October 2018
Laughing to the Polls
American (inner) Beauty
A Burgeoning Legacy
Open Tab
Ike Barinholtz takes on Trumped-up family drama in new dark comedy p.5
NU theater students debut new shows at Edinburgh Festival Fringe p.8
Miss America pageant gets rid of swimsuit portion – is it enough? p.10
Firehouse Grill charms with aesthetic, falls short on flavor p.14
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THE MONTHLY Contents
Laughing to the Polls
Ike Barinholtz takes on Trumped-up family drama in new dark comedy
A Burgeoning Legacy
Students debut new shows at the Edinburgh Fringe for the second year
American (inner) Beauty
Miss America got rid of its swimsuit portion, but is it enough to bring the pageant into the 21st century?
Open Tab
Firehouse Grill charms with aesthetic, falls short on flavor
05 08 10 14
Staff of The Monthly Issue 13
Madeleine Fernando Jane Recker Monthly Editors Ruiqi Chen Designer
Stavros Agorakis Crystal Wall Charlotte Walsh Writers
Cover photo and page 3 photo: Source: Roadside Attractions Publicity
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Finding the Silver Lining As the old saying goes: “When Taylor Swift starts voicing her political opinions, you know shit’s gotten pretty bad.” Congress has always been a mess, the presidency has been plagued by sex scandals before, but, regardless of political leaning, there’s always been something pure and austere about the Supreme Court. Which is why the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh has been such a blow to the American psyche. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford provided courageous and compelling testimony in Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings, but regardless of whether you think he’s guilty, this is still a man who rambled incoherently about beer in a prepared statement, who lied about his high school yearbook to a Senate committee, and who has held on to his calendars for over 30 years. While the last complaint is more a mildly disturbing eccentricity than a valid disqualifier, everything prior is more than enough reason to give any American pause about the capability of Kavanaugh to take on the responsibilities of the highest court in the nation. But of course, you know this already. What I’ve written above has been stated in so many words by every major media outlet, late night talk show and impassioned Facebooker in the country. This is the disturbing reality of our modern media: while these issues are serious and absolutely merit coverage, our hyper-analysis of every political gaffe and addictive obsession with palace intrigue has created a modern media that fails to accurately represent the positive change simultaneously existing within the madness. Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court on Saturday, but just one day before, Jason Van Dyke was found guilty for the murder of Chicago teen Laquan McDonald, an unprecedented victory for those working toward an end to police brutality. After spending three years without a face, Katie Stubblefield at the age of 21 became the youngest successful face transplant patient, marking a major success for the experimental life-changing surgery. And, after an Instagram post where Taylor Swift endorsed Tennessee’s Democratic candidate for senator and urged her followers to vote for candidates that supported all human rights, Vote.org saw a massive spike in voter registration, with more individuals registering to vote in the 24 hours after the post than in the entire month of August. Sharing good news is what we’ve aimed to do in this issue of The Monthly. From Miss America trying to bring itself into the 21st century to a professional magician making magic accessible to all, we wanted to give you, dear reader, a brief respite from our 24-hour news cycle to read about some good.
