The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Thursday, February 12, 2015 — 3B

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Midnight Book Club prepares for a long-form improv performance.
Midnight Book Club 
stays off the script

By ALEX INTNER 

Daily Arts Writer

As the members of the Mid-

night Book Club arrived at Mason 
Hall for one of their biweekly 
rehearsals, they were talking to 
one another about their weekends 
and the day’s snowy weather. As 
one member went to find an open 
room for rehearsal, five others sat 
down around a table to talk to me.

The Midnight Book Club is a 

long-form improv group on cam-
pus that started three years ago by 
“a group of friends who just cared 
about improv and each other,” 
according to Business junior Lau-
ren Barrett. Its style of improv is 
different from what you’d see on 
“Whose Line Is It Anyway” in that 
they use suggestions and ideas to 
build 30- to 40-minute sketches, 
much longer than their short-form 
counterparts.

Barrett went on to describe 

what attending their one-hour, 
free shows is like. “You’d sit in 
a room. And then you’d hear 
‘Uptown Funk.’ And then we’d 
run in and dance. And then 
we’d turn off ‘Uptown Funk’ 
and introduce ourselves. Then 
we’ll take a suggestion from the 
audience that could literally be 
any word. And then we’ll kind 
of do an opening … It can be 
anything we want it to be.”

When doing a show, they always 

take the first word they hear from 
the audience. It leads to com-
pletely different results each time. 
“There’s no scale of goodness on 
suggestion ’cause it’s, if someone is 
like ‘McDonalds,’ it doesn’t neces-
sarily need to be set in McDonalds, 
it’s whatever you take from the 
word,” said LSA sophomore Anna 
Garcia. “So, if it’s like ‘playpen,’ 
‘coke,’ whatever.” She recalled one 
scene they did where the first sug-
gestion was “balls.” Barrett added 
that the suggestions are “more of a 
jumping-off point than a sticking-
to point.”

Music, Theatre and Dance 

junior Graham Techler compared 
improv to playing basketball. Bar-
rett advanced the parallel by say-
ing, “You never know what basket 
you’re gonna shoot. Also, you miss 
100 percent of the shots you don’t 
take.”

They also strongly consider 

their 
relationship 
with 
the 

audience.

“The 
relationship 
between 

audience and improviser is differ-

ent in that it’s not like traditional 
theater 
with 
them 
expecting 

this performance,” Barrett said. 
“They’re part of the creation pro-
cess. They’re watching us create 
this show on our feet. It’s more 
inclusive. They’re let in on an 
inside joke.”

One of the highlights of their 

semester so far has been attending 
the Chicago Open Regional tour-
nament for the second time. They 
competed against teams from all 
over the Midwest, including teams 
from Bowling Green State and 
Grace College.

LSA sophomore Joe Ambrose 

was very impressed by the cali-
ber of schools that were on the 
trip. “There was such a range of 
schools,” he said. “Some kids, like 
us, this is a student org for us, it’s 
an extracurricular … For some, like 
at the Columbia College of Art in 
Chicago, their major was comedy 
and writing. They had a group of 
75 people.”

Garcia continued the subject, 

adding, “They took classes such as 
Improv 101 and they get credit for 
that ... They all have coaches. They 
have someone to ground everyone 
and continuously check in.”

Emily Bice, an LSA and Music, 

Theatre and Dance freshman who 
attended the tournament for the 
first time, was interested in the 
highs and lows of delivering such 
intense performances.

“It was cool to see people who 

were at their peak, well not the 
peak, but who have really finessed 
and worked really hard on improv 
and people who were just learn-
ing. Decide where we fall on that. I 
thought it was an amazing experi-
ence.”

The group has a lot coming up in 

the semester. Garcia said they have 
plans to perform with Michigan 
State University’s ROIAL Players 
in East Lansing. She also men-
tioned that the group is planning 
on increasing their partnership 
with Basement Arts, a student-run 
theater group.

“They have these slots called 

late nights. Basically at 11 p.m. at 
Walgreen Drama Center,” Garcia 
said. “They give you an hour to do 
whatever you want. We’ve done 
a couple of those and they want 
to work closer in partnership, so 
hopefully we’ll be doing more late 
nights.”

