After weeks of rigorous rehearsals, the cast of the Whidbey Island Theatre for Youth recently presented a version of the familiar classic “The Wizard of Oz.”

The production featured eight shows, with a finale on July 22.

While the theater is still in its first year of operation, they’ve already staged four plays featuring young actors.

For each new show, executive director Scot Ratzlaff and Rebekka Handschke construct a new set in their studio on Pioneer Way.

In the “Wizard of Oz,” the stage was a tan backdrop with a platform in the center and the kids acted as the scenery and props.

For the cyclone scene, children ran onstage and twirled around Dorothy (played by Brooke Ausman), as she was transported to the land of Oz. And when Dorothy meets the scatter-brained Scarecrow, a group of kids held up cornstalks and donned straw hats.

Like professional actors, the children must memorize full, multiple act scripts. And the vocabulary learned by these 4 to 13-year-olds brings to mind SAT questions. The “Wizard of Oz” script included gall, trifle, fortuitous and annihilation.

Ratzlaff said that early exposure to theater helps instill skills needed for acting later in life.

“They’re learning to be on time, memorize lines and be in front of an audience,” he said.

The shows are often a family event, with children fascinated by actors their own age and adults enjoying the talent and charming line delivery.

In one scene, the witch of the West (played by Harlee Ausman) chews on the ends of her claw-like fingernails and said, “I’m wicked … I am and don’t you forget it,” and the crowd filled with “awws” and other coos.

At the end of productions, the sets are stripped down and the space is used for the studio’s workshops. WITY offers six areas of theatrical study, including musical theatre, behind-the-scenes aspects and “theatre boot camp.”

The studio’s next production will be “Much Ado About Nothing,” a comedy by William Shakespeare. The rehearsals will begin in August.

A special scene from the “Wizard of Oz” will also be performed at this year’s Loganberry Festival at Greenbank Farm. Payge Duerre, who plays Scarecrow, and Brooke Ausman will act out a scene today at 2:45 p.m. and Sunday, at 2:15 p.m. on the playground.

The Whidbey Island Theatre for Youth is located at 350 SE Pioneer Wy. For more information, visit www.wit4y.com.