On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, my family and I went to the Children’s Theatre Company’s production of The Wizard of Oz in Minneapolis. The experience was deeply moving because Traci Allen Shannon, a young black actress, plays Dorothy. Her performance was amazing, and she received a standing ovation from the crowd, which was primarily white families, including my own.

By casting a black actress as Dorothy, a role made famous by Judy Garland in the 1939 classic film, the Children’s Theatre Company playfully subverts institutional racism by intertwining the modern fairytale with the American struggle for justice and equality. The following are my reflections and interpretations, which are far from authoritative, but nonetheless amusing to share.

Across town in north Minneapolis, another drama was unfolding. Except this one was not on the stage but on the streets. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, four masked gunman opened fire on a peaceful gathering of activists who were protesting the killing of a young black man named Jamar Clark by local police. In the midst of such violence, seeing this version of The Wizard of Oz gave me a new language to think critically, live compassionately and step out in courage. Casting Dorothy as a young black girl inspired me to see the play through the lens of the black experience. The Wizard of Oz has a unique relationship with the black community. The 1974 production of ‘The Wiz’ reinterpreted the story for modern audiences. Last week’s televised production of ‘The Wiz Live’ highlights this cultural heritage.

I will be referencing ideas pioneered by C. G. Jung, a modern psychologist, as I reflect on the journey that Dorothy undertakes in Oz. Jung pioneered the theory that we each have a subconscious inner world by which we relate to the world around us. By consciously engaging our inner world, our personalities begin a symbolic journey that strives for wholeness. The structure of the play highlights Dorothy’s outer life in Kansas and her inner world in Oz. Elements of her life in Kansas are symbolically embodied by characters in Oz. In this production of The Wizard of Oz, we can’t help but question our assumptions about race and joyfully join with Dorothy and her friends as they struggle for wholeness. For more information about C. G. Jung, click here.

The opening context of the story is pretty straight forward. Dorothy and Toto are in trouble with Miss Almira Gultch (Kansas equivalent to Wicked Witch of the West) after being bit by Toto. Alma has labeled Toto a ‘menace to society’ and is planning to use the law to euthanize Toto, with the added threat that the farm be taken away from Uncle Henry and Aunt Em if they object. Isn’t this a classic American miscarriage of justice: using law and order to label, segregate, threaten and steal property with the use of violent force, all because a dog bit someone. It’s telling that Baum used Toto, a dog, to illustrate this dynamic of overbearing power that is oppressive in nature. By using a dog, Baum raises a mirror to the way our society dehumanizes people and categorizes some to be less than human, eroding equality and justifying violence.

The first viscerally uncomfortable moment for me came when Dorothy was surrounded by three white men. The scene is one of power politics, and Dorothy is neither white, nor male, but these men are farm hands in the poor regionalist landscape of the Great Depression. They don’t embody male privilege or white supremacy. They don’t have any power over Dorothy, or anyone else for that matter. They work for the farmer and are looking out for Dorothy as the Farmer’s daughter. It is no wonder that Baum inverts these characters and introduces them as Dorothy’s companions as the Scarecrow, Tin Man and the Lion.

The real oppressor of the scene is Miss Almira Gultch, and each of the men are telling Dorothy how to stand up to her accuser. Even if their message is empowering, their body language is clearly marked by a white swagger that overpowers Dorothy. They encourage her to stand up to the personal attacks, but when they are confronted by Miss Almira Gultch they sulk and betray Dorothy. This illustrates a common attitude amongst people who identify with the struggle for justice, but who abandon the cause as soon as there is a personal cost or sacrifice associated with standing in solidarity with the downtrodden. The reason for the reluctance to challenge authority of unjust laws is the fear of reprisal, lack of knowledge and lack of compassion. It is no wonder that these are the exact states of mind that we find in the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion.

The fact that the the great and powerful ‘Wizard of Oz’ doesn’t actually have the power to give Scarecrow a brain, Tin Man a heart and Lion courage, exposes the Wizard for the man that he is, a mere charlatan. I recognized in the Wizard, the same projection of power that we give to our president. A lot of mythic power is given to the leader of the free world. The truth is that real change comes from the bottom up, and not the other way around. Transformation is experienced in the struggle against oppression, which indirectly endows us with the dignity of a liberated people, living in the land of the free and the brave.

