Thurwatcher comes full circle by returning to where it all began

“Nothing endures but change. There is nothing permanent, except change.” English teacher, drama adviser, forensics coach, and frequent nomad Scotti Thurwatcher embodies this concept. Thurwatcher migrated from the A-wing to the E-wing at the end of the last year. Lost in the summer shuffle of building modifications, a stage was built in the back of his new classroom, an honor to the past and a benefit for the future of the Wildcat drama and forensics legacy.

In the beginning, Thurwatcher’s request for a stage in return for switching rooms was nothing but joking promises. 

“When I brought it up, it started with ‘Oh yeah, we’ll get you one,’” he said. “I think in the back of everyone’s mind, they were just trying to appease me. Then, all of a sudden, it all moved so quickly towards the end of last year. It was for real; it was pretty much decided I was coming in here.”

Aaron Herm, assistant principal, reached out to the Wildcat Cafe to help fund the project.

“Mr. Herm had me take some measurements and really got it started, then reached out to the Wildcat Cafe folks, Mrs. Steinhilber, Mrs. Kimble, and Mrs. Konnors, and they paid for the stage,” Thurwatcher said. “Since the district contractors were already here, they would switch between the new office set up and building the stage. They finished the stage about the second week of August, and I was shocked.”

Thurwatcher praises the Wildcat Cafe for always putting their profits into school-based ventures.

“The Wildcat Cafe is so open to giving back to the students in the school, such as the Brewing Futures truck,” he said. “They want to pour it all back into the school, so they’re constantly looking for ways to do that, and as far as I know, they didn’t even flinch when Mr. Herm brought it up. I don’t even know how much it cost and I don’t think there ever really was a budget. It went about as easy as it could go.”

Thurwatcher’s desired stage has been inspired by one singular person: Thomas Lynch, former teacher, Forensics coach, and play director at West.

“They used to call the people that hung out in his room, E13, the Lynch Mob,” Thurwatcher said. “There’s a Facebook page dedicated to Mr. Lynch, E13, and all the people that were ever in it and you read some of those stories and how this room changed lives. Sitting there at orientation, just a tiny freshman, he seemed bigger than life. In his room, there were all these seniors and upperclassmen hanging out, sitting on the register. You could tell everyone was so at home. Mr. Lynch looks up, and there’s a chair next to a desk, and he pats the seat to invite me to sit down and that moment absolutely changed my life.”

Aside from emotional reasons, Thurwatcher believes this new stage will also have practical benefits for students, space-wise.

 “There’s always a lack of space, so for many of the plays, we end up rehearsing in the Media Center, the O-room, or the F-room,” Thurwatcher said. “We just go where we can find space because oftentimes the Little Theater and auditorium are being used. It allows them to have one more spot that has space for them to go, whether it’s drama or Forensics or even class. There’s plenty of uses; I’ve already seen people taking naps on it in W-hour. It provides students all different kinds of opportunities to do their thing in their own space.”

Thurwatcher delivered the news that the stage hasn’t been used officially yet, but its debut is coming up.

“The biggest use I’m planning is to work on specific scenes for the plays, so I can bring smaller groups in and work on scenes more intimately to dial in on characterization,” he said. “Another big thing is forensics, working on practicing. We have a green screen in here that we can use the stage with to make a lot of clever cool things that way as well. It also gives space for people to roam and move and have an ability to work on scenes that we don’t normally have in the little theater.”

Many people assume that now, he will no longer be using the Little Theater.

“When I came in, I saw they had all the drama classes originally scheduled in E13 so I went to the office and said, there’s no way, I still need that space,” Thurwatcher said. “As nice as this is, the Little Theater stage is still two or three times bigger than this space. We probably need more room than what we have in the Little Theater. I can move my drama classes in E13 for a day or two, but ultimately we are still meeting for drama classes in the Little Theater, because it’s just set up better so we can work on the skills. It works out that now we have a space to go if someone needs it. There are other classes that use it and I’m happy to move out of there because now we have somewhere to go, whereas in the past we didn’t.”

Moving to the E-wing is a big adjustment, but a sentimental one for Thurwatcher.

“At the time there was a stage, a very rickety, old, grungy, gray, stage,” Thurwatcher said. “It was always a hope or weird dream to be in this room, kind of come full circle and be in the room where it all started for me. When Mr. Laser somewhere got wind of my affinity for this room, he came in and asked if I had any interest in going into E13, and he didn’t even get the thirteen out before I agreed to do it. But I said the only way I would do it was if they built me a stage. It’s worth it because in a weird way, I feel home and I cannot wait to get Mr. Lynch in here and to sit on the stage with him in here, back to where it all started.”

by Ashley Schumann and Kora Boese

Published October 2 2023

Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue I