The Monthly – May 2017

The Daily Northwestern May 2017

Raps to Riches

Dip, Drip, Stab Beyond Waa-Mu

Kweku Collins to perform at

Northwestern students

This year’s Waa-Mu

Lollapalooza 2 years after

start business of

co-chairs work to

graduating from Evanston

giving each other

increase inclusivity by

Township High School

‘stick-and-poke’ tattoos

adding more voices

Marie Watt, Witness, 2015, 71 Ă— 180.5 in. Reclaimed wool blanket, embroidery floss, thread. Image courtesy of the artist.

AWARDS $200 - 1st Place $150 - 2nd Place $100 - 3rd Place $50 - Hon. Ment. the kay krieghbaum memorial

PHOTOGRAPHIC CONTEST Submission Deadline: Fri., May 26, 2017

Presented by Students Publishing Company in memory of Northwestern alum Kay Krieghbaum (1946-1969), whose dedication to photojournalism inspired this event.

E-mail spc-compshop@northwestern.edu for rules and entry forms, or stop by Students Publishing Company on the third floor of Norris.

The Monthly

Contents

Seth Meyers Soars to Stardom

‘Late Night’ host reflects on Northwestern experiences

Raps to Riches

Recent ETHS graduate lands Lollapalooza gig

Dip, Drip, Stab

Weinberg freshman grows ‘stick-and-poke’ tattoo business

Beyond Waa-Mu

Waa-Mu Show increases inclusivity efforts

04 08 10 12

Staff of The Monthly Issue 2

Emily Chin A&E Editor Madeleine Fernando Assistant A&E Editor Jerry Lee Creative Director Mariana Alfaro Jennifer Hepp Samuel Bernitz Kelley Czajka Writers Cover and page 3 photos: Source: Lloyd Bishop (NBC)

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‘Late Night’ host reflects on Northwestern experiences, writing satire in current political climate — by Mariana Alfaro

S

eth Meyers did not take any political science or journalism courses during his time at Northwestern. As a radio, television and film major, comedy was what he was passionate about.

Now, two decades after graduating from NU, Meyers (Communication ’96) is celebrated as a late night host who blends the essences of those three areas — politics, news and comedy. As the host of NBC’s “Late Night” talk show, Meyers offers a dose of comic relief on the national stage to counter the current political climate. It is not uncommon for Meyers to begin his show by sitting behind his desk and telling his audience, “Let’s get to the news.”

Meyers has been lauded by critics and news sites for his sharp political satire, especially his commentary and analysis on last year’s presidential election. By the end of 2016, his show had more than 1.6 million viewers and was described as “one of television’s most intellectually curious talk shows” by Vanity Fair.

However, it wasn’t too long ago that Meyers stood in Northwestern’s Shanley Pavilion as a performer for Mee-Ow, an improvisation and sketch comedy group on campus. Meyers, who was named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in 2014, told The Daily that his life would

be very different now if had he not come across his passion for comedy through Mee-Ow. “I auditioned for it every year I was (at Northwestern), and I only got in my senior year,” Meyers said. “Getting in changed everything.”

Mee-Ow raised

Through Mee-Ow, Meyers found his life calling in improv and sketch comedy, he said.

“I loved it so much that I remember thinking that I, for the first time in my life, knew what I wanted to at least try to do and that I would try to do it until someone told me I didn’t have to do it anymore, or I wasn’t good enough to do it anymore,” he said.

Mee-Ow, Meyers said, allowed him to work with other talented Northwestern comedians and gave him the chance to perform in front of sold-out student audiences, which inspired him to continue following his passion.

“I look back and I think if that had broken differently, I don’t know if I would have had the guts to keep trying,” he said.

Current Mee-Ow co-directors Isabella Gerasole and Ben Gauthier recently met Meyers during a meet-and-greet in New York. Gerasole, a Communication senior, said they bonded over their experiences in Mee-Ow.

“He told us that he sang — because we have to sing in Mee-Ow — he sang ‘Dancing in the Dark’ and ‘I Need a Hero.’ That was funny to hear about that,” she said. “He was like ‘Oh, I remember Shanley, the shack,’ and we were like ‘Yep, still there, still f---ing gross.’”

