Street Vol. 4, 10/8/2015

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday october 8, 2015

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PAGES DESIGNED BY LIN KING :: STREET EDITOR

HOW YOU MET YOUR ROOMATE This week, Contributor CATHERINE WANG investigates what many students have been wondering since even before Day 1: how did I end up with my roommate?

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t first glance, Anna Leader ’18 and Alexandra Mendelsohn ’18 might seem like practically the same person. Besides being brunette and around the same height, they were dressed in similar outfits when I met them for the first time. Leader then accidentally introduced herself first as Allie (Mendelsohn) before realizing her mistake, adding to the overall confusion.

The similarities only became more remarkable as the conversation went on. In spite of being from opposite sides of the world, Leader from Luxembourg and Mendelsohn from New Jersey, the two of them share strangely similar life experiences. “We have a lot of weird similarities … like we’d both written three novels before coming here. And our moms both had seven siblings,” Mendelsohn said.

The most remarkable aspect of their friendship, however, is that it began when Leader and Mendelsohn were randomly placed into a double together in their freshman year. Somehow, Forbes College managed to pair two people who have impressively similar personalities, interests and physical characteristics.

Both Leader and Mendelsohn had been anxious about meeting their roommates before coming to campus, as they had heard the horror stories about pairs who had clashed terribly.

However, after meeting each other, they soon realized that they shared a deeper connection.

Now, they are practically inseparable — and they are still roommates as sophomores. According to them both, they go to the gym together, eat most of their meals together, share many of the same friends, and last year, even had 80 percent of their classes together. Of course, the last of these similarities is helped by the fact that both of them are comparative literature majors.

Could this pairing have just been serendipitous? Mendelsohn does not

think so. “It feels like it’s not that random — I think there’s too many weird similarities between us.”

They have plenty of theories about how they might have been put together.

The matriculation housing form that all incoming freshmen fill out over the summer is one thing they think may have been a major factor.

“I have a vague memory of at least considering asking for somebody who writes, because I knew that I tend to click with people who write. I don’t remember if I actually did — but if I did then I would imagine that that had something to do with it,” Mendelsohn said.

Leader noted that she did remember responding on the survey that she liked to write. Both also requested a politically liberal roommate, and Leader put that she was a vegetarian while Mendelsohn said she was a pescaterian.

Another theory that Leader has is that international students and local students from around New Jersey tend to get paired together as roommates. “I didn’t know anyone in this area, so it would’ve been hard. I know it’s in other colleges too, like Brown explicitly told my sister when she was on a college tour that they put internationals and locals together,” she said.

Theories aside, how does the whole roommate system actually work? There is a method to the madness, but the perfect match of Leader and Mendelsohn as roommates is as much a result of pure chance as it is a result of intentional placement.

Angela Hodgeman, the manager of undergraduate housing, explained that at the beginning of the process, each student is electronically assigned into one of the six colleges. “The residential college assignment process is completely random — nothing is taken into consideration. The colleges do their own placement after they get their lists,” she said.

Each residential college has a Direc-

COUTESY OF ANNA LEADER

Alexandra Mendelsohn ’18 and Anna Leader ’18, roommates extraordinaire.

tor of Student Life who is in charge of assigning students to their rooms. They are therefore the ones who are in charge of roommate matching.

The Director of Student Life (DSL) at Butler College, Dr. Alexis Andres, explained that the whole process of matching up roommates is done by hand and with careful consideration.

“Personally, I rely on the Matriculation Housing Form to understand a student’s preferences,” Andres said. This includes whether a student wants substance-free housing, their sleep COUTESY OF PRINCETON UNIVERSITY patterns, how many roommates they want The South Courtyard of Whitman College, the most recent of Princeton’s six residential colleges. and other considerations. at 3 a.m. the night before the other’s mate that I know nothing about, but I There are specific requests that are midterm,” Mendelsohn said. don’t feel okay with picking a random taken more seriously than others, However, differences in habits do roommate that I know nothing about particularly any special needs. Dean not equate to incompatibility. Men- ... but if you chose your roommate, Bryant Blount is specifically in charge delsohn and Leader later explained there would be a lot of pressure for it to of handling the special needs hous- that the aforementioned pair of room- turn out great, which doesn’t happen if ing process, which is done before the mates were still very good friends. you’re assigned one,” she added.

