If you could be a Wizard of Oz character, which character would you be?

In 1981, Barbara Walters famously tried to get Katharine Hepburn to reveal some truth about her inner self by asking: “What kind of tree would you be?”

Maybe a better way to unpeel that onion would have been to ask Hepburn, or anyone for that matter, “If you could be a character from the Wizard of Oz, which character would you be?”

This Wizard of Oz question came to me after learning about a Wizard of Oz character look-alike contest to be held Saturday, Aug. 27, at Broadway Plaza.

In fun, I wondered if a people’s response to this question could reveal some interesting truth about their inner self.

The Diablo Theatre Company is hosting the contest to celebrate its production of The Wizard of Oz (Sept. 9-Oct. 1 at the Lesher Center for the Arts). DTC’s show is based on the iconic 1939 film musical starring Judy Garland, which in turn is based on the beloved 1900 children’s novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.

Diablo Theatre Company expects that most of the contestants will be kids. No surprise. However, the company’s marketing manager, Krissy Gray, said, “Sure, why not?” when I asked whether adults could enter, too. If you dare.

The contest takes place at 2 p.m. Aug. 27 at Broadway Plaza’s Promenade Fountain. The best-dressed of each character will receive a prize. Cast members will also perform music and dance numbers from the show.

As I was thinking more about The Wizard of Oz , DTC’s production and the look-alike contest, it occurred to me that this story has got a lot going on. Just consider how enchanting it was to watch Dorothy and Company first enter the Emerald City but how emotionally wrenching other parts of the story could be. Those flying monkeys still terrify me, and I still cry along with Dorothy when she’s locked in the Wicked Witch of the West’s castle and admits to being frightened and wanting to get home. 

As with any great fairy tale, The Wizard of Oz taps into the universal hopes and fears of both children and adults. 

Believe it or not, in the century since The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, many great minds have declared a wide range of theories about the cultural, historical, political and even spiritual symbolism of the story and of its characters.

Sure, The Wizard of Oz works wonderfully as a straightforward children’s fantasy adventure. But maybe it’s also an allegory of the Populist movement in American politics in the late 1800s. A famous 1964 essay pushed this thesis. Others see it as a spiritual journey. And, as with everything, the Freudians have put in their two sensual cents, arguing that it is a coming of age story with hidden sexual meanings.

Similarly, Dorothy is, yes, a plucky farm girl in a blue gingham dress who gets carried out of Kansas by a tornado, lands in Oz and gets a makeover that includes sparkly new shoes. But she could also be an early feminist heroine, a seeker of enlightenment, or the soul of America.

So, do you identify with Dorothy? Or the Tin Woodman, an Everyman dehumanized by industrial labor? If you’re the Wicked Witch of the West you could be what one critic called “malign nature."

In reading up on all this Wizard of Oz symbolism stuff, I came across an intriguing possibility: You can buy a Scary Flying Monkey costume online. It comes in both kids and adult sizes.

You could come to the contest styled as one of the Wicked Witch’s minions.

Maybe you wouldn’t want to look too closely at your reasons for choosing this persona. On the other hand, dressing as one of those scary monkeys would exorcise the memory you still have of watching them in the movie whisk Dorothy and Toto off to the witch’s castle.

Diablo Theatre Company's Aristic Director Daren A.C. Carollo tells me that his company's production features some of those flying monkeys but he assures me: “They are not as scary as the ones in the movie.”

Phew.

For more information about the Diablo Theatre Company's production of The Wizard of Oz and the character look-alike contest, visit www.diablotheatre.org. For tickets, call the Lesher Center's box office at 925-943-7469 or visit www.lesherartscenter.org.

Martha Ross, the former editor of Walnut Creek Patch, now provides publicity for the Diablo Regional Arts Association and the Lesher Center for the Arts.