Meyers, like actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Communication ’83), is one of the group’s “legacy people,” Gerasole said. Still, she said the group is “brand new” each year and doesn’t try to live up to any historical expectations.

Because Mee-Ow has been around for 43 years and has well-known alumni, Gerasole said sometimes there is an expectation of what the show is supposed to be.

“It is a brand new group (every year), so it doesn’t matter what has happened in the past,” she said. “This is our version of the show this year.”

After performing in Mee-Ow, Meyers joined the iO Theater in Chicago, where he took improv courses and was part of a group called “Preponderate.” In 2001 — just five years after graduation — he joined NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” as both a performer and writer. It was there that he found his comedy persona as an anchor for the “Weekend Update” segment, a persona that would follow him to “Late Night.”

Photos: Source: Lloyd Bishop (NBC)

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It was also at SNL that Meyers said he learned how to become a political comedian.

“In a lot of ways, I had this secondary education in SNL,” Meyers said. “It was sort of a graduate program for comedy, and the lessons I learned there are still the ones that I apply every day in my show now.”

Beyond “Saturday Night Live”

After about 13 years on “SNL,” Meyers said goodbye to the show and moved his anchorman wit next door to the eighth floor of the 30 Rockefeller building — the “Late Night” stage.

“The first year I was gone, I was very sad because I missed everybody,” Meyers said. “And then I sort of found this home at ‘Late Night’ where I tried to love everybody as much as I loved the people at SNL, so then I was good.”

But then the 2016 presidential election began, and Meyers said he was “super jealous” that he wasn’t on SNL anymore.

“Obviously, not just for myself but for a lot of my colleagues, it was an election that was tailor made for comedians to talk about every night,” he said.

During the the election, Meyers said, he and his “Late Night” team decided to make a production change that became a key characteristic of his show.

Unlike other night talk show hosts, Meyers doesn’t do his opening monologue standing up in front of the crowd. Instead, he throws it back to his “Weekend Update” days and sits behind his desk, reading the day’s headlines and punchlines, all while attempting to maintain a straight face.

This, he said, was the show he wanted to do.

As multiple news outlets and critics reported, Meyers had found his voice.

“Since the election happened we found out this is the show we like doing,” Meyers said. “We’re going to keep trying to do it as long as we can.”

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Talking Trump

On Nov. 9, Meyers delivered a powerful, post-election monologue behind that desk.

“I do really feel for the parents who had to explain this to their kids this morning, especially parents with daughters, because a lot of them, like me, probably thought Hillary would be our first woman president, but she won’t be,” Meyers told the audience. “But that does mean that someone’s daughter is out there right now who will one day have that title.”

Holding back tears, Meyers told the audience about progressive wins in the 2016 election — including the election of U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and the legalization of recreational marijuana in California.

In his monologue, Meyers remained hopeful that President Donald Trump and his supporters would be kind to those who felt offended by Trump’s actions during the campaign trail. Meyers also held on to the assurance that somewhere out there, the first woman president was listening to his words.

“Maybe you’re a woman who’s currently a senator; maybe you’re still in college,” he said. “Hopefully you’re not a toddler, but who knows? With the way things went last night, who knows?”

Meyers told The Daily he had a very hard time sleeping on election night, saying he kept waking up and trying to process what had happened. He began taking notes in the middle of the night, he said, knowing he’d have the opportunity to sit behind his desk the next day and talk about what the experience meant to him.

“I counted myself lucky because I feel like there were so many people who couldn’t go out and tell everybody how they were feeling,” he said. “It was very cathartic to do that with an audience.”

When planning a show, Meyers and his writing team try to fit in as many jokes as possible, while maintaining a fair news balance, he said.

And though he has found a voice that suits him, Meyers said he wishes events hadn’t transpired the way they did.

“Again, if I could go back in time and have a different outcome, I would certainly be happier with that,” he said.

Though he doesn’t only talk about political news in his show — Meyers freely tackles anything on the news cycle, from Trump’s latest comments, to curious, hyperlocal news — he said he was surprised to find that now, more than ever, people have an appetite for political satire.

