The Improv

A novel based on a true story. For mature young adults. It is 1982 at a New England university, and drama major Margo Laughton is thrilled and terrified to be cast as "Sheila" in the rock musical Hair. The show's director, Professor Harrison P. Adler, is known for his daring productions. Rumors have circulated for decades about how Harry gets actors to break through their inhibitions. He prefers working with boys, encouraging them to become violent and explore their sexuality in carefully guided improvisations or "improvs." In 1969, an actor in one of Harry's plays committed suicide. Is Harry a brilliant ground-breaking acting coach, or is he a manipulative voyeur who has found an academically and artistically sanctioned way to indulge his perversions? Margo and her leading man enjoy a playful rehearsal relationship that is shattered after a highly secretive, males-only improv. Margo is determined to find out what happened in the improv and the 1969 suicide, risking her romance and her hoped-for acting career in order to make sure that Harry never directs another play at the college.