn’t want his character to represent an entire community; rather, he wanted the lion to be a character with specificity and dimensionality, one that many in the audience could relate to.
Jonas Annear portrays the lion in Our Oz
He came into rehearsals and he essentially said, ‘Here is the sketch. Let’s all fill it in with color.’
— Jonas Annear
The Irresistible Appeal of the Land of Oz
During the planning stages for the “Devising Theatre” course, Casas and Hooker considered what the basis of the devised work should be, and, as many before them had done, they landed on The Wizard of Oz. “I just really love that story,” Casas noted, “and the goal was, let’s find a project that we all have some sort of knowledge about, and let’s try to have some fun with it and tell a story.” Hooker was drawn to the idea of creating a new iteration of what Baum considered an American fairy tale. “Why is it so pervasive?,” he wondered. “What has kept it going all these years?” Annear and Contreras expressed a similar interest in exploring timeless works in a fresh way. “I’ve always found something really validating and exciting about taking classical stories and bringing new identities to them,” Annear noted. Contreras observed, “Stories like The Wizard of Oz have stood the test of time because the human condition is constant throughout history. Circumstances change, political climates change, ideas change, but the humanness of it all doesn’t.”
For all involved, it was the nuances of the story, and the way Our Oz could explore them, that held their interest. In one example, Casas noted that the driving force for Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz is her desire to go home, but in Our Oz, the notion of home for Dorothy is far more complicated. “When it’s all said and done,” he said, “she realizes she needs to get back, but that the place where she lives isn’t her home. She’s discovered that she needs to go where she fits.” The students were also drawn to explorations of authoritarianism in the story, Hooker explained, and echoes of it in our contemporary society: “We’re trying to draw Dorothy’s home and Oz as mirror worlds of each other. So rather than Oz being this wild, fanciful land, it actually bears a striking resemblance to our world.”
Rather than Oz being this wild, fanciful land, it actually bears a striking resemblance to our world.
— Jake Hooker
When this process that began well over a year ago culminates on opening night, Casas hopes that audiences will recognize in Our Oz the things they love about The Wizard of Oz and appreciate it as “a story that we all can understand and empathize with.” He noted that “it’s a play about friendship, it’s about discovering who you are, and those are things that are universal.” Annear also shared his hope that audiences will recognize the timeless truths in the story, and that it will be thought-provoking and evocative. “My greatest hope for the play,” he said, “is that people come to see it and have a moment, even if it’s something really small, that they leave the theatre still thinking about.”
For Contreras, Dorothy’s story is relatable and inspiring, and she hopes audiences will feel the same way. Dorothy is changed by her experience in Oz, due not only to the friendships she’s made but to the role she is pushed into upon her arrival. “She is forced into this heroic role as soon as she lands in Oz,” Contreras noted. “Everybody looks at her like someone who has come to save them and have a positive effect on their world, and she has never felt that sort of importance before. Being thrust into this leadership role, and then having people actually believe in her and listen to her and trust her is the main source of her newfound self-belief: Maybe I am in control of my own life, and I do have agency and the ability to make my own choices and create my own future.”
Our Oz runs April 3-6 and April 10-13 at the Arthur Miller Theatre, located in the Walgreen Drama Center. Purchase tickets