For now, though, Meyers said he and his writers will continue working with whatever material is made available to them through Trump and members of his team, such as Kellyanne Conway and Steve Bannon. Meyers said he’s not afraid of “normalizing” these characters, because “they’re not doing anything normal.”

The day his job will get hard, Meyers said, is when they start doing “normal” things.

“Normalizing crazy behavior, you kinda have to go out of your way to do,” he said. “We’re just basically staying in our lane of describing the actions that they take.”

Politics, comedy go together

Meyers credits his interest in politics not to Northwestern but to his New Hampshire upbringing. He said living in the swing state made him aware of political campaigns, as the “circus would come to town every four years with all the candidates.” Still, he said he owes some of his performance methods and styles to the people he met at NU. “One of the things I told my parents — because I was not a great student and I wouldn’t say I had perfect attendance in classes, but they paid a lot of money — (was that) that money

“The more fun people, the more creative people you surround yourself with, you can see your own work elevate.”

— Seth Meyers, Communication ’96 went to me meeting people who at that age inspired me to me the best person I could be,” he said.

One of those people was performance studies Prof. Paul Edwards, whom Meyers described as one of his most influential teachers.

Edwards, who will retire from the School of Communication in 2019 after 40 years of teaching, said Meyers took his Performing the American Fifties course, which examines American films, novels, culture and performance in the 1950s.

The class, Edwards said, is based on his experiences growing up in that era and touches on political and pop culture commentary. He said it also attracted many Mee-Ow performers, Meyers being one of them.

Meyers was not the kind of student who took over a room’s spotlight, Edwards said. Instead, he was a “watcher.”

“I could just feel him sometimes with his mouth behind his hands making a joke to the people in the back of the room, but he was just

somebody who was paying attention,” Edwards said. “I won’t say that he was looking for material, but he was studying people in the room, and I think that a really gifted comic has to be able to look at a room like that.”

Even then, Edwards said, Meyers had already developed an “amazing, dry, really sharp, really smart, very witty and articulate form of comedy.”

“He’s still doing it brilliantly,” Edwards said.

Edwards, who has followed Mee-Ow closely since he began teaching at NU in 1979, said he thinks comedy is one of the most authentic forms of expression and critique humans have.

The current political climate, he said, lends itself to this comedy, but news that fuel these jokes are not a recent development.

“Comedy has survived in part because politics has always been this crazy,” he said. “Trump magnifies some of the cartoon aspects of it, and he gives comedians lots of material but ... I can’t remember a time in my adult life when we weren’t mad at the government.”

For Gerasole, the Mee-Ow co-director, it is a

comedian’s responsibility to be aware of current events. Still, comedy also serves as an escape for the audience, she said.

This is why current Mee-Ow performers address any political jokes at the beginning of their shows, before switching the narrative to something else, Gerasole said.

“For the rest of the night, we just want to serve as an escape,” she said. “So many other people have done this so articulately and we don’t feel like we have to do it, but it is our responsibility to always be aware.”

When remembering his time in Mee-Ow, Meyers told The Daily he wishes he could tell his 20-year-old self to practice comedy all the time, to better figure out his voice. He encouraged current NU comedians to be fearless and embrace their comedy.

“Surround yourself with other people who want to do (comedy), because it’s very hard business to do alone,” he said. “The more fun people, the more creative people you surround yourself with, you can see your own work elevate.” ◊

Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

Q: What was your favorite bar in Evanston?

Q: Which Game of Thrones house do you belong in?

Q: Did you ever pass out in Willard after a night of hanging out in the frat quad?

A: I didn’t, I only lived in Willard freshman year and I probably only started passing out sophomore year.

Q: What was your favorite class?

A: I took history of Vietnam, it was a fantastic class.

Q: What’s your favorite spot in Evanston?

A: I was born in the Evanston Hospital so I guess that would be it?

A: We only ever went to The Keg. Nevin’s carded too hard.

A: House Stark.

Q: Thoughts on March Madness?

Q: Did the winter ever make you consider transferring?