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hortly after the 2016 presidential election, Ike Barinholtz, like many other Americans, had his family over for Thanksgiving. But after the turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, Barinholtz discovered a new element added to his Thanksgiving table: Trumped-up political arguments. Inspired by a “spirited discussion” between himself, his brother and his mother at the dinner table, Barinholtz said he woke up the morning after Thanksgiving thinking about the new dynamic of his family’s conversations, and what similar events might have happened at gatherings across the country. “I turned to my wife and said, ‘Oh my god, if we’re all on the same side, and all voted for the same person, what in the world is going on at some other tables?’” Barinholtz said. “I knew the arena of the family holiday table had been changed forever. There was no going back.” Set to premiere in Chicago on Oct. 12, Barinholtz’s new film — the dark comedy “The Oath” — takes the concept of the Thanksgiving comedy and reinvents it by working in the modern component of the hyper-aggressive political argument with a looming government crisis. “The Oath” focuses on Chris (Barinholtz), a hot-headed liberal news junkie, and his level-headed wife Kai (Tiffany Haddish)
who learn of a new government policy asking citizens to sign a loyalty oath to the president. Shocked and appalled, they refuse to sign. But as the post-Thanksgiving deadline looms, the couple experiences pressure from their families as well as two government agents ( John Cho and Billy Magnussen) who pay a surprise visit to the house. Barinholtz said he identified with his character Chris, who is obsessed with the news to the point where he can’t resist indulging even during family gatherings. He likened the impulse to check the news to a coffee addiction. One, two, even three cups of coffee a day is fine and makes for a responsible and informed citizen. But drink 50 cups and a heart attack is right around the corner. “I feel like some people go to that wormhole where they’re just nonstop obsessed with it,” he said. “It’s not a good way to live and, quite frankly, we don’t deserve to live that way. One of the messages to take away from the movie is that it’s okay to unplug once in a while.” When Chris’ obsession with the news comes to a head around the postThanksgiving deadline to sign the loyalty oath, his comments rub his family members the wrong way, Barinholtz said. Chris becomes “insufferable,” he said, beginning a fight that ruins Thanksgiving dinner, yelling at Kai and telling his parents to “f--k off.”
Barinholtz said he wanted to make a film that showed all sides of the political spectrum. In addition to the liberal Chris and Kai, the movie features more conservative personas, including Chris’ brother and his girlfriend, as well as more politically neutral characters like Chris’ parents and sister. Despite Barinholtz’s real-life liberal tendencies, he said he wanted to depict both parties as fairly as possible.
“I think there’s a version of this movie where my character, who is the most liberal in the movie, is not only right, but he behaves great and he’s kind and he has a six-pack,” he said. “I don’t want to see that movie. That movie’s not true to life… I want to make Photos: Source: Roadside Attractions Publicity
a movie where people feel like they’re not being talked down to, regardless of whatever side of the aisle they’re on. I wanted to show all sides, warts and all.” Co-producer Sean McKittrick, who previously produced films like “Get Out,” “BlacKkKlansman” and “Donnie Darko,” echoed in production notes it was important that the script stayed as unbiased as possible, and did not lean too far to one side or the other. He, Barinholtz and co-producer Raymond Mansfield were insistent no political viewpoint “should escape unscathed.” “We felt it was important to show that we’re all going crazy,” McKittrick said. “It’s not just the liberals, or just the conservatives. What’s going on is driving everyone nuts, and we made sure the film reflected that. The goal wasn’t to choose a political side.” Barinholtz said the film began to feel more relevant and topical as time passed. During the writing, prep and post-production processes, he saw news stories that echoed the film’s script. For Barinholtz, events such as “macabre” cabinet meetings and the infamous James Comey firing reinforced the
idea that “The Oath” is an important film for people to see, as soon as possible. Mansfield, another producer of “Get Out” and “BlacKkKlansman,” agreed, saying it was important to get “The Oath” out quickly. Barinholtz actually began pre-production on the movie the same day he wrapped on the final season of “The Mindy Project. “The Oath, like ‘Get Out ’ and ‘BlacKkKlansman,’ is the type of movie that needs to be in front of an audience as soon as humanly possible,” Mansfield said. “Ike’s screenplay tapped into the zeitgeist. It has that something special we look for in our films, that urgency.” Besides Thanksgiving, another November deadline was also driving Mansfield, McKittrick and Barinholtz to create the film quickly: the midterm elections. Barinholtz said while the main goal of the film was to make people laugh, he hopes people will also walk away from the movie inspired to vote. Barinholtz said he does have optimism for the future of the country, however. While recognizing his privilege as a white male, Barinholtz said he believes the United States should have hope because of the activism of a new generation.