DSLs begin the matching process. It is “They shared a passion for video According to University spokesmeant to “ensure that those students games, and they smoked cigars to- person Martin Mbugua, “No sigwith documented medical needs can gether and they played weird music nificant changes have been made [in get those needs met in their assigned together,” Leader said. past years] and there are no changes college. Sometimes the special needs Colvin agreed, emphasizing that the planned for the foreseeable future” in requests included documented medi- differences between his roommates terms of the room assignment process cal needs for single rooms, but often and him have not caused any strife. at Princeton. the requests deal with mobility is- “We’re all very different people, but we There is technically an option for sues and/or allergy concerns,” Andres definitely get along well,” he said. freshmen who are truly incompatexplained.

The Directors of Student Life cannot ible with their roommates to request a Matching roommates by hand, how- assure that every pairing is a successful change of housing through their DSL. ever, means that not everything can be one with the current process, but An- That being said, there is one issue with taken into account. Certain requests dres said that she is open to trying oth- this failsafe, which is that the Unican go unfulfilled if others are deemed er possibilities in the future. “It would versity is currently short on housing more important. “We ended up in an be interesting to explore a computer spaces after over-enrollment from the all-girls hallway last year, and none of matching program that could help cre- classes of 2016 and 2019. “The college us requested it. But then one girl who ate roommate groupings based on the bed spaces are often completely filled did ask for an all-girls hallway ended students’ requests and the available bed ... this is currently the case in Butler for up in the co-ed hallway downstairs,” configurations in the residential col- first-year students,” Andres said. “UsuLeader and Mendelsohn said. leges,” she said. ally the first response to a student with This can create problems, as roomOther universities such as Boston roommate difficulties is for the RCA to mates can sometimes have difficul- University and Cornell University al- sit down with the students and try to ties adjusting to one another’s habits, low for incoming freshman to select mediate the situation.” whether it be messiness or sleep habits. their own roommates. Many students While not all roommates may end Jordan Colvin ’19, who lives in Whit- will create Facebook groups to choose up quite as compatible as Leader and man College, currently lives in a quad their own roommate rather than allow Mendelsohn, a key part of the freshwith three other people, all of whom the school to assign them one. man year experience is that of living had asked for a quad. He believes that There aredownsides to this process, in a dorm, whether it be in a single or this may have been the reason why they however. Leader does not think that with roommates. It serves not only were all paired together, but the result letting freshmen find their roommates to force freshman to learn how to is that the four of them are not very online is a good idea. “I wouldn’t have adapt to complex social situations, similar. “One of my roommates is real- wanted that responsibility. I would but also as a way to accustom stuly into playing black-and-white movie have been really stressed out about dents to how Princeton functions as music, and I definitely sleep a lot later that — especially based on someone’s a living community. than the rest of them,” he said.

Facebook profile, I don’t trust my abil“We want their residential college Leader and Mendelsohn told a story ity to gauge people off of the internet,” to feel like home, and having a good about a pair of roommates living near she said. roommate match, or matches, can be them who were not quite compatible.

“It’s weird, because I’m totally okay the key to making the college feel com“One roommate came in and threw up with being assigned to a random room- fortable and welcoming,” Andres said.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday october 8, 2015

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A Gyan Prakash & Q

History professor and screenwriter of ‘Bombay Velvet’

Interviewed by

VICTORIA SCOTT Senior Writer

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ast week, “Bombay Velvet” showed at Princeton Garden Theatre as a Prof Picks movie.

