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.