Every year, Smoky Hill has a musical. This year, it will be the Wizard of Oz. Smoky drama teacher, Tim Brown, is in charge of tech and the cast. “Since this year was the 40th anniversary of Smoky Hill, we decided it would be good to bring back a classic,” Brown said.

To find students to perform in the musical, Brown put up posters around the school and gave information during the morning announcements. In order to choose right students for parts, Brown and others had to make hard decisions. “There are several things we look for when picking cast members,” Brown said. “We want to tell a story when do the musical, so we pick students who are wanting to go into acting.”

The play is so large that it needs two stage managers. One of them is junior Thomas Nugent. “I am assistant stage manager, my job is too lend a hand to our seven different crews if they need help,” Nugent said.

The seven “crews” as they are known, range from construction to make-up. Each one plays an important role to keep the play going.

To put on a play as big as the Wizard of Oz, it takes lots of time, effort, and money. In fact, 125 different students are working on this musical. “It cost about 4,000 dollars to buy the rights to the play,” Brown said. “Communication is also something we need to put on a play this size.”