Street went behind the scenes with Gyan Prakash, a history professor as well as the film’s screenwriter and the author of the book “Mumbai Fables.” In this interview, he shares his inspiration for the book, discusses his thoughts on the film and takes us through the screenwriting process.

Daily Princetonian: What inspired “Mumbai Fables”?

Gyan Prakash: The inspiration for “Mumbai Fables” was personal. Mumbai is not my hometown. I grew up more than 1,000 miles away from it.

But Bombay, as the city was called until 1995, loomed large

in my youthful imagination.

It was never just a big city, but a myth, a legend, an object of desire. This desire was stoked by cinema, magazines, novels and newspapers, which together created a fabulous image of the city. The physical distance rendered it a mythic place of discovery and sustained the experience of growing up as a fantasy of exploring what was beyond one’s reach, what was “out there.”

My actual encounter with the city was many years later in 2000, when I spent three months there trying to figure out what to do with my youthful obsession. As I walked around the city, soaking in the sights of streets, buildings and crowds, my fascination with Bombay did not diminish. I became curious to understand the source of Bombay’s allure. I am a historian, so I decided to dig beneath

the myths to find out what produced them, what were the backstories behind the stories the city told about itself. As I researched Mumbai’s history over the next eight years, I found myths, aspirations, dreams and nightmares lurking behind the city’s brick and mortar. “Mumbai Fables” became a quest to understand the place of imagination in the city’s history.

DP: What was it like to see “Bombay Velvet” on the silver screen?

GP: “Bombay Velvet” is not an adaption of “Mumbai Fables.” I wrote the original story and the screenplay for the film before I wrote “Mumbai Fables,” drawing on my research for the book. The director and two other co-writers revised my screenplay to create a shooting script. To finally see it on the screen — 10 years after I first wrote the

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Johnny Balraj (Ranbir Kapoor) and Rosie Noronha (Anushka Sharma) in a still from “Bombay Velvet.”

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story — was thrilling. All the ups and downs of the intervening years became worthwhile when I saw the story, the acting, the music, the period set design and the cinematography come together beautifully. The film does what it was supposed to do — that is, tell the story of how Bombay became Bombay by selling dreams to people while ruthlessly suppressing those who came in the way.

DP: What was the screenwriting process like?

GP: Script writing was a hard and long learning process, though it was enjoyable.

I had never written a script before so the first thing I did was to study examples of other scripts, like “Chinatown” and “L.A. Confidential.”

Then, I read standard books on script writing. After a lot of preparation, I started turning my original story into a script. The interesting part of it was the timing. I wrote the script in 2008 and 2009 while I was also writing [“Mumbai Fables”]. The book was helped by the discipline and economy you have to deploy in writing a script. I remember deleting pages and pages of writing because they did not meet the standards of narrative clarity and focus that comes from script writing. I think I became a better writer because of writing “Bombay Velvet.” And in writing the script, I drew on the events and characters that I write about in the book. This helped give historical richness and authenticity to the script.

I wrote numerous versions of the script before handing it to the director. Looking back, I think it was still too sprawling and too ambitious. The director and two co-writers helped to streamline it and turn it into a shooting script.

COURTESY OF MISSMALINI.COM

DP: What elements from your book did you have difficulty implementing in the movie?

GP: It was not my book but the story I had written in 2004 that I turned into a script.

Since the story concerned Bombay’s historical transformation from an industrial city to a postindustrial city of real estate and finance, it had many moving parts. The main challenge was to convey the complexity of this historical change in a compelling fictional narrative. The script, therefore, invented protago-

nists that were drawn from historical figures, and created a fictional narrative that was based on actual events. This required the script to depart from Bollywood’s conventional storytelling, which relies on melodrama and simple narrative lines. Not surprisingly, most Indian film reviewers, who are not really cinema critics but entertainment advisers and Bollywood’s gatekeepers, reacted negatively. In my view, and that of many others inside and outside India who have seen the film, “Bombay Velvet” is a triumph.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday october 8, 2015