“I see 16-year-olds on CNN saying ‘I can’t wait to vote.’” he said. “That’s something I’ve never seen in my lifetime. And I feel like as much of a chaotic mess things are right now I feel like there’s a new generation that sees it and recognizes it and just simply is not going to partake in that.” Barinholtz’s biggest message for viewers of “The Oath?” Maybe call your brother. He noted that while Americans have some control over the administration by voting or donating money, ultimately it’s impossible to completely steer who’s going to run the government. Despite this, he said, Americans shouldn’t let these external forces ruin relationships with friends and family. “I feel like if we get to a place where we’re just simply severing all ties then… it’ll be harder to mend fences when there’s the day when there’s a totally new government or new president,” he said. “So I hope when people walk out of the movie they’re like ‘That was funny, and I was scared, and I should call my brother because we got into a big fight at Christmas last year and I called him an a--hole and that was wrong.’” “America is bigger than Donald Trump,” he said. ◊
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Northwestern theater students debut new shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the second year — by Jane Recker
“
Legacy: The Book of Names” was the title of one of the American Music Theater Project’s two shows premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but it’s also fitting nomenclature for Bienen junior Pablo Laucerica’s experience with the show’s creative process. “We had this joke that my character, while his storyline stayed the same...his name changed a thousand times,” he said. “(The creative team) was trying to figure out where he could be from and where would be the most compelling for him to have this journey. At first I was Irish and my name was Seamus McNally, then they changed it to Simon, then to Szymon, then back to Simon.” It’s a small price to pay for the opportunity to originate a role at the largest creative festival in the world. For the second year, AMTP brought together Northwestern musical theater certificate students with master students from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to debut two new hour-long musicals at the Fringe. Last year’s shows — “Atlantic: A Scottish Story” and “Atlantic: America & The Great War — were directly linked by continuing characters and storylines, but the team decided to connect this year’s shows with the overarching theme of “Legacy,” AMTP Producing Director Brannon Bowers said. “Legacy: A Mother’s Song” explored the idea of motherhood through the lives of three women from different time periods; “Legacy: The Book of Names” showed a day in the life of immigrants coming through Ellis Island. Tania Azevedo — co-creator and director of “A Mother’s Song” — said she and her co-creator knew from the beginning they wanted the show to have a feminist agenda and explore the theme of choice. They began to play with the concept of motherhood as a choice: Was it ever a choice, and if it was, how do you make that decision and what are the consequences? “Especially in musical theater, it’s fairly uncommon to see storylines that have women at the center that aren’t rooted in romantic love,” she said. “We thought that putting that storyline (of motherhood)
Photo: Justin Barbin Photography
against different socioeconomic backgrounds would allow for a really rich exploration of what motherhood is in relationship to a female identity.” The storylines of the three women were connected by the thread of Scottish folk music woven into the show. All of the music was performed by the actors onstage, who would sing and play instruments at the same time, acting as a traveling band of storytellers. The show’s central character, Sara, is in
a same-sex relationship in New York and realizes she wants children, though her partner does not. As a young, queer female artist, Azevedo said she deeply connected with the character’s struggle as a feminist to reconcile the cost of motherhood with her career. Azevedo said she and her co-creator didn’t want to make the show explicitly political, rather, they tried to create a character-driven work that would speak for itself. “We briefly touched upon what choice has looked like for women historically and what it looks like now,” she said “We’re in a world in which on the surface we have
more choice than ever before, but what (are) the emotional consequences of making that choice?” While the creative team had almost a full year to create the show, the performers rehearsed together in Glasgow for just two and a half weeks before they opened in Edinburgh. Laucerica said he was impressed by the dedication and work ethic of the Royal Conservatoire students, who were also rehearsing for a production of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” at the same time as “Legacy.” W hile Laucerica has extensive performance experience, this is his first time originating a role. He said it was interesting to approach a character without any reference for performance history. “(It was cool) to not have any basis of who had done this character beforehand (and) really make it my own,” he said. “I got to tell them what I thought the character would do in (each) scenario, I got to work with the composer and lyricist to change certain melody lines and lyrics to be more compelling in the scenario. I have the highest voice in the world but no low range, so I got to be like, ‘Hey, maybe we can change the key of this song.’” Laucerica said it was inspiring to get to work with an acting and creative team of people from all over the world, as well as experience the multitude of diversity at the Fringe and see how unifying theater can be. Featuring roughly 55,000 performances attended by over 2.7 million people, the Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world, drawing diverse, international crowds. Bowers said the students only had to perform an hour a day, then had the rest of the time to explore all the different productions being presented at the Fringe. “It’s really unique to see theater and art and comedy from all over the world and build a greater context for what art can be across the world, not just in the U.S. and Evanston,” he said. “It really broadens their minds.” ◊
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American
(inner)
Beauty
Miss America got rid of its swimsuit portion, but is it enough to bring the pageant into the 21st century?
