Special Guests for 2012 Oz-Stravaganza!
In 2009, he made a note worthy debut as Teiresias, the blind poet, in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Euripides’ The Bacchae, directed by Joanne Akalaitis, with a score by Philip Glass, at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre. New York audiences also will remember Mr. De Shields for his widely acclaimed collaborations with Alfred Preisser at the Classical Theatre of Harlem: as Makak in Derek Walcott’s Dream On Monkey Mountain, in the title roles of Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe, Caligula and King Lear, and Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Drama league Award nominations/Outstanding Leading Man in a Musical).
There family had parts in the TV movie “Dreamer of Oz” starring the late John Ritter and Annette O’toole. Bob was also a technical assistant and supplied most of the books used on the set. Bob has always enjoyed helping writers and researchers interested in L. Frank Baum’s Oz. He is a past Board Member of the International Wizard of Oz Club and often writes for the clubs publication, The Baum Bugle. Bob and Clare love to talk about Oz to all event goers.
André De Shields
In a career spanning more than forty years, André De Shields has distinguished himself as an unparalleled actor, director, choreographer and educator. He is the recipient of the 2009 National Black Theatre Festival Living Legend Award, and the coveted 2007 Village Voice OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance. Among his numerous accolades are eight AUDELCO Awards, including Outstanding Lead in a Musical (Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe, 2009) and Outstanding Lead in a Drama (Knock Me A Kiss, 2011). He holds two Doctor of Fine Arts degrees honoris causa from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the State University of New York-College at Buffalo.
Mr. De Shields first achieved national recognition in 1975 for creating the title role in the legendary musical, The Wiz, a soulful remake of Frank L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, which won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical. He secured his status as Broadway veteran with equally show stopping performances in the world premiere of two plays—Mark Medoff’s Prymate (Drama Desk nomination), Michael Jacobs’ Impressionism, with Jeremy Irons and Joan Allen—and three legendary musicals: The Full Monty, for which he received Tony, Drama Desk and Astaire Award nominations, in addition to both the Outer Critics Circle and Drama League Awards, Play On! (Tony nomination), and Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Drama Desk nomination). In 2009, he made a note worthy debut as Teiresias, the blind poet, in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Euripides’ The Bacchae, directed by Joanne Akalaitis, with a score by Philip Glass, at Central Park’s Delacorte Theatre. New York audiences also will remember Mr. De Shields for his widely acclaimed collaborations with Alfred Preisser at the Classical Theatre of Harlem: as Makak in Derek Walcott’s Dream On Monkey Mountain, in the title roles of Archbishop Supreme Tartuffe, Caligula and King Lear, and Langston Hughes’ Black Nativity (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk and Drama league Award nominations/Outstanding Leading Man in a Musical).
Regional audiences have witnessed his precedent setting performances as Robert in David Mamet’s A Life in the Theatre, Henry Drummond in Inherit The Wind, Willy Loman in Death Of A Salesman, Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came To Dinner, Scott Joplin in Tin Pan Alley Rag, Vladimir in Waiting for Godot, Jacob Strand in Ibsen’s Ghosts (starring Jane Alexander), and the Stage Manager in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. His film and television credits include Extreme Measures with Hugh Grant, Prison with Viggo Mortensen, Rescue Me, Life On Mars, Lipstick Jungle, Sex And The City, Law & Order, Cosby, the NBC movie-of-the-week, I Dream Of Jeannie-15 Years Later, as Haji, King of the Genies, a PBS Great Performance: as Tweedledum in Alice In Wonderland and Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Emmy Award).
A triple Capricorn, Mr. De Shields is the ninth of eleven children born and reared in Baltimore, Maryland. www.andredeshields.com. Namaste!
A triple Capricorn, Mr. De Shields is the ninth of eleven children born and reared in Baltimore, Maryland. www.andredeshields.com. Namaste!
Bob & Clare Baum
BOB and CLARE BAUM have been participating in Oz Fests and conventions for some 22 years. They were Elementary School teachers who team taught for 33 years. Upon retiring tBob and Clare have not only done extensive research on Bob’s great grandfather but also developed a play “Frank and Maud” which they perform both at Oz events and many public schools. Their performance takes the viewers “behind the curtain” to shows how Frank used his imagination to come up with the ideas and characters for this magical Land and even how the very name, Oz itself, came to be. Throughout the show they share many family stories and explore the influence that Maud’s Suffragette mother, Matilda Joslyn Gage had on Oz. There family had parts in the TV movie “Dreamer of Oz” starring the late John Ritter and Annette O’toole. Bob was also a technical assistant and supplied most of the books used on the set. Bob has always enjoyed helping writers and researchers interested in L. Frank Baum’s Oz. He is a past Board Member of the International Wizard of Oz Club and often writes for the clubs publication, The Baum Bugle. Bob and Clare love to talk about Oz to all event goers.
 A 1940’s Hollywood icon and Western leading lady, Caren co-starred with Bob Steele in 1945’s “The Navajo Kid” and opposite Alan Ladd in 1947’s “Wild Harvest,” in addition to being featured as a dancer in scores of Hollywood musicals. She also acted on Broadway, met gangster Bugsy Siegel, and survived a near fatal plane crash. One of her most cherished memories, though, is of being Judy Garland’s stand-in for MGM’s The Wizard of Oz. Caren will be selling and autographing her autobiography Hollywood’s Babe.”   |  Is thrilled to be back for his second year at Oz-Stravaganza! He was born in New York City and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. At various times he has been an actor, writer, composer, singer, and arranger. He relocated to the Midwest from Los Angeles in 2010, where he spent the last decade producing and designing DVD/Blu-ray motion menus and interactive content for Hollywood films and television shows. He has worked on a wide range of titles from the “Harry Potter” movies to “Lawrence of Arabia” to “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” to the original “Star Wars” trilogy. “Silver Shoes” is his first novel, and it was selected as a 2010 Kansas Notable Book by the Kansas Center for the Book and the State Library of Kansas. Paul is currently hard at work on its sequel, entitled “The Powder of Life,” which he plans to finish this year.  Known popularity as the “flower pot Munchkin” in the movie, because her wardrobe consisted of a hat, she proudly wears a replica costume from “Oz” at personal appearances even today. She also a “Sleepyhead Munchkin” in the pink bonnet up in the nest egg during the parade through Munchkinland. A proud mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, Margaret lives in Arizona and loves to travel. Making appearances, she promotes Oz around the country. She contributed the Foreword to the book, Cooking in Oz because she’s a down-home southern cook herself,she says. One of the first Munchkins to begin appearing regularly at Oz festivals more than twenty years ago, she’s a crowd pleaser still today. ”My bags are always packed and ready to go,” she says. “I even visited Australia a few years ago for an Oz event. I loved it there.”  As a teenager, Myrna Clifton was scheduled to appear in MGM’s Wizard of Oz, as were her parents. The girl’s emergency appendectomy sidelined the family trip to Culver City, California; by the time they were ready to travel, the film was too far into production for them to be cast. Several years later, however (and still in her native Texas), Myrna caught the appreciative eye–and heart–of movie “Munchkin soldier,” Clarence Swensen. Their subsequent love affair resulted in a 63-year marriage, three daughters, grandchildren, and greatgrandchildren. Since Clarence’s passing in 2009, Myrna has continued to appear at nationwide Oz festivals, where the Swensens were much-admired, much-loved regulars for two decades. |