UNFAMILIAR STREET

Jirón Grau, Urubamba, Peru JENNIFER SHYUE Assistant Street Editor

‘Unfamiliar Street’ is a new column series in which we take you around the world and introduce you to a cool STREET far from the well-trod gravel of Prospect Avenue. ere’s a confession: Before I started writing this piece, I had to use Google Maps Street View to remind myself the name of the street I’m writing about. It’s been two years and four months since I last stepped foot in Urubamba, a town in Peru’s Sacred Valley and my home for nine months during my Bridge Year, and what was once effortlessly familiar now requires a bit of dustingoff to recall.

Jirón Grau is one of the four streets that box in Urubamba’s “Plaza de Armas” (translated literally, “Weapons Plaza,” thus named because, back in the day, it’s where the town’s militia would meet when conflict arose; in modern-day usage across Latin America, a town’s central square). It runs perpendicular to the unadorned church that dominates one edge of the plaza. On one corner of Jirón Grau is the ice cream store where I sometimes got “cremoladas,” which is like sorbet that comes in flavors like passion fruit (passion fruit is always a flavor option for any dessert), strawberry (made with real fruit!) and lime. Toward the middle of the street is the Caja

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Arequipa bank whose ATM I used to take out money, where one of the other students in my group once left his debit card by accident only to recover it, miraculously, the next day. On the other end of the street is the little store where I often stopped to buy bottled water, chips (the group favorite was Piqueo Snax, which was like party mix), chocolate (always Sublime milk chocolate with peanuts; sometimes also Snickers if I was feeling indulgent or yearning for a taste of the United States) or ice cream studded with little ice chips formed after unstable refrigeration. The outside walls of almost all the buildings lining the plaza are white with red trimmings.

The island of concrete that underpins the square is really a square, except it has rounded corners. In the middle is a fountain with turquoise insides.

When he wasn’t selling churros, the churro man, whose churros were actually large pastries with flaky, sugar-powdered layers wrapped around a center filled with manjar, would stand by that fountain and talk about the apocalypse, a Bible in hand.

During the carnival in February, my host sisters and cousins and I dashed to and from that fountain to fill jugs with water we emptied over each other’s heads, shrieking with hysterical laughter. When the water was all gone from the fountain,

COURTESY OF MELANIEGOESTOPERU.BLOGSPOT.COM

we moved onto ambushing each other with pink and purple-dyed flour. That evening, I returned to our house, chilled and still damp and with flour packed into my right ear, and I was deliriously happy.

If you continue down Jirón Grau, you’ll pass Antrax, the print shop where I often went for boxes of Faber-Castell colored pencils and copies of crude worksheets I hand-wrote for the three classes of third-graders to whom I taught English — a job I was definitely not qualified for.

But if you’ve reached Antrax, then you’ve left the plaza.

The backdrop to everything is the mountains. In Street View, they are brown and bald.

In the rainy season, their slopes are green and look almost like they would be soft to the touch, like moss on a rock.

Sometimes, after we had walked unhurriedly down the side of one of the mountains in the slow-spreading darkness, I would sit with another student in my group on one of the forest-green benches that line the perimeter of the plaza, and we would talk until we couldn’t make out the other person’s features in the dark. Then he would go home, and I would, too. On our second night in Urubamba, our group leader dropped us off at the plaza, expecting us to know how to find our own way home. I am hopeless with directions and, as panic began to bloom in the space in between my ribs, I texted one of my host sisters, the one who was born just one month before me, in 1994.

By the time she responded, from Cusco, where she had returned to university after a weekend at home, I had already fumbled my way back to my house, skirting indifferent stray dogs along the way. My house was only two blocks away from the plaza.

After that, I never forgot how to get home again.

ASK THE SEXPERT This week, we discuss estrogen free birth control.

Dear Sexpert,

I recently became sexually active, and I feel like it’s good idea for me to go on birth control.

