Wrightsville Beach School’s Performance Club stole the show at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) luncheon at the Holiday Inn SunSpree on Friday, Aug. 22. The youngsters, led by Performance Club director LJ Woodard, spoofed the JDRFs “Wizard of Oz” theme with a skit tailor-made for the audience of children and adults who attended the luncheon, a kickoff for the annual JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes planned for Oct. 25 at Greenfield Lake Park.
Following the yellow “brick” road into the SunSpree’s banquet hall, Aunt Em told Dorothy to start dreaming up a cure. Dorothy fell into a swoon and envisioned somewhere over the rainbow where there is no diabetes. When she landed in the Emerald City, Dorothy and Toto inadvertently killed
Staff photo by Allison Breiner
Karli Krasnipol of the Performance Club sings “Over the Rainbow” during a skit inspired by the “Wizard of Oz” and directed by LJ Woodard at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation luncheon on Friday, Aug. 22, at the Holiday Inn SunSpree. |
the Wicked Witch of Complications and were mistaken for doctors by Glinda the Good Witch, who was trailed by Munchkins. As Dorothy insisted that she was neither a bad doctor, nor a good doctor, she donned the ruby sneakers of the Wicked Witch of Complications, conjuring an appearance by the Wicked Witch of Diabetes herself. On the heels of Glinda’s advice, Dorothy embarked on a journey to visit the great-and-wonderful cure-for-diabetes-corporate chair with directions from the kindly Scarecrow, who recited, for the sake of the audience, the many ways to register for the Walk to Cure Diabetes. Accompanied by the Tin Woman, who urged the audience to captain teams, and the Lion, who claimed the crown as king of fundraising, Dorothy finally stood before the corporate chair, who offered her a meager $10 for her effort. After clicking her heels twice and chanting: “there’s no place like home,” Dorothy returned to North Carolina and the loving arms of a fraught-with-worry Aunt Em
The club received a well-deserved standing ovation, and amid applause and the razz-a-ma-tazz of noise makers, glitter confetti and multi-colored balloons that festooned the tables, the point was driven back to the home front, where Doug Foreman, Bank of America walk chairman, and Jon Evans, WECT-TV news anchor and celebrity chair, had inspired the attendees to take a stand against the disease that affects 24 million adults and children at the rate of 180 diagnoses an hour. For more information on forming a school, family or individual team, visit www.jdrf.org.
