JC

Nice story from the Journal Star about high schoolers in Lincoln, Nebraska who put on a multi-ethnic production, Rowing to America. It includes stories of the students, stories about their ancestors, how they immigrated to America, etc. A nice example of a coming together of a diverse group in order to educate. I like that the students didn’t always match up with the stories — seems like it created a more intertwined telling of these histories.

“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.”