However, I have a medical condition that precludes me from using any medications that involve estrogen. Does this mean I can’t use any birth control at all? I obviously want to be safe, but I’m not sure what my options are if I can’t use estrogen. Help me out!

— Estrogen Free

Dear Estrogen Free,

Congratulations on recognizing the need to practice safer sex!

When it comes to choosing a contraceptive method that’s right for you, it’s important to consider your specific needs, so it’s great that you’re exploring your options. Luckily for you, there are plenty of birth control methods that don’t use estrogen — and many that don’t use hormones at all. In fact, many people choose to use non-hormonal contraceptives: forms of birth control that do not contain estrogen, progestin (another hormone used in some birth control) or any other hormones in order to protect you from pregnancy.

The reason that it’s important to know whether you require an estrogen-free or hormone-free form of birth control is that using these hormones may put you at risk if you have certain medical conditions. For example, those who smoke, suffer from migraines with aura or have a history of blood clots are often

discouraged from using estrogen-based birth control because estrogen can increase the risk of blood clots. For these people and others who can’t take estrogen, there are hormonal options that contain progestin rather than estrogen; the birth control shot Depo-Provera, intrauterine devices (IUDs) Mirena and Skyla, the implant Nexplanon and the mini-pill are all effective, progestin-only contraceptives.

Still other factors might prevent some people from being able to use any form of hormonal birth control, including personal preference. Whatever the case, there are still plenty of options.

The most effective are abstinence and the Paragard IUD, which is completely hormone-free and made of copper. Other hormonefree methods include condoms, both external (“male”) and internal (“female”); the cervical cap; the diaphragm; and the sponge.

Whatever you choose, it’s important to recognize that not all of these methods provide protection from sexually transmitted infections. The external and internal condoms and abstinence are the only methods of contraception that also protect against STIs. It’s therefore necessary to communicate with your partner about the use of these barrier methods and STI testing, even if you’re using another form of birth control to prevent pregnancy.

All that being said, it’s important to always consult with

a healthcare provider so you can make the best decision for yourself. Sexual Health and Wellness Services provided by McCosh Health Center is a great resource — you can speak with clinicians about your options based on your personal medical history, get more information about each type of contraceptive available to you and discuss any questions or concerns you might have. Thankfully, trying to find the right contraceptive isn’t something you have to do on your own!

— The Sexpert

Information on STI prevention and birth control methods, including non-hormonal methods: http://bedsider.org/en/methods Information about risk factors and estrogen-based birth control: http://w w w.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/articles/PMC2938905/ Information on non-hormonal contraceptive method from the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals: http://www.arhp. org/publications-and-resources/ quick-reference-guide-for-clinicians/non-hormonal-choosing Interested in Sexual Health? The Sexpert is always looking for members of the community to join the team of sexual health educators who, along with fact-checking from University health professionals, help write these columns. Email sexpert@ dailypr incetonian.com for more information and questions about sexual health. Don’t be shy!

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Anna Aronson ’16 A Q& Lauren Frost ’16

The faces of All-Nighter Season 4 Interviewed by

JACQUELINE LEVINE Staff Writer

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treet sat down with Anna Aronson ’16 and Lauren Frost ’16, the co-hosts of “All-Nighter with Anna Aronson,” to discuss their roles as hosts, some behindthe-scenes details and a little about their lives as female comedians on campus. The season premiere of All-Nighter is Oct. 9 at 10:30 p.m. in the Frist Film/ Performance Theater.

Daily Princetonian: What were your roles with All-Nighter in the past?

Anna Aronson: Well, I’m sort of new to the team. I’ve been involved in an acting capacity, doing sketch work every year, but this is my first time being on the inside. I also had the opportunity to shadow the host last year, which was helpful.

Lauren Frost: I acted in a few sketches my freshman year, applied to be a writer sophomore year and then was head writer last year.

DP: How is All-Nighter different this year? Is there a weekly format?