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espite my many soapbox rants about the inherent sexism of beauty pageants, my little sister still desired nothing more than to be the Junior Miss of our hometown pageant.Though I didn’t understand why she’d want to plaster on a megawatt smile and be judged on her appearance, I helped her practice her personal statement, craft the perfect spiral curl and master her pageant walk. The day of that pageant four years ago, I was pleasantly surprised how, well, wholesome it seemed. Apart from the evening gown portion (where my sister rocked her $5 Goodwill gown) the competition was focused around the girls’ interviews, personal statement and general presentation. Watching my 11-year-old sister speak so eloquently and carry her 4-foot frame with such grace instilled a sense of sisterly pride and almost changed my feelings on pageants. Then there was the swimsuit portion. While the Junior Misses were spared from parading in front of a crowd in tasteful onepieces and nude patent leather heels, those competing in the Miss Libertyville competition had to do so to be judged on their “physical
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— by Jane Recker
fitness.” These 16 and 17-year-old girls were the same age as me; they were in my classes. Though I wasn’t the one presenting my body for examination in front of a crowd, I empathetically felt all the audience’s stares, especially those of the rogue men who had decided at that moment to drop in and check out the action. My feeling of discomfort didn’t come from the lack of clothing, or from the men’s eyes that lingered too long, or even the shitty elevator music being pumped in the background. Rather, it was the distinct knowledge that those girls were being evaluated and given merit for the physical quality of their bodies like meat being judged at the market, and that we as an active audience were implicit in their momentary dehumanization. I’m certainly not the only one who feels that way, as this year marked the first Miss America pageant to be conducted without the swimsuit portion. The landmark decision to eliminate swimsuits in the pageant was brought forth by another big shakeup in the Miss America Organization: a shift in leadership.
The Huffington Post leaked several email exchanges in December between the organization’s then-leaders — including Chief Executive Officer Sam Haskell and the show’s lead telecast writer Lewis Friedman — who made disparaging remarks when referring to contestants. In one email, when Haskell announced that past winners of the pageant should be henceforth called “Former Miss Americas” instead of “Forever Miss Americas,” Friedman said he’d come up with a different word to describe them. “I’d already changed ‘Forevers’ to ‘C-nts,’ ” Friedman wrote. “Does that work for you?” To which Haskell responded, “Perfect.” Alumna Kate Shindle (Communication ’99), was also a target of the derogatory emails following a book she published in 2014. In the book, titled “Being Miss America: Behind the Rhinestone Curtain,” she alleged that Haskell “blacklisted” those who opposed his leadership style and his general behavior. In a December 2014 email sent to Haskell by Friedman — in which he offered his condolences on the death of a pageant winner
Photos: Source: Tom Gralish/Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
— Friedman titled the subject line, “It should have been Kate Shindle.” Six months later, Shindle announced her resignation from the Miss America board, citing “toxic culture” as one of the reasons she decided to leave. “I felt that our good-faith attempts to practice oversight were characterized as destructive, hostile and/or unappreciative of other people's hard work and long hours,” Shindle said in a statement at the time. Following the resignation of Haskell and board chairman Lynn Weidner, who was also part of the email threads, the open seat in the board of trustees went to Gretchen Carlson, the former Fox News anchor and Miss America 1989. Carlson had already become a leading figure in the #MeToo movement, following a lawsuit she filed against Fox chairman Roger Ailes for charges of sexual harassment. Carlson later settled for $20 million, and became one of the movement’s most avid advocates. “We are no longer a pageant,” Carlson said in a written statement dated