Michael Wiley Wows High School Audiences


Acclaimed African-American actor Michael Wiley wowed local high school students in November as he became multiple characters, from a Supreme Court justice to a white teenager, in his one-man drama titled Brown vs. the Board of Education.

Wiley took students back to the genesis of the 1954 case, which declared that it was a violation of the constitution to separate children in school because of their race. He recounted the court case, the decisions and some of its consequences.

Using only a few props – a shawl, a chair, a handkerchief, a pair of glasses and a hat – Wiley used his voice and his body to portray more than 10 characters, including the case’s namesake Oliver Brown, Brown’s daughter, Supreme Court Justices Earl Warren and Thurgood Marshall, a Harvard researcher, an NAACP organizer, an opposing lawyer and a PTA president.

Students and faculty members joined him on stage as they stood in for Supreme Court justices, Brown’s daughter Linda, a graduate student and other characters.  After the performance, Brown explained that he involved audience members because integrating the races is something that is up to all of us, not just one or two people.

Following each performance, Wiley answered students’ questions, telling students about his role as Abraham Lincoln when he was in sixth grade, his education at Catawba College and UNC-Chapel Hill and writing his own plays to ensure he could work as an actor.

Wiley performs all over the United States in two other one-man shows based on African-American history, Jackie Robinson:  A Game Apart and One Noble Journey about slave Henry “Box” Brown who shipped himself to freedom in a small crate.   A veteran of many regional theater productions, he has appeared in television shows on The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel and National Geographic. 

Wiley presented 10 local performances as part of the Cabarrus Arts Council’s Students Take pART in the ARTs!  The program brings a professional performing arts performance each year to every grade level in local schools.  It is sponsored by The Independent Tribune, First Charter and CT Communications.

In conjunction with the performances, the arts council offered a workshop, All the World’s a Stage, to local educators.  The workshop was led by Serena Ebhardt of EbzB Productions who wrote and produced Brown vs. the Board of Education.  Teachers learned to use a theatrical performance to develop memorable lesson plans and activities.  Teachers also received a study guide to further enhance students’ understanding of the production and the Brown vs. the Board of Education decision.