LF: The show is pretty much the same format that it’s always been — we’ve liked how it’s been organized in the past, so we’re continuing with that model. One thing we’re trying to do differently is to have more video content, sort of like the field pieces on “The Daily Show” where a correspondent is sent out to do a comedic report.

AA: The video content is a fun change of pace and engaging for the audience.

DP: How do you feel about being female co-hosts?

AA: We’re both really thrilled to be female co-hosts. Slowly, but surely, the entertainment industry is seeing more equity, but the late night scene is definitely lagging behind. It’s exciting to put ladies in late night.

LF: All-Nighter has changed so much just over the years that it’s been running. This is the fourth season of All-Nighter. During the first season, there were two females working on the show, and all the rest males, and now there are two males and all the rest females. The tables have turned.

DP: Is it difficult being a woman in a male-dominated industry?

AA: I become aware of the fact that women are a minority in comedy when I leave campus.

But, on campus, I hardly think about it because there have always been girls in Quipfire, which is Lauren and my improv group, and gradually it actually became majority girls last year (now we’re back to half and half).

For both of us it’s no longer a concern here at Princeton. As a matter of fact, Lauren is the artistic director of Quipfire this year.

LF: It can be depressing to go

see professional improv shows, where often a troup has one token female. But over the years since we’ve been here at Princeton the balance has evened out quite a bit.

DP: Have you been influenced by your predecessors on late night such as David Drew ’14, Adam Mastroianni ’14, Jake Robertson ’15, Amy Solomon ’14 and Eliot Linton ’15?

LF: I remember when we were freshmen, seeing the premiere of the show. It was parents’ weekend, and my parents were visiting. It was so exciting being able to show off this project that my new friends were a part of. It is crazy to now be leading that same institution.

AA: We’ve worshiped all of them since we got to campus. It was cool to become friends with them, and now we are faced with the challenge of trying to fill their shoes.

DP: As seniors, is either of you planning on pursuing comedy post-graduation?

LF: The future is pretty undecided. With the comedy world, it’s not so much, “do you choose it?” but rather, “does it choose you?” It can get pretty cutthroat.

AA: Comedy has become really popular as a field, especially improv, and the scene has become rather saturated in New York City where I’m from. But sure, I know that I want comedy to be an element of my life in some way. It’s just unclear in

what capacity right now.

DP: What does this Friday’s show look like?

AA: We have a student guest, a professor guest and a talent guest. Our student guest this week is Graham Phillips ’17, who was a Broadway star as a kid, and now is a TV and film star. He’s currently on “The Good Wife.”

We are excited to ask Graham about what it’s like to balance an acting career with school.

LF: Our musical guest is a band called St. Danger including Charlie Baker ’17, Conor McGrory ’16, Doug Wallack ’16 and …

AA: Our professor guest is a professor emerita of the African Studies department named Nell Painter. She has a bunch of degrees from a whole slew of universities including Yale and Harvard, and she’s also an accomplished painter, which may or may not be related to her name. We’ll find out on the episode.

DP: Is there anything else you would like us to know about AllNighter?

LF: While we’re the faces of the show, there are some amazing people who run it for us.

Maddy Cohen ’16 is the showrunner, Colleen Baker ’16 is our technical producer, and Vivien Bazarko ’17 is our head writer now. We have a great group of writers, and someone who films for us. [We have] our cohesive team that makes everything we do possible.

COURTESY OF ALL-NIGHTER

Co-hosts Lauren Frost ’16 and Anna Aronson ’16 at last spring’s finale.

The Daily Princetonian

Thursday october 8, 2015

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[title of article] on PUP’s ‘[title of show]’ HARRISON BLACKMAN Associate Street Editor

B

r eaking the fourth wall is always a technical challenge, regardless of dramatic medium. Yet it’s the centerpiece of the first show of the Princeton University Players’ 201516 season. In keeping with the selfreferential humor of the work, the title of the one-act play is “[title of show],” literally referring to the fact that the show is about people writing the show that is being performed.