A: My brother went and I was so upset I didn’t. It was such a thrilling season, so impressive.

Q: Did you really do your readings for class or just pretended to?

Q: Will we ever have a Seth Meyers School of Communication?

A: No, but I grew up in New Hampshire, so it wasn’t jarring.

A: I did some skimming, but I would say I’m a pretty good reader.

Q: If you could’ve majored in anything else at NU, what would it have been?

A: Journalism for sure.

A: I don’t know … Let me deflect and say I was lucky enough to work with Garry Marshall (Medill ’56) and pretty much every building in the film program is named after him. I am so lucky to have known him, and it would be nice to one day inspire people like he inspired me.

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Rapper Kweku Collins lands Lollapalooza gig within 2 years of graduating ETHS

H

ip-hop and rap artist Kweku Collins started rapping as a hobby when he was 9 years old, coming up with lyrics while making his bed in the morning before school. Eleven years later, he is on his way to stardom and will perform at Lollapalooza this summer.

Collins, who lives in Evanston and graduated from Evanston Township High School in 2015, said having a career as a musician was a “dream.” He didn’t get serious about rapping until high school, he said, when he began pursuing it as a career.

“When I was in high school I didn’t have real connections,” Collins said. “I would go onto blogs that I liked and comb through the contact pages and send emails to people that I thought would like the music … It was just emails for years.”

The ETHS graduate has since signed with Closed Sessions, a Chicago-based record label. Collins, a former member of his high school’s poetry team, writes and performs both the lyrics and vocals in his music. He said being involved with slam poetry helped him grow as a writer and lyricist, as being on the team was a great opportunity to teach, learn and get

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— Jennifer Hepp feedback.

Collins said he’s been influenced by artists such as Chance the Rapper, the Black Eyed Peas and Bob Marley. He also comes from a musical family: His father, a percussionist, played drums with Collins before he could even walk.

The young artist’s compositional process used to start out with drums, but Collins has since moved on to start with whatever aspect he sees fit — a melody, a lyric or just a riff on a guitar, he said.

“I can’t even act like there’s order to it,” Collins said.

Collins likes to rap about things that happen in his own life as well as things he observes around him, he said. He is very cautious when speaking about his opinions and does not aim to impress his beliefs on other people, he said.

Alex Fruchter, a manager at Closed Sessions, described Collins as an “authentic” person. Collins the artist and Collins the person, he said, are very much the same.

“He’s really creative and he has a unique voice that I think he’s still kind of finding,” Fruchter said. “It’s been great to watch him continue to step into his own. He’s a really

caring person and just a really positive person all around.”

Ultimately, Fruchter said, everyone has their own story, and Collins is just “really good at telling his.”

“A lot of the best artists we have … are able to do something that a listener is able to connect with and understand with, but at the same time, be blown away with how they made it up,” he said. “Kweku’s music is super familiar, but at the same time it’s super unique.”

Aidan Sigel-Bruse, a producer also signed with Closed Sessions, said Collins was shy and quiet when they first met, but he is really just like any other 20-year-old person.

“Kweku is wise beyond his years at times,” Sigel-Bruse said. “He’s got a really good world view. He’s very smart and super bright and incredibly talented.”

Sigel-Bruse said he sees a younger version of himself in Collins, and that he has enjoyed watching him get comfortable in the studio over the past few years. Collins has started to make use of the resources around him, Sigel-Bruse added.

“His (early music) was recorded on a small microphone that he plugged into his computer,” Sigel-Bruse said. “But now, he’s in the studio learning how to run the equipment and manipulate it to his benefit.”

Collins doesn’t think he fits into the Chicago rap scene because he is from Evanston, he said. However, by doing the majority of his work in Chicago, he said he

has been welcomed into the hip-hop scene.

Collins described himself as a “long-term visitor” to the city.

His latest EP, “grey,” was released on April 28. In the months leading up to a release of any new product, Collins said he is a “wreck.” He has released more than 25 songs over the past few years.

“I get so stressed out and anxiety-ridden and I’m stressing over every little detail,” he said. “By the time I put out a new project, I have hated that project for at least a month. I’ve lived with it and I made it, so of course I’m going to be very critical.”

