The acting class decided to perform a mini-revue of *Wicked* songs, so Paula had the foresight to give her writing students a complementary prompt during the Teen College's first week. She asked students to write a prequel short story for one of the other characters in *The Wizard of Oz*--much like Jonathan Maguire did with the Wicked Witch of the West in *Wicked*. Two students co-wrote the story of the Scarecrow, and we staged it during the second week.
Given my knowledge of our students' comfort levels, I wanted to provide them with a way they could feel both safe and successful in staging the work. In devising with my AGS students this summer, I challenged them to consider alternative light sources, and two groups took accepted that challenge by using silhouette incredibly effectively. I thought silhouette would provide a comfortable way for our students to perform their work. They would be behind a sheet, after all. So we recorded students reading the story. Then two students (Scarecrow and Witch) volunteered to perform the tableaux which provided the visuals for the story. The students not involved in making tableaux on stage created live sound effects. Finally, we assigned another student to lower a green gel over the light for the Witch's entrance. It was a very cool, very comfortable performance for our writers!