The Woodsman

About the show

The play focuses on the story of Nick Chopper, a mortal woodsman who will eventually become the Tin Woodman in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In eastern section of the Land of Oz, Munchkin Country, the Munchkins live in fear of their master the Wicked Witch of the East. The Witch's rule has made everyone afraid to speak aloud – to that end, the play is almost entirely wordless, with the characters instead communicating through noise and mime. Two Munchkins brave the dangerous forest to try to find safety in Emerald City on the other side, but after finding a safe clearing decide to settle down in the woods instead. As they age, they give birth to Nick Chopper, who after their deaths inherits his father's practice as a woodsman and a locket belonging to his mother, along with their hope to eventually reach the Emerald City. The Witch has in her captivity a Munchkin named Nimmie, the daughter of a Munchkin sorcerer, who is forced to serve as the Witch's servant. Sent into the woods to retrieve items for the Witch, Nimmie is ambushed by a vicious Kalidah creature, but is saved by Nick. The pair having never seen another Munchkin, they quickly grow intrigued by each other: Nick shows off his skills with his axe and teaches Nimmie how to use it. They gradually fall for each other as Nick gifts Nimmie his mother's locket, but Nimmie recalls her mission and returns to the Witch. However, the Witch notices the locket and attempts to take it from Nimmie: Nimmie uses her latent powers of sorcery as well as her bravery she learned from Nick to fight the Witch into submission and escape. She reunites with Nick and the two become lovers, planning to build a home and family together. However, the Witch tracks down Nick and Nimmie while they are asleep and places a curse on his axe which causes him to lose pieces of himself every time he uses it. A group of Winkies, the Tinsmiths, help him by replacing each of his severed limbs with metal parts. Nimmie tries to stop Nick from continuing to use the axe, but he is too devoted to building their future together: eventually, the axe completely tears him to pieces. Nimmie recovers his parts and pleads with the Winkies for help, breaking her silence in the process. The Winkies build Nick a new body out of tin, and Nimmie uses her powers to revive him. However, realizing he lacks a heart and feeling he can no longer love Nimmie, Nick chooses to leave her. The Witch invites a devastated Nimmie to return to her, but Nimmie rejects her and vanishes into the woods alone. In the play's only song with lyrics, "Rusting Tin Man", the Woodsman devotes his existence to chopping wood in the field as the spirits of his parents sadly watch on. Eventually, his memories of Nimmie fade as he rusts until he is completely unable to move. Some time later, the Witch is crushed when a house falls from the sky, and a girl emerges, venturing into Oz.