On Friday, March 29, Whitman students and staff members gathered in the basement of Reid this month’s “Open Mic Night.” The event was organised by Jake Lorang and hosted by Jason Kottas. Open Mics are a regular student-led initiative to give students and staff members a space to share art and foster their creative spirit.

One of the goals of the Open Mic event is to provide a safe environment for people who want to practice their material in front of a friendly crowd. This event was the first MC experience for Jason Kottas ’21.

“I love seeing people try something different – magic acts, a homemade guitar, improv poetry, or even just something they’re not quite confident in yet. Most chances people get to perform there’s so much pressure for a perfect, finished product. We’re here to experience the mistakes, to witness the vulnerability,” said Kottas.

A large number of the performances were musical acts with the exception of a magic act, a poetry reading by Sal Goldblatt, and a stand-up comedy performance by David Lilburn. Many use events of this nature to test out their material on an audience.

“Performing in front of people is what tells me the difference between what I think is funny and what other people are actually going to laugh at. That being said it’s also kinda weird to be the only comedic act, as far as I know I’m the only person regularly doing stand-up, so sometimes it’s weird to go up after a magician or guitar player, not because their bad or something, just because the atmosphere that we’re going for is very different,” said Lilburn ’20.

The musical performances include original music and covers by Thacher Carter, a staff member at the Counselling Centre. Koby Haigerty ’21 also performed original and covers accompanied by the guitar. Towards the end of the program, Dorothy Mukasa ’19 on vocals and Omar Aldahleh ’20 on guitar performed a cover of “I See Fire” by Ed Sheeran. The event finished after Jake Lorang, one of the planners behind the event, performed several original pieces, debuting “Moonbeam” which had never been played in public before.

“The Open Mic proved to be a rich event allowing for individual expression and creating a medium where such is encouraged,” said Lana Kucer ’22, one of the audience members who particularly enjoyed Haigerty’s performance.

Overall, the event was a celebration of the incredible talent of students, staff, and faculty alike. Organizers plan on holding several more Open Mic events before the end of the year. They encourage all members of the Whitman community sign up and share their musical, comedic or poetic talents.