An opportunity to shine

First open mic event of the semester delivers in dramatic fashion

VICTOR RODRIGUEZ

Roundup Reporter

@vrodriguez2100

Whether it be stand-up comedy or heart-felt poetry, the Pierce College Open-Mic Night hosted a number captivating performances for the student body, faculty and the community as well.

Taking place on the night of March 25, this event featured cozy red couches scattered throughout The Great Hall. At first it may have seemed unnecessary, but they came in handy when the string of performances lasted for three hours straight with no intermission.

English Professor Marra Kraemer, attendee and coordinator of the event, was nothing less than shocked when the crowd turnout was larger than first expected.

“I’m so excited,” Kraemer said. “Look at this turnout, we expecting only 25. When we showed up we realized we didn’t have enough chairs.”

The only rule to follow was a time limit of five minutes per performance. Other than that, performers had complete freedom as to what they could share with the audience. Unlike Kraemar, Master of Ceremonies John Accardo anticipated the diverse group of performers that participated in the event. “I was expecting what we got,” Accardo said. “We got a lot of different performances from students showcasing their talents.”

Students and instructors alike displayed talents that varied from the classic stand-up comedy routine, to solo-guitar serenades. There was even a rendition of Alfred Tennyson among the bunch.

English Professor Emily Anderson shared her satisfaction with the skills shared that night.

“I think it was a big success actually. We were really happy with the turnout, really amazing talent I thought. Really great poetry, spoken word, really wonderful musicians,” Anderson said.

There was a common theme around the room as performers and supporters asked why open-mic night does not happen more often. “Let’s have more of these let’s give a space to students who want that,” Anderson said.

There is something to be said about a person who can get on stage, and share their hard work with the world.

David Durrani is one such student. With his guitar in hand, he entertained the crowd with an original song entitled “Lost.”

“I wrote that song about a year ago… I was in a weird situation with my teacher and this girl I was seeing and myself,” Durrani said, “It felt great man, after doing it multiple times, you get used to it, you just feed off the crowd.”

Durrani, who has performed at Pierce Thursday Concerts a number of times as well, enjoyed the event and hoped to see more open-mic gatherings like this in the future.

“These things are great, there’s so many people you just don’t even realize do this type of stuff,” Durrani said. “There’s people I saw in my geology class, and I was like holy crud, the quiet person in the back just whipped that out.” character Mamie, played by Javierra Torres.

The night of exhibition gave the Pierce College community a platform, a place that could reveal a hidden skill which might not been cultivated anywhere else.

Characters that played key roles in the suspenseful build up were Cindy, played by Elyse Hamilton, Billie played by Meagan Truxal, and Chris played by Fiona Cheung.

At the time of intermission the theme of the play continued with servers giving out cheese and crackers to the audience for a snack as they set up for the second act.

The music during intermission was even dedicated to cheese including a remix of Snoop Dogg’s “Drop it like it’s Hot” was then changed to “I like Cheese a lot”.

The second act brought things up to speed for the year of 1990 and allowed the character Jesse to insert himself in the scenes with the other actors as a teenage boy.

At this time, all of the issues that were festering like rotted cheese and had to be confronted.

Ollstein was able to sit back and watch the cast act out her written work on stage.

During the comedic parts of the play, Ollstein would laugh along with the audience as if she’s watching it for the first time herself.

‘Cheese’ definitely pushed the envelope on topics that are considered uncomfortable to society. Death, homosexuality, murder, and deceit were all points brought up in the play but still kept a comedic flair which was impressive.

Cheese will continue to be performed until April 5, 2015.