RECENTLY . . .
BY VALARIE SCHWARTZ
What would entice high school students to sign up for something called Scene & Heard, requiring them to meet for workshops led by an English teacher every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.?
The answer: Michael Irwin.
Irwin, in his 12th year of teaching, has earned a reputation, not only at Chapel Hill High School, but through his participation with young people around town, as a free-thinker who helps teens use their minds and creative expression in pursuit of answers to life’s dilemmas. A show demonstrating the “Roots of Reflection†will be performed in three scenes that incorporate puppetry, acting, poetry, music, dance, visual art and filmmaking on Friday from 7 to 9 p.m. on the Southern Village green. In between scenes, the stunning Sacrificial Poets (pioneered in Irwin’s classroom) will perform. Starting at 6:30 p.m., a ukulele orchestra will delight the arriving audience members settling into their seating on the lawn.
“It’s a variety show,†Irwin said.
And it’s open experimentation. The students will perform with no script having been written.
In a rehearsal two weeks ago, the 17 teens of Scene & Heard were instructed to play for five minutes.
“You’ve all been children before,†Irwin began the exercise. “You’ve all been free to play. Where did you used to play? What did you do?â€
The answers gave some suggestions. “Play for five minutes. No; play for three total minutes – but that’s it – no playing after three minutes.†Someone protested, saying she wanted to play more. “How long?†Irwin inquired.
“Five minutes,†was the answer.
“Okay; play for five minutes.â€
Irwin had demonstrated how to get what one wants by suggesting, then removing the suggestion.
“Whatever you do, keep moving, keep playing,†and he jumped right in with them and played along as they used the squishy, fat, long, fabric “roots†they had made as jump ropes, among other forms of play, that spread their faces with smiles, while a student offered up drumming as musical energy.
Even in the classroom, Irwin, 35, has never been traditional in his teaching style.
“I decided that I wanted to spend my life interacting with youth and trying to provide some creative outlets for them†he said. In his classroom, reading a book is the beginning of learning. Students then use their choice of creative form to present the book’s essence. “Being an English major is not at the core of it,†he said.
In 2002, seeking more community engagement and spiritual fulfillment, Irwin and Charlie Butchart began Wilderness Excursions, taking students on backpack trips on long weekends through the school year and 10-day or two-week trips over the summer. He started Scene & Heard four years ago.
Lizzy Orton, a senior at Carrboro High School, has known Irwin since she was 8 and a student at Community Independent School. She often saw Irwin visiting Butchart, now education director at a private school in northern Chatham County. Lizzy took a Wilderness Excursion her freshman year (the only year she was at CHHS), and after learning on that trip how to exercise her creativity in the ways Irwin stimulates, she eagerly dedicated her Saturdays for the next three years to Scene & Heard.
“For me, it is something that is simply 100 percent worth it,†Lizzy said. “I always came home with all these different subjects like nonviolence and human rights on my mind.†She said she learned a new vocabulary. “In my history and social studies classes, I could offer things that weren’t in the textbook. He wasn’t teaching us; it was group discussion.â€
Soon, her friends were intrigued.
Hannah Miller, also a senior at Carrboro High School, gave it a try. “It sounded like an interesting group of people with a creative energy I like to be around,†she said. As for the show, she finds it equally exciting and terrifying. “It can be challenging when it’s two weeks before the show and we’re not really sure what we’ll be doing yet. Everyone’s a part of the storyboarding process. The ideas kind of fuse and form something really cool. But it can be terrifying to realize you have no concrete plan,†she said.
“I think what he really strives to do is to provide kids with a really real and authentic experience within the public school system,†Butchart said of his longtime friend. “He’s easily one of the most dedicated educators I’ve met in my life.†He couldn’t say how many hundreds of students or parents give the same answer when asked who had been their favorite teacher, who had brought out the most in themselves or their child. “It’s consistently him. He’s an amazing big-ideas person. I’ve never seen anyone give so much to make his ideas happen with youth,†Butchart said.
A $5 donation is suggested for this free show. The rain date is April 30.
Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746 or valariekays@mac.com