Written by Hunter Bell and with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen, the play chronicles Bell and Bowen’s experience writing the play for the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival with their friends Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff.

Director Luke Pf legler ’17 said that the show’s title originates from the fact that the original submission form listed “Title of Show,” and

the show’s writers thought that the show’s meta-theme could be reflected in a self-referential title to the creative process.

“The whole point is that going into the show, as an audience member, it should feel like the show hasn’t been written yet,” Pflegler said. “There is no title because it is not created yet, when you walk in.”

The PUP production stars Allen Hernandez ’16 as Hunter, Manny Marichal ’16 as Jeff, Katie Birenboim ’16 as Heidi and Abigail Melick ’17 as Susan. The four cast members faced the unique problem of playing characters that the original cast performed as themselves.

“In some ways that makes it more challenging because the original roles are so identifiably those people and that’s part of the humor of this piece, but I do have some similarities

SADIE VAN VRANKEN :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Top from left to right: Allen Hernandez ’16 as Hunter, Abigail Melick ’17 as Susan and Katie Biremboim ’16 as Heidi; bottom: Manny Marichal ’16 as Jeff.

with the character, so that makes it easy,” Birenboim said. “It made me scared at first because the role is so identifiably her, but you just have to treat it like any acting role, ultimately.”

Because the characters are based on real people, Marichal prepared by watching a YouTube series called “the [title of show] show” created by the cast when they were trying to bring “[title of show]” to Broadway.

“I watched some of those to see what [Jeff Bowen] is actually like, which is something you don’t actually have the experience of, actually watching the person,” Marichal said.

One of the immediate challenges of “[title of show]” is drawing a fine line between being self-referential and fulfilling the serious, dramatic needs of the medium.

“You have to be very aware of when we’re including the audience and when we’re not, because some things are very much in the show — it’s two actors dealing with their friendship, with how they want to create, but some things are very much said to the audience,” Pflegler said. “Sometimes it’s less clear which is what. One of the main struggles is looking at how the characters all have their arcs, but they go back and forth between being aware of the audience and not, and being aware that they are in a show and not.”

Drawing this distinction between self-referential humor and in-character drama is critical, especially since the minimalist set-design of the show lends itself to the kind of breaking down of dramatic barriers. Four chairs, each designed to correspond to the characteristics of each lead role, are the only major props. A fifth character who plays the piano makes occasional appearances in the script, but for the most part, it’s all up to the actors.

TOP TEN Things to do at Parents’ Weekend

1 3 5

Hug your parents.

2 4 6 8 10

Tell them you have work to do.

Send them to the University Art Museum.

Send them to a show.

Tell them you’re going to bed.

Tell them you’re not hungover.

SADIE VAN VRANKEN :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

According to Birenboim, the play’s songs involve four-part harmonies with four parts — meaning that there is an added imperative for each actor to hit their notes. Additionally, Marichal stressed the endurance aspect of the 90-minute one-act.

“The guys are always on stage the entire show, which is also really taxing,” Marichal said.

Among the show’s many humorous songs, Marichal and Birenboim consider “Die Vampire, Die!” and “A Way Back to Then” to be highlights.

Another song, “Monkeys and Playbills,” addresses the dramatic process through its lyrics that invoke the titles of playbills and an ad-hoc story about monkeys, alluding to the seemingly arbitrary process of creativity. Overall, “[title of show]” seeks to dramatize this process of creation, according to Pflegler.

“It’s about creating. We all can be creators. Everyone … has gone through a time whether it’s an essay or a song, or anything — they have felt these feelings and gone through these struggles,” Pflegler said. “It’s immensely relatable.”

