[chica8487]

My High school is doing the Wizard of Oz for its yearly play, and I was hoping for some suggestions from people who have some experience from this play. I'm not the director, but I am going to be helping her with a lot of this stuff and we need suggestions on sets, costume ideas, things like that. We have a small stage and limited resources, so we're going to need to get creative. We are doing the RSC version. Anyone with any experience with this play, ideas would be greatly appreciated.

[Clough]

Do you have a fly gallery above the stage? Also, how far does your stage extend out from the front curtain? And, is the front of the stage curved or flat?

[chica8487]

Do you have a fly gallery above the stage? Also, how far does your stage extend out from the front curtain? And, is the front of the stage curved or flat?

Unfortunately, no fly gallery or anything like that, we are on a very low budget, as the drama club is sadly neglected in my school. The stage is rather small, and it is flat. Not too far, about 5 feet or so I'd say. Maybe less. We are planning on doing some stuff in front of the curtain to save on sets and time with set changes.

[Clough]

Are you going to have a full pit orchestra for the music? I have played for this show where I played the organ, another person played piano and I think we also had a person playing a drum set. If you don't use a full pit orchestra, that could save you some on space and you also might even be able to utilize floor space in front of the stage for the acting.

Also, the music might be canned/recorded. A lot of professional theaters used canned music nowadays. But, that is mainly to save money for hiring musicians and also to keep the cost of insurance for the house (theater) at a more affordable rate.

In your case, using less or no musicians could possibly gain you some space.

[chica8487]

We don't have a space for a pit orchestra in front of our stage. Like I said, poor/cheap school.

[Clough]

So, what will you be using for the music accompaniment?