THE WIZZIE: A Journey of Grief, Growth + Glitter was a devised therapeutic theatre piece created by NYU Steinhardt graduate students and NYC high schoolers.
Graduate students from NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions (MPAP) and Department of Art and Art Professions recently presented a sold-out run of an original therapeutic theatre production called THE WIZZIE: A Journey of Grief, Growth + Glitter. Created by the CollideOscope Repertory Theatre Company (CRTC) in partnership with New York City high school students, THE WIZZIE gave young people a stage to explore grief, identity, belonging, and resilience in their own words.
Presented June 4 through 7, 2026, at Steinhardt’s Black Box Theatre, THE WIZZIE reimagined the 1974 Broadway musical The Wiz—itself a reinterpretation of the classic children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz—through an Afrofuturist lens.
Rather than simply adapting the familiar story, the ensemble of graduate and high school students used it as a catalyst for devised theatre—a collaborative process in which performers and creators develop the work together, drawing on their own experiences and ideas.
Led by CRTC Artistic Director Adam D–F Stevens, an adjunct faculty member and doctoral student in Educational Theatre with a focus in Drama Therapy, the production used key moments and themes from The Wiz as a framework for young participants to explore drama therapy, storytelling, movement, visual art, music, and performance to transform their narratives into an original work of art.
“THE WIZZIE was never about teaching young people how to follow the yellow brick road, but instead about creating enough space for them to question who built the road, who was told they belonged on it, and whether they wanted to follow it at all,” says Stevens, who used their skills as a dramaturg to help shape the performance's dialogue and overall artistic vision. “Together, our young artists, graduate interns, and I built a world where grief could have rhythm, Blackness could be fantastical, queerness could be expansive, and joy could be unapologetically loud.”
“Everybody arrives here wanting to reverse what has already happened. But Oz does not do reversal. Oz does revelation, dah-ling!”
A Collaboration of Community
THE WIZZIE brought together 22 New York City high school students from Boerum Hill School for International Studies, Performing Arts and Technology High School, and Cooke School & Institute, where Stevens previously worked as a drama therapist. The youth worked alongside 20 Steinhardt graduate students—13 from Drama Therapy, three from Educational Theatre, and four from Art Therapy—creating an intergenerational community centered on artistic expression, healing, and belonging.
THE WIZZIE is part of CRTC’s ongoing therapeutic theatre series, which reserves space each year for a production that engages with themes of social justice, racial justice, belonging, and the experiences of underrepresented communities.
“The magic of CRTC is that we don’t ask young people to click their heels and return to somebody else’s idea of home,” says Stevens. “We invite them to imagine, devise, and claim a world worthy of who they are becoming—and then we hand them the glitter.”
“I used to think I was trying to get back. Now I know I’m trying to get free. And free is not alone.”
Research Put into Practice
Following one of the performances, the CRTC hosted a post-show panel moderated by Stevens that explored grief, loss, and the lived experiences of young people of color. Panelists from NYU Steinhardt included Nisha Sajnani, professor and director of Drama Therapy; Lauren Christine Mims, associate professor of Applied Psychology; and Jasmine Edwards, a doctoral candidate and fellow in Music Education with a focus in Music Therapy. Clinical mental health counselor Dr. Brianne L. Overton and grief scholar Dr. Jamie Eaddy also participated.
Left to right: Adam D-F Stevens, Brianne Overton, Jamie Eaddy, Lauren Christine Mims, Nisha Sajnani, Jasmine Edwards
Panelists also discussed how the arts, community, and culturally responsive practices can create spaces for young people to heal. This perspective echoes findings from a recent study led by Elisabeth Bahr, postdoctoral research associate at the Jameel Arts & Health Lab, and Sajnani that found a strong link between participation in the arts and benefits to youth mental health.
Of the young people surveyed, 80 percent reported that the arts and arts therapies helped them manage stress; 82 percent indicated that it boosted mood; and 86 percent emphasized the importance of youth leadership and collaboration when considering the arts to support mental health. The study was published in Perspectives in Public Health in July.
“THE WIZZIE is a poetic love letter to the role of fantasy and fiction in helping us discover the resources that we need to get through difficult times,” says Sajnani, “Imaginative worlds can give young people enough distance to approach difficult experiences while also discovering their strengths, their connections to others, and new possibilities for what comes next.”
Through its combination of youth leadership, therapeutic practice, and artistic collaboration, THE WIZZIE created a space where grief could be explored without being rushed, where creativity could become a source of connection, and where young people could imagine more joyful and equitable futures.
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