Earlier this year, Collins traveled to and performed in Europe. Appearing on the Lollapalooza lineup is a huge achievement for Collins — he said it means a lot to him because it’s one of the biggest music festivals in the country.

Sigel-Bruse will perform alongside Collins at Lollapalooza as his DJ. He said he feels very optimistic about Collins’ career trajectory.

“He’s put in a bunch of groundwork on his own time when he was in high school,” Sigel-Bruse said, “and he’s gone through the roof. He’s going to be a successful musician for sure.”

For as hard as he works, Collins said, it can be gratifying to receive positive feedback. However, he said he doesn’t like to get caught up in the “congratulations.”

“I don’t like to pat myself on the back ever about stuff,” Collins said. “I always think that there’s more to do and higher to go.” ◊

Photos: Source: Cooper Fox for left and upper right, Zach Sorensen-Nielsen for lower right

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Dip, Drip,

STAB

Weinberg freshman grows business of ‘stickand-poke’ tattoos on Northwestern’s campus — by Samuel Bernitz

S

itting on the floor of her dorm room, Weinberg freshman Vivian Xu spread out more than 20 pages of designs she had ripped out of her sketch book, ranging from detailed images of a clown sitting on a crescent moon to simple outlines of the human figure copied from clip art.

Her tools: a box of tattoo needles, India ink, disinfecting soap and stencil paper.

Xu gives “stick-and-poke” tattoos, an art form that involves dipping a needle into ink and poking it into skin. Since November, she has poked more than 40 designs into herself and her friends.

“I gave my first tattoo with a blunt embroidery needle,” Xu said. “I broke open

an old Pilot Pen, and used the ink inside of there.”

This form of amateur body art has grown in popularity because it’s free, easily accessible and offers a more simplistic aesthetic, McCormick freshman Alex Castro said.

Over the last few months, Xu has begun using specialized tattoo needles, which she gets for $0.30 each on Amazon. The needles are dipped in ink and then plunged into skin to form a dot, she said.

The depth of the poke determines the permanence of the design, which tends to fade faster than professional tattoos, Xu said. Some begin to blur within four or five years, she said.

Xu starts by picking out a drawing with her subject. She helps the person decide which part of the body will work best, she said, and depending on the complexity of the design, she will either use a stencil or draw directly on their skin. Then she washes the skin with tattoo soap, gets a needle ready and begins poking. Xu pokes two or three layers, she said, so the lines appear continuous.

“I really like the idea of putting original designs on someone’s body forever,” Xu said.

Xu has garnered a following on Instagram by posting pictures of body art she’s made. People from as far as downtown

Chicago have trekked to Northwestern for her designs, she said.

Seeing her growing popularity, Xu said she soon realized it was not something she could do for free.

“It takes a long time, and if we’re not that close, you kind of have to compensate me,” Xu said.

Xu typically charges about $20, but the exact price depends on how long the process takes her. She said she sometimes accepts unique forms of compensation — for instance, some people pay her with small art pieces.

She added that she refuses to do “tacky” quotes or infinity signs.

“You can definitely put thought into your design,” she said. “But the point is you’re supposed to go for it in the moment.”

Xu said she is looking to expand her business and wants to tattoo more people.

As an effort to grow the business, Xu said she gave tattoos at a flea market nearby on Tuesday.

The time commitment has never been a problem for Xu; she said she only gives tattoos when she wants to and does not let the business interfere with school.

Castro, the McCormick freshman who also does his own stick-and-poke tattoo art, said he likes the freedom of being able to do tattoos himself.

If he ever got something more intricate,

he said he would get it professionally done.

For now, however, he likes the spontaneity of doing his own.

“It definitely requires more risk taking,” he said. “(You need) to be able to go with the flow, and have confidence in yourself and whoever you’re with.”

Though do-it-yourself tattoos are getting more and more popular, there are also some health concerns to be aware of. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, sharing needles, containers or ink can all facilitate the spread of blood diseases.

Kevin Owings, owner of Chicago tattoo parlour Mind Crusher Tattoo, warned against such risks.

