Working magic behind the curtain, 56 dynamos are bringing The Wizard of Oz to life. The women, from making or fitting costumes to finding props and selling tickets, have devoted months to preparing the 50 th annual Pleasure Guild production, opening Friday in the Palace Theatre.

Each show raises thousands of dollars for Children?s Hospital, the sponsor of the volunteer organization.

"It?s a real sisterhood. Pulling off a Broadway-type production requires a lot of work and a lot of communication," said Subha Lembach of the costume committee.

On a Friday night in January at the rehearsal storefront in NewMarket Mall on Sawmill Road, Lembach could feel the camaraderie.

She joined about 10 others on her committee to make hats, glue glitter onto fabric and cut patterns for Munchkin costumes.

Meanwhile, Robin Leonard was busy leading the makeup committee, ordering products and learning how to apply them.

"That?s especially fun this year," Leonard said, "because we?re doing makeup for the Witch, the Scarecrow, the Lion, the Tin Man and about 40 Munchkins."

The makeup crew will form an assembly line for most of the actors.

"One woman will put on the foundation (for each actor), the next will do blush and lips, and the last will put on the eyes and eye shadow," Leonard said.

Crunch time for the makeup volunteers and the rest of the guild members will arrive this weekend during performances, with the women working backstage or as ushers and ticket and souvenir sellers.

"Very few of us have real theater backgrounds," Leonard said, "so I was amazed at how efficient an inexperienced group of women can be in putting on a play."

Among the biggest challenges: assisting with the 90-second transformations in costumes and makeup as the leading actors (non-guild volunteers) switch roles from Kansas to Oz, or vice versa, near the start and end of the show.

The guild volunteer who works most closely with professional director Robin Brenneman is Maria Hanson, a retired Wisconsin high-school theater teacher and the production chairwoman.

It?s a big responsibility but also a fun one, said Hanson, who at 63 is the oldest member of the guild.

Most other members range in age from the late 20s to the late 40s.

In addition to their work on one of the 14 committees, the Pleasure Guild women also give still find time to volunteer for Pleasure Guild. They don?t have the time, but they make the time."

For most of the women, the emotional rewards far exceed the time demands.

"When I learned what Pleasure Guild did, it felt like fate to join. It?s my way to give back," said Julie Hoover, 38, vice president of the guild.

Hoover, who joined in 2004, was inspired by her sister, Vicki Sue: A leukemia patient at the hospital, she died in 1968 at age 13 ? nine days after Julie was born.

"I never met her, but she named me," Hoover said. "My guild work is motivated by my sister and how she was an inspiration as a patient to the nurses, caregivers and other patients."

mgrossberg@dispatch.com?at least 24 hours each year to the hospital.

Hanson has worked on the production at least 30 hours a week for months and 40 to 50 hours a week during the past month of rehearsals.

"I have a passion for theater, as a former theater teacher, but I?m amazed by the younger . . . women who have children at home, are still working . . . and