By Sarah Roy
Staff Writer
It’s not an easy task transforming your average gymnasium into a fictitious dreamland rife with flying monkeys, thrilling Munchkins, weepy lions, and all the scenery that those characters imply. But none of this daunting imagery intimidated those on the Student Events Board responsible for the decorating for this year’s Oz-themed Birthday Ball, namely, junior Kristen Hammond, senior Alex Shull, and Director of Student of Activities, Heather Morris. Since after-homecoming, Hammond and Shull have worked on gathering concepts to transport Washington College to Kansas.
Our first breach into the belly of Oz was greeted by a patch of whimsically twisted apple trees. The lighting was moody yet playful, with a bouncing color-scape of green, yellow, and purple twisting on the dance floor, intended to echo a journey with its draped ceiling traveling towards the airbrushed stage backdrop.
The backdrop enveloped the classic Oz icons: the yellow brick road, the melodic rainbow, the scarecrow’s corn field and the glittering green city itself were all accounted for in one swift stroke. Bubbles drifted over from the left of the stage where an image of Glinda provided not only a steady stream of soapy delights but a prime photo-snapping spot. To the right, the view was not so cheery, as an articulately-rendered wooden house sat at a lopsided angle on an unfortunate pair of striped legs.
WC’s own little bubble of Oz began as a sketch drawn by sophomore Austin Lewis, encompassing Hammond and Shull’s favorite ideas which they selected from multiple viewings of “The Wizard of Oz,” while also incorporating themes from the novel and Broadway play “Wicked.” In selecting key elements, the designers sought out what they thought would “make a big impact,” and played off of the good-evil contrast underlying the storyline.
“We wanted it to have a mixture of feeling whimsical but still dark,” Hammond said. “But to be honest, a large portion of the inspiration was just a feeling. We would be brainstorming ideas and something would come up and we would all stop and say ‘yes, that’s perfect.’”
The result was a dynamic coordination between light and dark forces represented in their iconic forms, the Good Witch of the North blowing bubbles like feigned kisses towards the corpse of Munchkin Country’s tyrannical terrorizer, feet peeking out beneath the amusing tomb of Dorothy’s house. In a similar fashion, the bar under the guise of the Wicked Witch’s castle was in direct opposition of Oz as it faced the city pictured idyllically at the front from the back of the room.
Design company, Pro Vision, lifted their drawing from the page and, with the assistance of other companies Eastern Shore Tents and Events, Drape Kings, and Chartwells, infused mind with matter. The props were constructed in pieces in their warehouse and then assembled in the gym; Hammond built the poppy boxes herself and the centerpieces were composed by students.
Fortunately, there weren’t any major rough patches during the process of design. Due to the wealth of visuals to draw from, the only problem stemmed from taking size and money into consideration and narrowing down what was exciting and possible to what was exciting and doable. There were compromises made, yet according to Hammond, this didn’t result in any rifts: “We were all working towards the common goal of making this the best Birthday Ball yet, and that’s what kept us going strong.”
This trio of creative thinkers introduced the element of the fantastical to the straightforward Johnson Fitness Center, reinventing the space to placate the imaginations of students who want to step into an entirely new environment when crossing into the borders of the Ball. Decorators are responsible for what is arguably the most important aspect of this event, and like the authors to our own miniature one-night adventures they “set the scene” for our experiences, temporarily weaving together the illusion of a place that does not exist except for in these moments, a blurry-half dream filled with life-sized props.
We know these objects are echoes from our childhood movie screens, but the concept of immersion remains sacred all the same: escapism beneath a palette of strange lights, cornered by abstract images presented as normality, lends to the surreal sense of placement in not-place.
Hammond, who recognizes the gravity in selecting aesthetic frames for stories due to her theatre work in set design, hopes that attendees sensed the cohesive magic of her vision: “If it felt the least bit authentic, I am extremely happy. I hope everyone loved the large-scale design as well as all the little details, that they enjoyed the food and the music and made some great memories while they were there!”