“Doing something spontaneously, that’s a life risk,” Owings said. “And on top of that I’ve never seen one single stick-andpoke that looks good at all.”

Although giving tattoos can be fun, it is also a large responsibility, he said. Owings said he owns a special device used to sterilize needles.

Xu said she uses sterilized needles, but admitted to sharing needles between trusted friends once or twice. Despite the risks, Xu said she plans to keep inking. v “It’s just fun and cute, and it’s by your friends,” Xu said. “Stick-and-pokes have their own essence, especially when they fade. (They) carry a story.” ◊

“‘Stick-and-pokes’ have their own essence, especially when they fade.

(They) carry a story.”

— Vivian Xu, Weinberg freshman Photos: Source: Vivian Xu

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W Waa-Mu Show increases inclusivity efforts through community outreach, transparency — by Kelley Czajka

A

fter a year of thinking about superheroes and super powers, the Waa-Mu Show co-chairs learned how to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, both onstage and behind the scenes.

“Beyond Belief: A Superhero Story” tells the story of a girl named Skylar who is sick and in the hospital. To comfort her, Skylar’s older sister, CJ, tells her stories about superheroes. Following her release from the hospital and the start of high school, Skylar realizes the superheroes in the stories are really based on CJ’s friends.

The Waa-Mu Show is an entirely student-written musical, largely worked on through a “Creating the Musical” class held Winter Quarter.

Inspiration for this year’s show struck when one of the head writers brought up the origin story of the Superman comics during an early meeting. The comics were written as an escape from what was happening in the writers’ lives, said Waa-Mu co-chair Charlotte

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Morris, who plays a student in the show. The Waa-Mu team drew a parallel between writing to escape the difficulties of life and what they do in theater, the Communication senior said. That idea eventually morphed into the plot of “Beyond Belief.”

Last year’s Waa-Mu Show, “Another Way West,” was criticized by some students who said they were disappointed by the way it glorified the Oregon Trail and failed to discuss the mass killing of Native communities associated with westward expansion.

This year, Morris said, the four co-chairs made it their goal from the beginning to include as many student voices and have as many eyes on the show as possible before the premiere of “Beyond Belief.”

“At no point do we ever want the Northwestern community to feel like we are alienating any portion of our community or offending them or taking any of their stories lightly,” Morris said. “We wanted to respond in a way that showed that while that has happened in

the past, we are 100 percent moving forward and making sure that never happens again.”

E arly efforts

The Waa-Mu team began its inclusivity initiative in the fall, hosting open dialogues for anyone on campus, whether they had been involved in the show or not, to discuss ways they felt underserved by Waa-Mu in the past.

In an effort to reach beyond the student body, Waa-Mu’s student outreach committee hosted a panel for faculty and students to discuss the inclusivity of the organization.

Morris said she found the panel to be a productive opportunity to listen to outside voices.

“What we really gained from that is there’s always something more that we can do and another person we can listen to,” Morris said.

“So as we go into that, what’s been really exciting is that we hear and listen to all of the voices.”

They turned that lesson into action by welcoming everyone who wanted to be involved

WAA-MU with the organization. This year’s Waa-Mu team included 137 students, which is larger than usual, Morris said, allowing the show’s quality to improve.

“One of our main writers this year is an engineer, and he’s written five songs in the show with his writing partner,” Morris said.

“I don’t know if that’s somebody that we necessarily would have been able to reach if we hadn’t made as much of an effort as we did, and the show wouldn’t be what it is right now if he wasn’t working on it.”

The student, Communication and McCormick freshman Alec Steinhorn, joined Waa-2 in the fall, requiring him to take the writing class in the winter. Waa-2 is a freshman outreach group that rehearses songs as they are being written and performs in public throughout the year. Steinhorn said he and his writing partner, Communication freshman Jordan Knitzer, helped with the revision of one of the songs.

“We worked collaboratively with the original writers and ended up creating something that I think was a successful improvement of the original work while still respecting the ideas and the creative content of the first piece,” Steinhorn said.

