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Prangstgrüp Is Singing in the
Reading Room: Little more than flirtatious whispers broke the silence of Butler Library's fourth floor reading room. Suddenly, a bubbly, overly dramatic Broadway-style song interrupted the studious solitude. At a central table, Michael Barry, CC '04, began to sing. "What's this? / What's this on the page?" Barry sang as he rose from his seat. "I can hardly believe my eyes / Every page I turn is a new surprise / And I'm doin' it all because I'm reading on a dream!" Uncertain whether to laugh at Barry or to shush him, dozens of students stared awkwardly. An equal number of students pretended to read their textbooks and attempted to hide uncomfortable smiles. Eyebrows raised, Barry continued to articulately belt out his solo. With a pained look on his face, he portrayed a typical Broadway coming-of-age youth. His crisp collar poked out from his red sweater. Gazing pensively into the distance, he tossed his book aside. In his well-ironed khakis, he strutted down the central aisle. With sweeping arm gestures, he lamented how "nobody sings in the library / Yes, nobody e'er makes a peep." Prangstgrüp had struck again. A Columbia student group for two years, Prangstgrüp performs pranks and sketches that invade the ordinary world at Columbia. This year, it will receive $1500 in University funds for equipment, web space, and a guest stand-up comedian. "The vision is to create those sketches of 'what if,'" said Lyndon Kennedy, SEAS '03, and a member of Prangstgrüp's creative and technical team. "Inspiration comes from when you're alone and you watch people and you think what if this happened or what if this person showed up. Then you start giggling and write it down." Such is the germination of pranks such as Reading on a Dream, the library musical. Prangstgrüp sprang from a collective frustration in the spring of 2001. "No existing things were satisfying," said Peter Koechley, CC '03. "We asked ourselves what we could start that we'd have fun doing and people would have fun watching." He and his friends expressed interest in comedy, short film, and absurdism. "Peter [Koechley] and I went out and had beers and tried to think of a way to get a whole bunch of creative people together," Kennedy said. Thus began Prangstgrüp (with an umlaut to "seem tougher," according to Koechley). "It was a way to use the skills we'd gained dicking around," Kennedy said. "Otherwise, we'd just be dicking around." The group of seven crafted a Silent Dance Party as their first "prangk." With a velvet rope, they sectioned off a 10-by-10-foot square on the narrow strip of grass in front of Butler Library. Thirty students decked out in club gear lined up. In the cool evening air, a burly bouncer dressed all in black checked IDs. Lights shone up from the ground. Without music or talking, they silently danced the night away. "There was only the rustling of clothes," Kennedy said. "It was like, art, dude." The group has performed 11 pieces since. "[Pranks] run the gamut from silly sophomoric stuff to creating really weird experiences in the world in which we live," said Koechley, who does not act in the pranks. "The library musical has been the baddest-ass thing we've done." Koechley declined to publicly reveal future plans for Prangstgrüp. Although many students have drawn parallels between Prangstgrüp and MTV's Jackass craze, Koechley sees the prangks as unique. "Jackass is based more around one star--a guy willing to do something crazy," Koechley said, noting he has not seen enough Jackass to comment fully. "Prangstgrüp is more about the group and the situation. It usually has a bigger feel than just a camera crew following a guy. But, I guess some of our shit is just a guy doing shit. [Jackass-type programs] are the comedy spin-off of reality TV. It certainly was not our goal to join that trend." Amid that wave of popularity, the group's size ballooned. "No one was brave enough to bring up an idea except the seven original members," said Brian Jacobs, CC '03 and writer of Reading on a Dream. "Except sometimes someone would say, 'One time my friend...' It was really unproductive." Thus, the core group kicked the stragglers out. The group now includes 12 members who focus on ideas, production, and performance. "We're always open to new people, but it's not open admission," Koechley said. For consideration, potential prangsters must submit two prangk ideas. "It's difficult to manage a large group. But it's not an elitist thing that's not crackable." Even with a smaller group, some problems persisted. "There would be great ideas, but we'd be drunk by the end of meetings," Jacobs said. "And we could never recall the list of ideas." Members describe prangsters in varying ways. "We're very much like rock stars who spend our lives behind computers," Koechley said. Kennedy sees them as "the coolest people around." "I guess they're all my friends, but it's pretty much my friends who do stuff," Jacobs said. "I've got friends who don't do stuff. These are my friends who do stuff." With Kennedy's technical expertise, the "stuff" ends up on their web site, www.prangstgrup.com. Koechley noted the web as a crucial medium "not fully used as an artistic space." At the site, one can watch the resolution of Barry's musical search for library love. As Barry's library performance continued, he clenched his fists. Widening his stance, he hugged himself. "I feel so alone," Barry crooned as the tempo slowed. "If only there were someone to share this experience." He didn't have to wait for long. Wearing a light purple spring dress, Anjuli Kolb, CC '03, sprang to her feet. "Would you give me a chance?" she sang. "And would you care to dance?" They embraced. After a few synchronized dance moves and a dramatic crescendo, they finished their duet. "We're singing a terrific feeling and we're singin' it out loud / Yes we're singing it proud ... we're reading on a dream!" Barry tenderly grasped her hand. They pranced out of the room. The stupefied crowd applauded. Students exhaled--and laughed.
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