University 
of 
Michigan 

researchers found improvisational 

theater classes improve anxiety 

symptoms and lessen uncertainty 

intolerance in adolescents in a 

February study. The new study 

focused on students enrolled in 

improv classes through the Detroit 

Creativity Project, is the third 

installment of a series — including 

previous 
installments 
published 

in 2019 and 2020 — investigating 

the link between improv and 

improvements in anxiety symptoms.

February’s study was the last 

paper of a three-part dissertation 

written 
by 
Peter 
Felsman 
for 

his Ph.D. at the University. U-M 

psychology 
professor 
Colleen 

Seifert, statistician senior Brandy 

Sinco and Joseph Himle, professor 

of social work and psychiatry, also 

contributed to the study. 

In 
an 
interview 
with 
The 

Michigan Daily, Felsman said the 

new study’s focus on uncertainty 

intolerance — negative beliefs about 

uncertainty and negative reactions 

to uncertain situations — in the 

context of the real world sets it apart 

from the other installments of the 

dissertation. This study examines 

whether uncertainty intolerance 

and anxiety levels are correlated in 

a real-world improv situation.

“In 
the 
real 
world, 
this 

intolerance of uncertainty proposed 

mechanism seems to hold up,” 

Felsman said. “And that is really 

cool. So (for) people who don’t show 

up to improv with a high degree of 

social anxiety, but maybe they’re 

feeling depressed — learning to 

embrace uncertainty can be helpful 

to them.”

The Detroit Creativity Project 

works to bring improv classes 

directly to the schools of students 
 

in Detroit and neighboring cities. 

Seifert told The Daily the project 

was a good topic for their study 

because of its aim to bring improv 

to students who likely hadn’t had 

access to improv classes before.

“(Detroit Public Schools) is an 

area where it’s really low resource,” 

Seifert said. “ … So the brilliance of 

the Detroit Project’s plan is it’s right 

in the school classroom. … You just 

sign up for it if you want it. So it’s 

very accessible.”

The researchers asked study 

participants 
to 
take 
a 
survey 

screening for mental health issues 

both before and after taking an 

improv course. Seifert said though 

this approach allowed all students 

who wanted to participate in improv 

to take the class, this approach 

made it more difficult to determine 

causation.

“We didn’t want to deny anybody 

improv … so what we went to is 

called an A/B test,” Seifert said. 

“So you test them before they have 

the intervention, and you test 

them afterwards. And so you can’t 

claim that the intervention caused 

(decreased anxiety or uncertainty 

intolerance) 
because 
you 
don’t 

have a control group to see that it 

didn’t happen in that control group. 

Instead, what you do is infer a 

correlation.”

The 
survey 
consisted 
of 
11 

questions assessing social anxiety, 

uncertainty intolerance and social 

self-efficacy — one’s confidence 

in their ability to navigate social 

situations. 
The 
study 
showed 

decreases in both social anxiety 

and uncertainty intolerance after 

participating in the course, as 

well as a correlation between the 

two. 
The 
researchers 
conclude 

from these results that engaging 

in 
improv 
exercises 
decreases 

uncertainty intolerance, and that a 

decrease in uncertainty intolerance 

is associated with a subsequent 

decrease in social anxiety.

According to Felsman, facing 

situations that are unpredictable 

— such as those found in improv 

— can help people gain a more 

positive outlook on the prospect of 

uncertainty. 

“Engaging repeatedly in the 

unknown in this fun and playful 

way would teach people that there’s 

something nice to be discovered in 

the unknown,” Felsman said. “It’s 

not always a terrifying thing.”

LSA senior Cassie Bergen is 

co-president of Midnight Book 

Club, an improv comedy group on 

campus. She spoke with The Daily 

about how she learned to deal with 

unpredictability 
by 
repeatedly 

facing uncertain situations with 

people she trusts in the group.

“In practice, you do this over and 

over again,” Bergen said. “You go 

into this uncertain situation with 

support over and over again (and) 

you learn that, okay, yeah, I can do 

this. Yeah, I can face uncertainty 

and be okay.”

Music, Theater & Dance senior 

Paul Legallet, the other co-president 

of Midnight Book Club, noted in an 

interview with The Daily that being 

able to live in the moment is not only 

essential to doing improv, but also 

helpful for improving mental health.

Trigger warning: descriptions of 

domestic abuse/gun violence

Dozens of students gathered at 

the Michigan League Thursday 

evening to hear a panel of elected 

officials speak about gun violence 

and legislation.

Hosted by the University of 

Michigan’s chapter of College 

Democrats, the event featured a 

panel discussion between U-M 

students and Michigan politicians 

in response to the mass shooting at 

Michigan State University on Feb. 

13 which resulted in three deaths 

and five injuries.

Former state Rep. Yousef Rabhi 

opened the event by speaking 

about the difference he noticed 

in how the Republican-controlled 

state legislature responded to the 

shooting at Oxford High School 

versus how the legislature has 

responded 
under 
Democratic 

control.

