Emerald City Meets the Classroom: Interdisciplinary Course Connects Literature, History, and Theater on Broadway

By Mara McKithen ’28, The Lawrence, Graphic by Vivien Yang ‘28, The Lawrence

Last month, English Teacher Rebecca Marks and students in her Wizard of Oz in American History course attended a showing of “Wicked” on Broadway.

Marks explained how “the class is the realization of a longtime hope.” She had wanted to teach it since she arrived at Lawrenceville in 2023. The interdisciplinary class “flows into English, history, and theater so organically and by necessity to fully understand the course material,” Marks elaborated.

Regarding her goals for the course, Marks stated, “I’m particularly interested in making the familiar unfamiliar and the unfamiliar familiar. That is, taking a story that we think we know well and that’s ‘just for kids’...and understanding its deeper levels of significance.” She explained that she wants students to look at American stories like “The Wizard of Oz” in different ways.

Stanley House Prefect Madison Sylvan ’26 shared that her initial interest in the class stemmed both from her close relationship with Marks as well as her interest in the performing arts. “Being a theater kid, choosing this interdisciplinary class became an easy choice,” Sylvan said.

Kingsley Du ’26 believed that the course pushed students to look at “Wicked” “in a different lens,” effectively changing how students approach American classics. By looking at the story’s different versions in their respective cultural contexts, Du noted that students were able to analyze how the original children’s book transformed “Wizard of Oz” into “the movie that became an American classic.”

Sylvan found the opportunity to see the book’s adaptation on Broadway to be transformational. “I’m obsessed with Broadway...the staging, production, costumes, and lighting creates something amazing, something that the book can’t capture,” she explained. Sylvan also enjoyed the “special feeling” of being in the theatre. In the audience, she witnessed not only “how ‘Wicked’ impacted people today” but also “how ‘The Wizard of Oz’ has affected people for decades.”

After the show, Du “convinced Marks to let [the class] go stagedooring,” and they had the opportunity to meet Jordan Litz, currently playing “Fiyero,” and receive his signature. After noting how Litz is a “charismatic and handsome person,” Du recounted “the thrilling drive back, watching the Super Bowl in the car.”

Overall, Marks shared that she is “absolutely loving teaching” the class and ex- tends her gratitude to “the deeply motivated, creative, introspective, incisive Fifth Formers willing to be the guinea pigs for this first venture to the Emerald City.”

For more information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.