Arthur McWilliams stood in a darkened aisle Friday afternoon, a tall, silent figure waiting for his moment to move out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

The Lincoln High School junior waited for the moment he could walk onto the auditorium stage and tell a story.

The story belonged to him, to his parents and grandparents and great grandparents.

He’d heard it before, bits and pieces of it anyway, and had a book his family compiled about it but hadn’t read it yet.

Then he decided to try out for a  Lincoln High play about immigrants. So he started reading.

And he was captivated by his own history: How his great-great- grandfather had been taken from his home in Africa and forced into slavery in America. How he escaped one night on horseback when he was 14, chased by dogs and angry white men.

How he fought in the Civil War and ended up in Falls City with his childhood sweetheart, how he stood outside a store there, telling stories of his life.

Wow.

“When I really read the story I got caught up in it,” he said. “It makes me proud of my family history.”

And so, Friday afternoon, he shared that history from a stage filled with the stories that live and breathe in the halls of Lincoln High School. 

* * * 

Patsy Koch Johns, a theater arts teacher at Lincoln High, was planning the year’s plays  when she read one called “Rowing to America,” a compilation of stories of immigrants and their journeys to America.

“It just sparked something in my head,” she said. “I’m in a school where the stories are as good or better.”

Why not use some of those stories, but ask Lincoln High students  — a third are minorities who represent more than 10 different ethnic groups  — to tell their stories.

The project took on a life of its own. The student council took on projects related to the play, some narratives about family history written by an honors English class were turned into monologues and performed, and a week’s worth of activities preceded the play.

Those activities included an open mic night at which students could tell their own stories, and a dance where they could learn anything from belly dancing to African dance.

Artists from different cultures came to the school to showcase their talents, and the National Endowment for the Humanities sent multicultural books now on display that will be donated to the school.

Two grants helped support the program: a $1,000 from the Dillon Foundation and $900 from the Nebraska Arts Council. And Koch Johns got $1,000 from the Nebraska Department of Education when she was named Nebraska Teacher of the Year.

It was to be used for a project of her choosing. She chose “Rowing to America.”

Among her goals was to encourage students who might not be interested in theater, who might feel it’s not for them, to give it a try.

* * * 

“My friends say that theater is for white people,” said Elisa Mateo, a junior whose family is from Mexico.

Despite that prevailing wisdom, she decided to try out. She talked to her mother and aunt about how they came to America, leaving those they loved to find another life.

“I wanted to get out of a bubble, I didn’t want a white person (telling the story) of a Mexican person.”

Instead, she’s doing it herself and she found she loves theater and the people involved.

“It was a really awesome experience.” 

There were other stories, too, about immigrants from Denmark and Ireland and the Middle East. From India and Africa and China.

Jingyao Yu, a sophomore, wrote about how she was lucky No. 6 because she was the only one of the six children in the embassy in her native China to get a visa.

Sklyar Mosby, a freshman, talked to her Danish grandmother and built a story around the discussion.

Aden Marshall wrote about being biracial, wondering which ethnicity bubble he should fill in on standardized tests.

Not every student told his or her own story, a deliberate move because they wanted the audience to hear what they had to say, regardless of the color of their skin or the shape of their eyes.

That was an important part of the production for McWilliams.

“I like the fact that there are so many different people from different backgrounds performing about different cultures,” he said. “It’s like we’re all one race.”

* * * 

“Rowing to America” seems particularly timely in light of the national discussion on immigration, said Koch Johns, who had no idea the issue would explode around the nation when she chose the play.

But if one were to distill the discussion down, to a city, to a high school, to a student, Lincoln High would be a great place to do it.

“We are the microcosm, she said. “You couldn’t find a better spotlight — at least in Nebraska — to know what it means to have people from many countries get along.”

And this week, they’re on the stage together, telling their stories.

Reach Margaret Reist at 473-7226 or mreist@journalstar.com.

If you go

The final performance of “Rowing to America” is 7:30 tonight at Lincoln High School. Tickets are $5.