Kyle Kellams: I’m Kyle Kellams. With me on the phone from her office in Bella Vista is Becca Martin Brown. Becca, we’re going to go the other way again today.
Becca Martin Brown: Yes. And I’m really sorry that I’m not there with you, because I happen to know that you have friends of mine in the studio.
Kellams: I do. We’ve got a lot of friends, and we’re going to—we’re going to talk to each of them. But first, I want them to each introduce yourself. Who are you? Please, to my left.
Judy Dunleavy Prettyman: Judy Dunleavy Prettyman.
Kellams: Very good.
Aiden Miller: Aiden Miller.
Kellams: And you’re the director?
Miller: No, no, our director couldn’t be with us today, but I am in charge of sound effects and general bossing around.
Kellams: Very good.
Katy Smith: I’m Katy Smith. I play Dorothy.
Kellams: Yes. Okay. Becca, what we’re talking about today is an audio production of The Wizard of Oz.
Brown: I have to give you the journalist clearance. I am in this show, but the people with you are very good. I'm just in this show. This show is a musical for the first time for Northwest Arkansas Audio Theater. And so a lot of that lands on Katy. Katy, were you a singer in school? How did you find yourself here?
Smith: I started in choir when I was in junior high, and then I continued it all through my high school years. We would go to CPA choir competitions and things like that. I took a gap year for a little bit before I started my now school, but I picked up some voice lessons and then one day I happened upon a Facebook — I believe — something for Northwest Arkansas Audio Theater for Bishop’s Wife last December. So I auditioned for it then, and I’ve just been continuing with this group since. Now I don’t do voice lessons, but I just sing for fun now.
Brown: And so is there a huge, huge responsibility in playing Dorothy?
Smith:I don’t know if you have. When I was a kid, everybody watched The Wizard of Oz every Thanksgiving. Is there a huge responsibility being Dorothy?
Smith: There really is, because in a way, the tone of this show and how everything goes kind of rides off of how I have my energy and how I keep going through the show. If I have low energy, it makes the show have low energy. If I have high energy, it gives the show high energy.
Kellams: Tell me about playing Glinda, because oftentimes, out of all the characters Glinda was often the least fleshed out character in the 1939 classic. What can you tell us about Glinda?
Prettyman: Well. Glinda is pretty one-dimensional. I know that sounds horrible, doesn’t it? Glinda has no backstory. Glinda is just an angel, you know? She is a—a person of light, transcendent. Things I’m not.
Kellams: Well, now let’s go to someone who might be things you’re not. A chance for you to introduce yourself and tell us. I’m going to make an assumption based on what you’re wearing.
Jennifer Martin: Ah. Yes. It’s me. Uh, I'm, regular voice, Jennifer Martin, and, uh, it’s great. This is a fantastic show.
Kellams: And you are in the show.
Brown: And she’s terrifying.
Martin: Absolutely terrible. I’ll get you, my pretty. Yes.
Kellams: Okay, so if we have Glinda, who is an angel, we have Dorothy, who is trying to find her way in life. What can you tell us about your character?
Martin: She’s angry. She’s downright angry. Um, you know, her sister’s been murdered off. And by this sweet little innocent thing. And Glinda—she’s got Glinda’s help. Uh, and everybody’s against the witch. So, poor thing. She’s got to just fend for herself and figure it out. So she comes out fighting. You know, she’s just not going to have it.
Kellams: Sound effects?
Miller: Sound effects.
Kellams: What sound effects you got this time around?
Miller: Not quite as many as the last time around, but we have to do things like make sure that somebody can hear it when we oil the Tin Man so that he can move again. And the major thing I’m doing is barking for Toto.
Kellams: Ah.
Miller: We do as much live as we can. Recorded sound effects are sometimes absolutely necessary because you can’t do something like closing a car door live and have it sound good, without somebody trundling in an old Volkswagen or something. But this—and being that this is fantasy, we can do things like saying “Bush” and to be a splash of water.
Kellams: Right. You have a scene that you’re ready to do for us? Is that right? I doubt we need that much context. Just about everybody knows this story. But where are we jumping in here?
Martin: We do. We’re jumping in where, um, the witch comes on the scene. So it’s a very opening scene for the witch coming in, and Glinda and Dorothy are already there in Munchkinland, ready to go. And I bust in with a little bit of anger.
Kellams: Okay. Whenever. Whenever y’all are ready.
Martin: Are you ready? Ah. Who killed my sister? Was it you?
Smith: No, no, it was an accident. I didn’t mean to kill anyone.
Martin: Well, my pretty, I can cause accidents too.
Prettyman: Aren’t you forgetting the ruby slippers?
Martin: The slippers. There they are. Still on her feet. Well, I’ll just take them.
Prettyman: Just a moment, if you please. Slippers. Slippers. Red. The feet of she who’s dead, I summon my authority and bid you serve Miss Dorothy.
Martin: The slippers. What are you doing to them?
Smith: Why now? They’re on my feet.
Martin: You give them back to me.
Prettyman: Never! There they are. And there they’ll stay.
Martin: You nasty little girl. They’re of no use to you.
Prettyman: Don’t be frightened of her, Dorothy.
Martin: You stay out of this, Glinda, or I’ll fix you as well.
Prettyman: Rubbish! You have no power here. Be gone before someone drops a house on you too.
Martin: Very well. I’ll bide my time. As for you, my fine lady, I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog too. Oh!
Kellams: Thank you. Also, Glinda’s a little passive aggressive. Right? I’m gonna drop a house on you, too.
Prettyman: Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. She’s—you’re not aware of her hostility.
Kellams: She’s not. Exactly. Exactly. There’s some depth there.
Prettyman: Yes. She needs therapy.
Kellams: And we should explain what listeners just heard is kind of how it’s going to be because this is audio theater. Although I should mention our actors are in costume, which you will be.
Miller: Yes.
Kellams: So when we’re watching it, we’ll see you in costume. But this is audio theater.
Miller: Yes. So a cool thing is that, while we are in an audio theater, you’ll see the microphones set up, so it’s kind of an inside look at what a studio recording would look like as our audience members. But then we know they’re there. And if they want to open their eyes, because we do have some folks that close their eyes and listen to the show. But it’s fun to peek your eyes open and see the characters and see Eden doing the sound effects on, you know, what made that door close? What made that slap? You know, Dorothy throws a punch, and you get to see how that sound is made. So it really adds to the visual, the audio altogether.
Kellams: What are the dates and locations?
Miller: We start this weekend on Saturday, and that’s up at the Bella Vista Lutheran Church. And then we have—let’s see—that’s at 2p.m.. It’s a matinee. Then at 7 p.m. on the ninth at Immanuel Baptist Church, 7 p.m. on Dec. 11, First Presbyterian Church in Rogers, 7 p.m. So we’re going to do Dec. 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th.
So next weekend, don’t miss it, right? We’re going to be at the Fayetteville Public Library, at the medium on the fourteenth. So come check us out. Uh, we’re at lots of convenient locations.
Kellams: What do we do to get tickets?
Miller: Show up at the door.
Kellams: There it is. Where can—in case people don’t remember all those, where can people go online to see that?
Miller: We have a Facebook page. So check out our Facebook page, Northwest Arkansas Audio Theater, and you’ll find all the information, all the events posted there. And you can just add them to your calendar and you’re good to go.
Kellams: Thank you, Becca.
Kellams: Thank you, Kyle. See you later, guys.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
