At MU Tonight’s last show of the semester on April 27, host Daniel Litwin performed a monologue, interviewed Tori Schafer, MU It’s On Us director, and Zahria Moore, Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival finalist, and the three of them played a game: “Is it a Skittles flavor or flavored lube?”
MU Tonight mimics the structure and tone of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
In his monologue, Litwin joked about the week in news and pop culture, such as Google’s new feature that deletes confidential Gmail messages.
“This is perfect for hipster millennials who are tired of Snapchat updates, which are atrocious, and are looking to send nudes the old fashion way,” Litwin joked in his monologue.
After his monologue, he invited Schafer on stage. Litwin and Schafer are both graduating in May and told the crowd about their post-graduation plans. Also, Schafer discussed her role in It’s On Us, the nationwide organization that works to end sexual assault. She recently received the Biden Courage Award, which recognizes students who work to end sexual assault. She, along with college students across Missouri, drafted a bill that is currently going through Missouri’s House of Representatives about teaching sexual violence and consent education in Missouri’s high schools.
“The issue that we’re seeing on our college campus is that a lot of people, when they go through a Title IX contact hearing, say ‘I didn’t know what consent was’…” Schafer said. “Educate them before they come to college. It’s an issue we should be talking about when you’re in kindergarten. You’re taught from a young age to keep your hands to yourself, so it’s just reinforcing that message.”
After a quick break, Litwin invited Moore on stage for her interview. She wrote “Passion Play,” which was chosen as one of the best three plays in the region and was inspired by “The Passion of the Christ.” This play alludes to the Bible while addressing the Black Lives Matter movement, police brutality, gun control and suicide of black men.
“I flipped [The Passion of the Christ] basically instead of the resurrection of Jesus, to make it the resurrection of the black man,” Moore said.
At KCACTF, Moore watched professional actors perform her play for the first time; she performed the play herself at the regional conference. The inspiration for this play came from her own community.
“A teacher from my high school killed himself and it was very impactful in terms of the [DeKalb School of the Arts] community because we were all very close to him,” Moore said. “And last year, my grandfather got shot. I felt the need to write something that could give me some type of therapy and a chance to tackle these issues, while watching the news and seeing this stuff happening all over the country, and seeing black men dying and just trying to make sense of it.”
After this interview, Schafer and MUTV member Natalie Sopyla joined them on stage for “Is it a Skittles flavor or flavored lube?” Sopyla carried tiny bottles of lube and one big bag of Skittles behind her back for the game, while Schafer and Moore stood in a huddle to determine whether Dark Berry or Wild Cherry were flavors of Skittles or lube. If they correctly matched the flavors, MU Tonight host Daniel Litwin got to eat a handful of Skittles. However, if they incorrectly matched the flavors, Litwin had to taste the lube. Litwin invented this game during his sophomore year and has been trying to get it on the show ever since.
Sopyla led the game and was the alternate host for every show this year. Next year, she will take over as host of MU Tonight.
“I honestly never thought that I could have what it takes to be the host, but watching Daniel this past year has definitely helped me realize that I can just relax and have fun with this, and do everything I can to make it my own,” Sopyla said. “That’s really what he’s done and why he’s been so great as a host this year.”
Although MU Tonight has monthly shows, many members within MUTV have their own online shows, like Sopyla’s “Nat n’ Zo Show.” MU Tonight will restart in fall 2018, but in the meantime, you can find archived shows [online](https://livestream.com/mizzou/mutonight).
_Edited by Alexandra Sharp | asharp@themaneater.com_