Since everything for each show 

is made up, there are a host of 
humorous moments from rehears-

als that never see the light of day. 
Ambrose shared one of his favor-
ite scenes: “(I) had a really fun 
one with Anna where we were at 
the zoo. We were a couple dating. 
It became so real to me that for a 
second I thought there was some 
potential. That was fun. I was like, 
not single for a second.”

Techler added that he liked 

one “when Lauren (Barrett) was 
the mother whose son had fallen 
into the gorilla pit so she had mad 
PTSD.” Barrett continued, “I was 
basically playing Rafiki from ‘Lion 
King.’ I was just shaking.”

Garcia recalled a scene from 

the tournament where Barrett 
was a math teacher about to be 
laid off and lame-duck President 
Riley Taggart was the principal 
laying her off. Barrett discussed 
the scene by saying, “I wanted to 
be this variable in a linear equa-
tion that was greater than zero so 
I was worth something, or even a 
constant, but he thought I was a 
variable that was equal to or less 
than zero and that I needed to go.”

“They were dropping formu-

laic equations … the audience was 
like ‘ah, what?,’ ” Garcia added.

Each member at the table 

clearly enjoys performing in this 
manner, but each enjoys different 
aspects of improvisation. Techler 
started by saying, “What I like 
about improv is trying to find, 
trying to discover what’s going 
on in a group of people without 
getting to debrief on it. Every 
improv scene feels like you’ve 
been caught by police with friend 
and you have to make up a story. 
You have to seem like you’re on 
the same page even when you’re 
not necessarily.”

Garcia spoke to the aspect 

of improv called “group mind”: 
“When we have that on stage, in 
rehearsal, it’s the most incred-
ible feeling, to have your partner 
understand you, know where you 
want to be going (and) support 
you in getting there.”

Bice continued, “I feel like 

college, so much of it is so for-
mulaic … The cool thing about 
improv is for two hours twice 
a week you go and there’s noth-
ing you have to formulate ... You 
get to go big and wild and forget 
about everything you have to 
think about and achieve.”

The Midnight Book Club’s 

next show is Feb. 13 at 8 p.m. at 
the Michigan League Hussey 
Room. Tickets are free.

LITERARY COLUMN

‘Mockingbird’ sequel 

raises questions 
about authorship

T

he University declar-
ing a snow day last 
Monday. Thoroughly 

enjoying Katy Perry’s halftime 
show (shout out to left shark). 
The return 
of crushed 
velvet 
as an 
acceptable 
material 
to make 
cloth-
ing out 
of. There 
are some 
things in 
life you 
just don’t see coming. And last 
week, the literary community 
was thrown quite a curveball.

Last 
Tuesday, 
it 
was 

announced 
that 
reclusive 

author Harper Lee was going 
to publish her second novel, a 
sort-of sequel to her magnum 
opus, “To Kill a Mockingbird.” 
The new book, titled “Go Set 
a Watchman,” will feature an 
adult Scout and is set to be 
released in July of this year. The 
single-work author of one of the 
greatest novels of American lit-
erature announcing a new book 
after half a century’s worth of 
refusal? Yeah, it’s a big deal.

Most initial reaction to the 

news was, rightfully, stunned 
elation. The fervor, however, 
has slightly cooled over some 
troubling 
allegations, 
name-

ly that Lee, now 88, is being 
exploited by her lawyer and 
publishers.

Lee’s only published novel to 

date, 1960’s “To Kill a Mocking-
bird,” won the Pulitzer Prize, 
and to this day continues to be 
taught in schools around the 
country. The book focuses on 
tomboy Scout Finch, who along 
with her brother Jem and wid-

owed father Atticus, live in the 
small town of Maycomb, Ala-
bama in the 1930s. Atticus, a 
lawyer, is tasked with defend-
ing Tom Robinson, a black 
man accused of raping a white 
woman. The trial and subse-
quent aftermath forces Scout to 
come to terms with the racial 
inequalities of her society, espe-
cially within the justice system.

Like her famous character 

Boo Radley, Harper Lee has 
long been known as something 
of a recluse. Since her initial 
skyrocket to literary fame, Lee 
has refused almost all inter-
views and speaking engage-
ments, and published only a 
few essays in the past 50 years. 
And, up until last week, she had 
never expressed an interest in 
releasing another book.