From there, Steinhorn got considerably more involved, he said, and Waa-Mu has ended up being a home for him on campus.

Once people get over the initial intimidation of putting their foot in the door, he said, Waa-Mu is a very supportive, inclusive organization.

“I want that support that I felt to be shared with as many people as possible,” he said. “The greatest asset that this institution has is its bank of resources.”

Seeking feedback

The Waa-Mu co-chairs and student outreach committee sought out ways to gather feedback for the show, including face-to-face conversations, an anonymous feedback form and open rehearsals. Additionally, a member of Waa-Mu’s student outreach committee went to every rehearsal to note aspects of the show that could potentially be “triggering.”

Photos: Alex Castro/The Daily Northwestern

Morris said having so many people in the room who are not directly involved in Waa-Mu provided an opportunity to scrutinize details of the musical that may not sit well with viewers. Morris, the other co-chairs and the writers, who have been working on it for months, may fail to see those things simply because they are so close to the show, she said.

“Somebody can come into the room once and listen to a line in the song once and say, ‘I don’t know how I feel about that’,” Morris said.

Several other students have come forward to the co-chairs about parts that made them uncomfortable, such as one actor’s costume or another actor who felt their character was becoming the trope “stupid character.”

Creating an open environment allowed the team to address these issues so that everyone could enjoy putting on the show as much as possible, said co-chair and Communication senior Jessie Jennison, who plays main character Skylar.

“The answer will never be, ‘Get over it’,” Jennison said. “The answer from us all year has tried to be, ‘Thank you so much for coming to us. We understand your concern, and we will do everything we can to fix it’.”

Steinhorn said he especially appreciated the co-chairs’ efforts to increase transparency in the deliberation of which songs made it into the musical. He said this year, everyone was invited to attend the Friday sections, which were previously reserved for co-chairs and section heads.

“I’ve known the reason why songs have been revised or cut,” Steinhorn said. “I’m able to see the artistic merit in those decisions and also have ample warning to do those revisions, and it doesn’t feel like people are just taking my work and changing it without my consent.”

Beyond campus

To increase its outreach beyond Northwestern, Waa-Mu will host a Community Day on Saturday. The event will offer a variety of opportunities for Evanston residents to see

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the show and participate in other activities.

The Community Day will include Wee-Mu, a theater workshop for 5 to 10-year-olds; Club Waa-Mu, a similar but new workshop for 11 to 13-year-olds; and an American Sign Language and sensory-friendly performance. This is the first time the Community Day and ASL performance have been done for a Waa-Mu show.

Waa-Mu decided to include the accessible performance after the class did a workshop with Delaney Burlingame, a Communication senior. Burlingame, a member of Seesaw Theatre — a theater group that works to produce accessible theater for those with developmental differences — told them one big way to increase inclusivity and accessibility is to create programming that caters to specific groups.

Captured: Waa-Mu Alex Castro/The Daily Northwestern

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With that programming in place, more people will come to the show and feel welcome there, Jennison said.

“We’re really excited this year to have a lot of opportunities for younger audience members to get involved,” said co-chair and Communication senior Justin Tepper, who plays Mr. Brooks. “The show this year is a family show. It revolves around one family, and it takes place in a high school, so we feel that a lot of the themes are very much relatable to children.”

They also launched a partnership this year with the Gale Community Academy in Rogers Park. Four Waa-Mu students have gone to the school twice a week to teach the academy students about music and lyric writing during their music enrichment period. Assistant director Ryan Martin, a Communication

senior, said this opportunity has been a powerful experience for him.

“I feel very lucky to be a part of it and to watch this thing that hopefully becomes a staple, to watch it develop,” he said.

The Waa-Mu co-chairs said increasing inclusivity is a long process that is difficult to complete within a year. The hope, they said, is that the programs and measures they put into place will allow future co-chairs to continue their inclusivity efforts.

“We’ve tried to reexamine what we do and make sure that it still resonates with the people that are on this campus now,” Jennison said. “We’ve tried to lay the groundwork so that when we come back for our 10-year reunion, Waa-Mu will be representative of the campus 10 years from now and not what it looks like today.” ◊

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