For Adam Koch, getting the opportunity be the scenic designer for the Children’s Theatre Company’s production of The Wizard of Oz is a full circle moment. Sort of.
“The Wizard of Oz was the first little show where I stepped up and said, ‘Hey, can I help build sets for this?’” said Koch of his junior high school theatrical work. “Twenty-some years later, doing it again, but professionally on this huge scale, with all the effects and all the magic. It’s been a nice, like, full circle moment.”
The Wizard of Oz is about as familiar a piece of intellectual property as a theatrical designer can have. The movie came out in 1939, based on a book from 1900, and his been performed on stage globally for decades. Like so many people, Koch was introduced to the story from a young age.
“And now we’re living The Wizard of Oz/Wicked multiverse, and The Wiz,” said Koch. “The easy part is you’ve got a lot of your own childhood memories to bring to the table, and so it’s easy to want to do it justice.
“But in my experience, the secret is finding a combination of familiar, landmark touchstone moments that let the audience know that you love the material just as much as they do, and then if you hit a couple of those key points, then you’re free to do whatever else you want.”
For example, if Dorothy isn’t in a blue dress with ruby-red slippers, people may revolt. Once they see that, he said, the audience is more at ease.
“Working with [director] Rick [Dildine] and the costume designer (Lex Liang) and everybody else, I think we just identified all the things,” Koch said. “If you hit those familiar landmarks, then as far as the set design, it’s completely free to be surprising and new.”
Which doesn’t mean that his job any easier.
(Top) Becca Claire Hart. (Bottom) Aniya Bostick, Dean Holt, Reed Sigmund, and Regina Marie Williams in Children’s Theatre Company’s 2026 production of ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ (Photo by Glen Stubbe Photography)
“For shows that are rarely produced, there’s almost no cultural memory so you can do whatever you want,” he said. “Part of the magic, I hope, is that when the curtain goes up, what would 12-year-old Adam be excited to see? It’s about not second-guessing things that are the things that people love to see. So it’s not a hindrance; it’s more about just being realistic about what is going to disappoint and what’s going to delight.”
This show is Koch’s first experience with CTC, although he had worked with Dildine at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He flew to town to see CTC’s production of Frozen last year, which changed his perception of what “children’s theater” can do.
“It was a giant Broadway show. I was like ‘Oh, I shouldn’t have poo-pooed this,’ Koch said. “I’m glad I came to see this, because here I was just thinking, ‘Oh, we’ll simplify [the set]. Then I went there, and the house is packed; it’s a huge production. And it kind of lights a fire under your butt that this has to be amazing.”
Koch said the caliber of builders and artists constructing his designs are as talented as he’s worked with anywhere in the world.
“They have one of the best scene shops in the whole world,” he said. “The painters, the welders, the builders; it’s one of the most beautiful sets I’ve ever had the pleasure of being a part of. They’re at the top of my list for quality craftsmanship and stuff, which, of course, is a big deal behind the scenes. You can dream of anything, but if they don’t have the enthusiasm to figure it out how to do it, then it’s a bigger challenge.”