The timing of “Go Set a 

Watchman” is somewhat puz-
zling. Last year, Lee lost her sis-
ter Alice, who was 103. Alice, a 
lawyer, had staunchly protected 
Lee’s privacy and estate until 
her death. And Harper Lee has 
been in relatively poor health 
since having a stroke in 2007. 
She resides in an assisted living 
home where she is wheelchair 
bound, nearly blind and deaf 
and suffering from memory 
loss.

Attempts to exploit Lee’s 

fragile state have been made 
before. In 2007, Lee signed the 
rights to “To Kill a Mocking-
bird” to a literary agent because 
her eyesight was too weak to 
read the contract. The case was 
settled out of court.

Frustratingly, the only input 

we’ve heard from Lee about 
this new book has always been 
vetted 
through 
her 
lawyer 

and publisher. Even her editor 
admitted that he didn’t think 
anyone spoke directly to Lee.

Lee recently released a pre-

pared statement saying, “I’m 
alive and kicking and happy 
as hell with the reactions to 
Watchman.” And, of course, 
no one should attempt to dis-
credit Lee’s sentiments simply 
because of her age and health 
history. But these statements 
all go through a variety of chan-
nels before they reach the pub-
lic. Lee doesn’t just tweet out 
her thoughts like some authors. 
All her communication with the 
public is vulnerable to manipu-
lation by third parties.

And no one, not lawyers, 

publishers or even Lee herself, 
has come forward to explain 
the why. Why is she deciding to 
publish a novel that was origi-
nally turned down and that she 
has seemingly had no interest 
in releasing until now? Sure, 
people can, and do, change their 
minds all the time. But Lee’s 
entire life has been a study in 
deliberate and vigilant privacy.

The fact of the matter is 

many people stand to make 
a lot of money off “Go Set a 
Watchman.” And people often 
do horrible things, including 
exploiting the elderly, in pursuit 
of a windfall.

Whether “Go Set a Watch-

man” lives up to the literary 
prowess of “To Kill a Mocking-
bird” isn’t really the question 
here. Lee’s legacy as a canoni-
cal American author is almost 
untouchable. 
However, 
the 

entire situation brings up some 
important questions about the 
rights of artists and the pub-
lic’s sense of entitlement to our 
favorite writers.

Prosniewski is waiting for 

“Lord of the Flies II: The Hunger 

Games.” To help her pass the 

time, email gpros@umich.edu.

GRACE 

PROSNIEWSKI

SINGLE REVIEW

Fresh off of announcing 

albums set to drop later this 
year, French producer Madeon 
and Passion Pit 
join forces on 
“Pay No Mind” 
– a pop-fueled 
single 
that 

unfortunately 
delivers exactly 
what 
listeners 

would 
expect. 

The track plays 
heavily on both 
artists’ general 
soundscape. For 
Passion Pit, this 
means cloaking not-so-pretty 
subject 
matter 
with 
lead 

singer Michael Angelakos’s 
charming indie-pop falsetto. 
Madeon provides his typically 
funky beat, which does a good 
job of highlighting Angelakos’s 
vocals. The beats are bouncy 
and the chorus is repetitive, 
playing more like a Passion 

Pit remix than an original of 
either artist.

While both Madeon and Pas-

sion Pit, when working individ-
ually, have created great works, 
their combination falls rather 
flat. The single is a fun pop tune, 
but doesn’t go any further than 
that – it is something to nod 
along to but not to be remem-
bered. Passion Pit only scratch-
es the surface of their ability to 

capture complex human emo-
tion and package it as dynamic 
indie pop, as they did on Gos-
samer, and Madeon’s melody, 
while bubbly, lacks the pungen-
cy of some of his other tracks. In 
an attempt to not step on each 
other’s artistic toes, the pairing 
does little more than produce a 
radio-ready reworking of their 
signature sounds.

-CARLY SNIDER

B

‘Pay No 
Mind’

Madeon 
feat. 
Passion 
Pit

Columbia

COLUMBIA

VIRGINIA LOZANO/Daily

Members of the Midnight Book Club practice a scene.

KATHERINE COLOSIMO AND ROSE STACEY/Daily

Video of The Midnight Book Club, a student run longform improvisational comedy group.