June 5. “We’re experiencing a cultural revolution in our country with women finding the courage to stand up and have their voices heard on many issues. Miss America is proud to evolve as an organization and join this empowerment movement.” In her effort to rebrand the competition — now referring to it as a “competition,” rather than a “pageant” — Carlson was in need of a big stunt to signal a new era in the show. The solution: eliminating the swimsuit segment. Debuting “Miss America 2.0” early this September, the organization waved “#byebyebikini,” and also loosened the requirements of the evening gown portions, allowing contestants to wear what made them feel comfortable. Unsurprisingly, the pantsuit reigned supreme on the Miss America stage. While contestants and audience members praised the new format, asserting it signaled a new era in TV beauty contests, those watching at home were not as pleased. The competition lost nearly 1.1 million viewers from the year prior when it aired on Sept. 9 — totaling a 4.3 million viewership — and slipped to a new low in ABC ratings. Vanderbilt Prof. Bonnie J. Dow wasn’t surprised. In her paper “Feminism, Miss America, and Media Mythology,” she explored
how the pageant promotes an ideal of women as plastic, doll-like, submissive sex objects who (used to) parade in swimsuits for the pleasure of men. “I think the Miss America pageant needs to be completely eliminated,” she said. “I don’t think that there’s any way to take the structure of the Miss America pageant, which is mostly about judging women on their attractiveness… and to renovate it so that it isn’t still at odds with the supposed purpose of the pageant of giving women scholarship money to further their education.” But Miss America isn’t going anywhere soon, she said, due to its massive infrastructure. Though the national organization might make decisions unpopular to viewers, it’s sustained by the thousands of local pageants that will stick to the traditions the audiences want. Local pageants like the one in my hometown. Despite yearly backlash about the thinly veiled cover for formalized polite body shaming, the swimsuit portion of the competition was still a mandatory component of the Miss Libertyville competition this past June. And my feelings about pageants have not changed either. I agree with Dow that determining women’s worthiness for scholarship money based on their waist-bust ratio is an inane and counterproductive way
to promote women in the professional arena. But I don’t know any longer that there’s no way to salvage the pageant circuit. I, like many others, was given hope this year when Miss America contestant Emily Sioma introduced herself to the nation with a strong political statement: “From the state with 84 percent of the U.S.’s freshwater but none for its residents to drink, I am Miss Michigan Emily Sioma,” she said. I was most impressed, though, by what the pageant did for my sister. Her commanding and clear speech about the importance of the medical research field led my shy, timid sister to win the crown. She spent the next year representing our town as Junior Miss Libertyville, helping at charity events, executing ceremonial ribbon cuttings and comfortably interacting with adults three times her age. Though she now says she regrets having done the pageant, I know some of my sister’s current fearlessness and leadership were developed during her time as a Junior Miss. If my sister is any proof, there are certainly good values and positive benefits as a direct result of beauty pageants.The question is, can those same advantages be sustained if pageants focus on inner, not outer, beauty? ◊ Stavros Agorakis contributed reporting.
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Communication alum Brett Schneider puts the magic in theater — by Crystal Wall
Brett Schneider (Communication ’07) was first featured in the Daily Northwestern after performing a card trick for a reporter in his one-man magic show. Now, as a professional magician and illusionist, Schneider has been featured in the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and now, once again in The Daily to discuss how he brings a healthy dose of wonder to audiences around the nation. Whether teaching an actor sleight of hand or showing off his own skills, it’s clear Brett’s view of magic goes beyond party tricks.