PHOTO PREVIEW: ‘GIDION’S KNOT’

T

heatre Intime’s 2015-16 season kicks off this weekend and next with “Gidion’s Knot,” a play that explores the consequences of an explosive parent-teacher conference. Directed by Victoria Gruenberg ‘17 and starring Hope Kean ‘18 and Ugonna Nwabueze ‘18, the show explores women’s roles as “nurturers and educators” and maintains a philosophical bent. This weekend, “Gidion’s Knot runs Friday, October 9 and Saturday, October 10 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, October 11 at 2 p.m. Next week, the show will run Thursday, October 15 and Friday, October 16 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, October 17 at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.

STREET’S

7 9

Wait in line for an hour at PJ’s Pancake House.

Walk them through the U-Store.

Hug your parents again.

Sigh in relief.

CAMPUS PICKS FILM PRINCETON FILM SOCIETY PRESENTS ADVANCED FILM SCREENING OF “STEVE JOBS” Princeton Garden Theatre Thursday, 8 p.m.

Yes, you read that correctly. Thanks to Princeton Film Society, students can see the much-anticipated biographical film “Steve Jobs” tonight, more than two weeks before its nationwide release on Oct. 23. Directed by Academy Awardwinning director Danny Boyle and with a formidable cast including Michael Fassbender as Jobs, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels, the so-called “intimate portrait” of the iconic man behind the iconic brand has already garnered critical acclaim. Tickets can be picked up at Princeton Garden Theatre with a valid PUID.

POETRY ELLIPSES SLAM TEAM PRESENTS ‘NEW S#!T ARCH SLAM’ KASPARAS SPOKAS :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Blair Arch Thursday, 10 p.m.

“There’s no shit like new shit,” someone wise once wrote on the Facebook description of Ellipses Slam Team’s poetry arch slam, and we couldn’t agree more.

Join Ellipses this Thursday at Blair Arch as they celebrate their eight new members with some beautiful words to wrap up your week. Get your fingers ready for snapping and your throats ready to hum lots of “Mmm,” because the poetry will be good — and, let’s face it, it’s fun to make noises when the acoustics are that good.

EVENT PRINCETON STUDENT EVENTS COMMITTEE PRESENTS FALL FEST KASPARAS SPOKAS :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

KASPARAS SPOKAS :: CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

HEADLINERS AND HEADSHAKERS headlines you didn’t read this week DAILY PRINCETONIAN STAFF

Volcker ’49 cleans out basement, do nates public service papers to U. As program increases in size, Humanities Sequence adds mentors, event organizers and an ever-expanding reading list Principedia, wiki of courses offered at U., launches; still not a citable source for theses

12.7 PERCENT, U. ENDOWMENT RETURNS LESS SOLICITS UP TO $22.7B; U. NEVERTHE ANNUAL GIVING USG report brings change to dining hall hours, food options; still no sign of waffle fry expansion

Fields Murray-Dodge Café, temporarily in like Center, feels stranded far from home Matt Damon in ‘The Martian’

Frist South Lawn Friday, 4 p.m.

What says “fall” better than a violent rainstorm and a 20-degree dip in temperature? New Jersey doesn’t know, but Princeton Student Events Committee certainly does. Head to the Frist South Lawn after class this Friday for some pumpkin-carving, apple cider-drinking, fall themed tote bag-decorating and leafviewing. Hopefully, the squirrels will be too busy collecting nuts to disturb the Qdoba nacho bar and Terhune Orchards donuts.

READING JHUMPA LAHIRI AND MARY SZYBIST Berlind Theatre Wednesday, 4:30 p.m.

You have seen their names on your course syllabi, in The New Yorker and on Amazon’s “best books” lists, and now you can see them in real life. Join Pulitzer Prize-winning author and creative writing professor Jhumpa Lahiri (“Interpreter of Maladies,” “The Lowland”) and National Book Awardwinning poet Mary Szybist (“Incarnadine”) next Wednesday afternoon, when they will be reading from and discussing their work. Just last month, President Barack Obama awarded Lahiri the 2014 National Humanities Medal for having “deepened the nation’s understanding of the human experience.” This event is part of the Althea Ward Clark W’21 Reading Series and is free and open to the public.