“When I was in the legislature, 

we were seeing gun legislation that 

was completely going the opposite 

direction every time there was a 

shooting or an incident,” Rabhi 

said. 
“They 
would 
propose 

legislation to arm teachers … but 

we’re only going to solve these 

problems if we fundamentally look 

at the system. And frankly, it is a 

system of profit.”

Rabhi 
then 
passed 
the 

microphone to U.S. Rep. Debbie 

Dingell, 
D-Mich., 
who 
has 

historically advocated for gun 

legislation such as safe storage 

bills, universal background checks 

and red flag laws. Dingell said she 

was discouraged by the lack of 

legislative response to repeated 

gun violence at the national level.

“I’m 
just 
discouraged 
that 

nothing’s ever going to happen at 

the federal level,” Dingell said. “I 

am done with thoughts and prayers 

… thoughts and prayers don’t cut 

it, they don’t find solutions and 

nothing happens.”

Dingell shared a story about 

her personal experience with 

domestic violence as a child to 

highlight the prevalence of gun 

violence beyond mass shootings 

and the need for comprehensive 

gun control legislation.

Former University President 

Mark Schlissel will return to 

teach in the Molecular, Cellular 

and 
Developmental 
Biology 

department at the University of 

Michigan in the fall following his 

removal as president in January 

2022. Schlissel, who was fired 

for engaging in an inappropriate 

relationship with a U-M employee, 

will be a co-instructor for MCDB 

436 – Human Immunology in the 

Fall 2023 semester.

In an email to The Michigan 

Daily, University spokesperson 

Kim 
Broekhuizen 
wrote 

that 
Schlissel 
maintains 
his 

tenured 
faculty 
appointments 

as a professor in the College of 

Literature, Science and the Arts 

as well as the Medical School.

“Mark 
Schlissel 
retains 
a 

faculty position, with tenure, that 

was granted as part of his initial 

U-M employment agreement,” 

Broekhuizen wrote. “Schlissel, 

a molecular immunologist, has 

a 50% appointment in MCDB. 

Microbiology and Immunology 

in 
the 
Medical 
School 
will 

be his home department for 

administrative purposes.”

In an email obtained by MLive, 

Schlissel confirmed his plans to 

teach MCDB 436.

“Yes,” Schlissel wrote. “I am 

scheduled and plan to teach that 

course in the fall.”

Schlissel 
has 
previously 

worked as an instructor and 

researcher at the John Hopkins 

School of Medicine as well as a 

professor in the Department of 

Molecular and Cell Biology at the 

University of California Berkeley. 

In 2011, he launched his career 

in university administration at 

Brown University as provost 

and moved to the University 

of 
Michigan 
to 
become 
the 

president three years later.

Documents obtained by the 

Detroit Free Press in January 

2022 
initially 
showed 
that 

Schlissel 
would 
retain 
his 

position as a tenured faculty 

member after his removal as 

president.

While 
wandering 
around 

downtown Ann Arbor at night it 

is hard to miss the bright orange-

and-teal neon glow of the State 

Theatre marquee. Right across the 

street, the Michigan Theater sign 

is just as iconic — a warm array of 

incandescent bulbs surrounding a 

vertical “MICHIGAN” 10-feet off 

the ground. Both of the brightly-lit 

theaters and their retro-style signs 

have become landmarks for those 

who live close by — but how did 

two major entertainment venues 

end up so close to each other?

Both the Michigan Theater and 

State Theatre have historic roots 

in Ann Arbor — the Michigan 

Theater is the older of the two, at 

almost 100 years old it originally 

opened in 1928. The State Theatre 

opened 14 years later in 1942 as 

a single-screen venue, though it 

was upgraded to a four-screen 

multiplex theater in 1977. In the 

late 1970s, the construction of 

many large multiplex theaters 

caused smaller movie theaters to 

close or expand — like the State 

did. Meanwhile, the Michigan 

Theater 
initially 
remained 
a 

single-screen theater and faced 

financial difficulties in the late 

1970s, which eventually led to the 

creation of the Michigan Theater 

Foundation in 1979 to preserve and 

protect the Michigan Theater. The 

foundation has overseen the State 

Theater since 2014.

Ellen PutneyMoore, director 

of marketing for the Michigan 

Theater 
Foundation 
and 
a 

University of Michigan alum, 

grew up in Ann Arbor and used to 

go to the Michigan Theater during 

her time in high school and as an 

undergraduate at the University. 

In an interview with The Michigan 

Daily, PutneyMoore explained the 

origin of the connection between 

the two theaters. She said after 

the previous owners of the State 

Theatre, 
Aloha 
Entertainment, 

decided to sell the building in 

1997, a group of local buyers 

decided it would be supervised by 

the Michigan Theater Foundation 

along with the Michigan Theater. 

