Island Lake students are off to "Oz"

This weekend the yellow brick road winds its way into Island Lake as Matthews Middle School students perform "The Wizard of Oz."

Each performance will feature a different lead cast, giving more students an opportunity to participate. The performances will be held tonight at 7 and Saturday at 4 p.m. in the middle school's multipurpose room, 3500 Darrell Road in Island Lake. Tickets are $5.

Co-director Brian Solway said there are about 60 students involved in the production. The chorus remains the same for the two performances, but the lead cast rotates.

"They're all really happy to perform for an audience," Solway said. "They've all been performing with their heart and soul and everyone's been doing such a good job."

Some students are having their first experience with theater and having two lead casts gives more students that opportunity.

"I've done singing before ... but this is my first big play in a middle school," said Sazannah Mitchell, a seventh-grader who plays Dorothy. "I just love the feeling of getting up in front of an audience."

This is Matthews Middle School's first musical. When a fifth- and sixth-grade building was changed to an elementary school, Matthews was built as Wauconda Unit District 118's second middle school.

The school is in its second full school year, so some students are still getting to know each other.

"There's a couple people that I didn't know before and they're my friends now," Mitchell said.

The play runs about 90 minutes and is based on the classic 1939 film about a Kansas girl whimsically transported to a land of munchkins, witches and a fantastical assortment of characters.

Solway said they are expecting about 250 people to attend the performances.

That is good news for Krystina Coyne, a seventh-grader who also plays Dorothy, because she likes to be in front of an audience.

"I'm very sure that I'm going to go into more things with acting and singing," Coyne said.