The Daily: You’ve been performing magic for most of your life; how’d you get started? Schneider: I found a book on optical illusions when I was five or six — that was my first moment of discovering illusion. As I got a little older, I got a big magic book for Christmas that I was too young to understand, but I rediscovered it on my bookshelf a few years later and I was hooked. The Daily: How did your time at Northwestern prepare you for your unconventional career path? Schneider: My involvement with the student theater scene was my foundation for both magic and acting. I worked briefly on “Pippin” my senior year and there’s a lot of magic in that musical. I was a consultant and taught actors how to do some of the tricks and designed some of the illusions for the production. We also had a character appear and disappear in a flash of smoke, it’s a classic. The Daily: What is the dynamic between theater and magic?
Photo: Source: Marc Safran Photography
Schneider: In our culture and in the entertainment industry, an actor and a magician are very separate things. So I still describe myself (as a magician) for clarity, but I actually think acting and magic are the same — it’s all a practice of theater. It’s hard to separate the performance from the tricks because it’s all the same package. Similar to if you watch a musical, everything including the singing and acting is part of the overall performance and storytelling. The Daily: What has been one of your favorite audience interactions? Schneider: I just toured the country doing a show called “The Magic Play,” which is a theater piece about a magician. In the show, there’s a moment where I ask an audience member, “What is the one piece of magic you most want to see?” It’s open-ended and some of my favorite moments come from that. There was an old woman who was my volunteer and she said, “I want to be able to shuffle a deck of cards again.” She couldn’t shuffle because of her arthritis. On the spot, I taught her how to shuffle a deck in a different way that didn’t put pressure on her fingers. What was great about that moment is there wasn’t a trick behind it even though it felt like magic. ◊
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Firehouse Grill charms with aesthetic, falls short on flavor
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ere at Northwestern, we’re somewhat famous for our capital construction. There’s nary a year when some major building isn’t closed in anticipation of a seemingly unnecessary replacement. Which is why it’s always refreshing to see something built before 2003 that’s been pleasantly refurbished into modernity. Walking into Firehouse Grill, one doesn’t have to look far to be reminded they’re in a repurposed fire station. From the historic paintings plastered above the bar to the exposed firehouse pipes that still run through the restaurant, Firehouse Grill knows how to play up its marketing
appeal. A special treat for parents: nestled in the corner of this cozy establishment, there’s a shelf lined with toy fire trucks to keep little ones occupied while they anxiously wait for food. There’s no shortage of menu items for those traveling with picky eaters. Their offerings run the gamut of American comfort food with everything from house made pretzels and wings to cheese curds and “disco fries” — topped with pulled pork, chili, cheese and jalapenos. And that’s just the appetizers. I decided to give their corn fritters a try. The fritters struck a harmonious balance of flavors, with the sweetness of the corn melding perfectly with the savory breaded crust and the tangy pickled onions. The end result was an explosion crunch of tastes that left me wanting more — an ideal appetizer. I wish I had savored those fritters a bit longer; they turned out to be the highlight of my meal. For the main courses, I ordered what I considered the safe bet of the “Firehouse Burger,” a classic entree with a patty, lettuce, tomato and onion sandwiched between a pretzel roll. However, for a burger crowned with the restaurant’s namesake,
— by Madeleine Fernando I wasn’t impressed. The patty was dry, largely tasteless and left much to be desired. I wish I was exaggerating when I say that even Hinman dining hall knew their way around a burger better than this place. And I’ve seen Hinman try to feed students something called a “Peanut Butter and Jelly Pineapple Hot Dog.” The Southern Fried Chicken fared slightly better, but it still wasn’t anything to write home about. Paired with mashed potatoes, the chicken had a satisfying crispy texture but still didn’t hold a candle to Chicken Shack delivery that costs half the price and doesn’t make me leave my couch. Perhaps Firehouse Grill would be a better bet for individuals more concerned about dining ambiance than food quality. Though the bar was still busy on a Sunday night, this was still distinctly a family-friendly establishment. The cozy, comforting atmosphere and their Saturday karaoke nights would make Firehouse Grill a great bet for younger families. But for a college student on a budget? Not sure I can justify the 20-plus minute trek to Main Street for aggressively average grub. Try a dessert at your own risk — or save your money and head to Hoosier Mama, conveniently located across the street. ◊
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