Dorothy and her friends are sent on a mission to rid Oz of the oppressive Wicked Witch of the West. This is a morality play between good and evil. In the land of Oz, there are surreal solutions to problems. Dorothy uses water, a cleansing agent, to melt the Wicked Witch. By using water, Baum emphasizes a cleansing approach to the problem of evil. We are to fight oppression by cleansing our lives. This is an act of introspection that has more to do with taking a hard long look in the mirror. Dorothy’s heart and mind are transformed by how she contends with the oppression in the land of Oz. She is not alone in this battle. She has friends, who are also on a quest. They find what they are looking for within the arena. They find out what they are made of, and as it turns out, they aren’t just made out of straw, tin and fear.

Two groups are liberated within the play. The first are the munchkins, and the second are the flying monkeys. These groups are the masses of Oz. Both groups are under the grip of oppression that keeps them from reaching their full potential, and unleashing who they are meant to be. The munchkins were oppressed by the Wicked Witch of the East, who is defeated simply by Dorothy’s arrival in Oz. By simply showing up, and being conscious of our inner world, a great oppressor is vanquished. The munchkins represent childlike wonder and innocence, which unleashes the power of the imagination. When Dorothy puts on the shoes of the Wicked Witch of the East, she assumes the role of liberator, a new power that challenges oppression by simply being present.

The other group that is often neglected as being liberated are the flying monkeys. Under the Wicked Witch’s spell, they are submissive to her powers. After the Wicked Witch melts away, the flying monkeys are stunned, but quickly realize their chains have been broken too. They let out a triumphant cheer because their allegiance and identity are no longer tied to the Wicked Witch of the West. They have been set free by Dorothy. Dorothy has no use for the flying monkeys so she quickly disbands the army. In their new freedom, the flying monkeys have a decision to make. Their joy gives them the strength to be free. Their psychological state is similar to people who have been at war for so long that they don’t even realize there is another way to live without violence, without wielding weapons and without using force to get one’s way. If you are interested in reading more about the brain science behind gun ownership, there is a good article that explores the topic in the The Guardian.

Violence is justified wherever there is a lack of imagination. The literal and figurative meanings of The Wizard of Oz creates an expansive landscape for the imagination to rethink and renew its vision of what it means to be human. Dorothy returns to Kansas with renewed wonder and awe as she encounters each person. Dorothy has undergone a transformation in her personality. She was anxious and scared, and now she is confident and animated by love. This is the power of the liberated imagination: outer realities of injustice are internalized and transformed inside a person for the sole purpose of returning to the world with creativity, power and a new authority rooted in nonviolence. By confronting our inner demons, we break the chain of demonizing others in the outside world. We can begin to encounter each person with a unveiled wonder, and this challenges our preconceived ideas, stereotypes and biases.

There are myriad ways the inner world will exact a change in our lives. For some, this will mean beginning an inner journey to forgive police officers that have become symbols of oppression. For others, this will mean to acknowledge white privilege and begin the journey to tear down institutional racism. For some it will mean to stop shouting into Facebook, and begin a real friendship rooted in humbly listening to our black brothers and sisters. It will mean joining the Black Lives Matter movement because we are white, and we identify with the truth communicated by Martin Luther King Jr. when he said that “an injustice somewhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

I want to end by thanking the Children’s Theatre company for their leadership and creativity and especially the joy and openness by which Traci Allen Shannon played Dorothy. Her performance was amazing. In a recent interview with the Children’s Theatre, Traci Allen Shannon says, “We like to say that art imitates life. Well, life is colorful and diverse, and I love when art takes on those same characteristics. I’m thrilled to be playing Dorothy, and I’m thrilled to do it for our very special audience of young people who haven’t yet learned to make all of the color distinctions that we make in our society. For the children who see this show, the people on the stage will look like the people they see in life every day, representing different shapes, sizes, colors, and cultures.” And I would only add that for the adults that see this show, the people on stage will look like the people in our dreams that uphold our highest ideals and who transform us from the inside out.

Rob Larson wrote this article for The Stake. Rob lives with his wife and two children in Evanston, IL. They visit the Twin Cities for the Holidays and have made it a point to always see a show at Children’s Theatre.

Follow The Stake on Twitter and Facebook