“At a certain point, Aloha 

Entertainment 
decided 
that 

they wanted to get rid of the 

State Theatre, so a group of local 

investors bought the building in 

1997,” PutneyMoore said. “This 

investor group is the one that 

hired 
the 
Michigan 
Theatre 

Foundation as well to operate 

the State (Theatre) in 1999 … the 

Michigan Theater (Foundation) 

was like, ‘Oh, no. We can’t get rid 

of this incredible 1942 landmark,’ 

so they purchased the theater in 

2014.”

PutneyMoore said before the 

State 
Theatre 
and 
Michigan 

Theater were jointly overseen 

by the foundation, they were 

“friendly 
rival” 
theaters 
that 

focused on providing different 

types of entertainment.

“The Michigan (Theater) has 

always focused a lot more on 

live events,” PutneyMoore said. 

“Now (it shows) movies as well, 

but (it) will do a lot of live events, 

concerts, lectures, that sort of 

thing. It was more of a friendly 

rivalry — the State (Theatre) was 

doing a lot of independent films 

and first run repertory, much like 

they’re still doing now.”

The Michigan Theater and 

State Theatre still offer different 

types of entertainment today. 

The State Theatre often plays 

independent and popular films, 

while the Michigan Theater plays 

any other recently released films 

and has the space and venue for 

more live performances or large 

events, according to PutneyMoore.

“The 
State 
(Theatre) 
was 

doing a lot of both independent 

films and first run repertory, 

much like they’re still doing 

now,” PutneyMoore said. “(The 

theaters 
are 
and 
historically) 

were 
distinctive 
because 
the 

Michigan (Theater) had the space 

to do live events, whereas the State 

(Theater) had always just been a 

movie theater.”

PutneyMoore said both theaters 

have become more than just an 

array of movie screens and plush 

seats — they are also important 

cultural landmarks. 

“(Both theaters) are one of the 

crown jewels of the Ann Arbor 

community,” PutneyMoore said. 

“I think you can see that even 

at the University of Michigan. 

We’re on all the (University’s) 

brochures and when they talk 

about the surrounding town, we 

are highlighted.” 

LSA 
sophomore 
Maeson 

Linnert studies Film, Television 

and Media and is a part of various 

theatre groups at the University 

such as the Residential College 

Players and Not Even Really 

Drama Students so he places a 

high value on local performance 

and entertainment spaces. Linnert 

said the Michigan Theater and 

State Theatre are smaller than 

most modern movie theaters, but 

give students an opportunity to 

think about the history of Ann 

Arbor when walking by.

“I believe they serve as a 

reminder to Ann Arbor’s rich 

history without becoming a plaque 

on a wall somewhere,” Linnert 

said. “They’re still alive and, as far 

as I can tell, doing pretty well.”

LSA 
sophomore 
Isabelle 

Zeaske, vice president of the 

RC Players, said a trip to either 

theater provides a fun escape 

for U-M students and Ann Arbor 

community members. 

“I appreciate that they’re some 

of the most accessible historical 

buildings in the campus area,” 

Zeaske said. “Plus, they serve a fun 

and useful purpose.”

Business 
and 
LSA 
junior 

Brooklynne Bates is also studying 

FTVM and is co-president of the 

student organization Black Film 

Society. Bates said the theaters 

often 
coordinate 
programming 

with the University for events, 

especially 
within 
the 
FTVM 

program.

“(Compared to the Michigan 

Theater,) I have (more) experience 

in the State Theatre, not only 

watching movies there, but also 

attending 
different 
events,” 

Bates said. “For example, the 

Film, 
Television 
(and) 
Media 

Department often brings in guest 

speakers who will show their 

movies (there). So, I’ve gone with 

my classmates to see movies from 

different directors.”

The University often holds 

events, such as the Penny Stamps 

Speaker Series, at the Michigan 

Theater, 
bringing 
in 
guest 

speakers and opportunities for 

education throughout the year.

Bates said walking past the 

facade of the theaters makes 

her feel a sense of hominess and 

belonging in the streets of the city.

“I just feel like I’m walking by a 

little piece of history (when I pass 

by the theaters),” Bates said. “You 

just kind of feel like: this is Ann 

Arbor.” 

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News

 ‘This is Ann Arbor’: tracing the history of the State and Michigan theaters

ANN ARBOR

Michigan lawmakers talk gun 
violence, reform at panel
Former UMich President Mark 
Schlissel is coming back to teach

From friendly rivals to twin landmarks

U-M students hosted discussion with political 
leaders at the League

GOVERNMENT
NEWS

Wednesday, March 29, 2023 — 3

 MADISON HAMMOND
Daily Staff Reporter

RACHEL MINTZ
Daily News Editor

JENNA HICKEY/Daily

Design by Abby Schreck

Can improv theatre improve your mental health?

New UMich research says yes (and)

After being removed as president, Schlissel will be 
back on campus next fall

ABIGAIL VANDERMOLEN
Daily Staff Reporter

SNEHA DHANDAPANI & 
IRENA LI
 Daily Staff Reporter & Daily 
News Editor

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

Read more at MichiganDaily.com

