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How to Remake Oz’s Tornado for the Stage

When our clients ask us how we’re going to do something, I often tell them it’s all theater, that there is no one right way to do it, and that the end result is good if their audience appreciates it. And for some jobs, like showing a tornado through the windows of Dorothy’s house on a live stage, it really is all theater.

Lou Trapani, director of the Center for Performing Arts in Rhinebeck, says that if people make the effort to buy their tickets and be in their seats when the curtain goes up, you have to do everything you can to give them a good show.

I’d add that when you have your chance in front of your audience, it’s not the time to look like everyone else, to blend in and not be heard. It’s your time to shine, to say what you have to say clearly, and earn your applause. (You can apply this metaphor to the real world too, hint, hint.)  

And what better to blow an audience out of their seats than a tornado?  

“I’ve never seen anyone recreate the tornado through the window scene,” said Laurie Sepe Marder, who directed the play for the Center. “Whaddya think?”  

I think there’s no way I’d say no to a challenge like that. Laurie knows how to please an audience, that sometimes just that little extra bit of work takes something from really good to magical. She enlists people for that work throughout her shows, from set building to painting to torturing her actors by overloading them with choreography that’s a step better than they are. The result tends to be standing ovations and audiences who leave the theater smiling and saying they’ll be coming back.  

So how do you build a tornado that the audience can watch along with Dorothy? My mentor Zachary, who was a choreographer for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet and a childhood vaudeville star, believed that theatrical magic was sacred: you did not reveal the man behind the curtain. Without revealing too much, the slideshow at the bottom of the page has a few highlights from the process. And here is a video clip from a dress rehearsal (and please note that this was the first test run and the actors had not seen the video before).

Oz Tornado Sequence, Dress Rehearsal from Dean Temple on Vimeo.

I’d like to thank and credit all of the people who were so generous in helping me pull this off. Their names follow, along with links where you can donate to the remarkable Dutchess County arts institutions where they work. These terrific organizations make our communities stronger, better places. They support us. Please support them.  

Richard Prouse — Elmira Gulch, Wicked Witch, and brilliant artist who painted both the sets and the trompe l’oeil details on my muslin window and screen door.
Andy Weintraub — Set builder who built my window and screen door.
Dana Bol – Executive Producer, Children’s Media Project, who gave us studio space, a green screen, access to her video gear, and one of her staff to shoot the video
Owen Tomlins — Who set up the studio, the green screen, the lighting, and shot the video
Viktor Fleming — Who directed the film and had the original vision
Fred Baumgarten — Who lent us his wife's bike trainer so we could shoot Richard peddling in place

Children’s Media Project  is a non-profit arts and education organization empowers “at-risk” youth through the media arts, making a social investment for community transformation by providing access to the skills and tools necessary for creation and appreciation of media as art, as education, and as entrepreneurship. DONATE  

The CENTER for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck is a non-profit arts organization which offers performances and classes throughout the year, working in partnership with county high schools to teach young people theatrical skills and effectiveness in presentation. (As someone who learned those skills when I was younger, I can tell you I use them in my work, theatrical and not, every day.) DONATE