Poetry, Karaoke, and the Friar Family

by The Cowl Editor on September 26, 2019


Arts & Entertainment


BOP Hosts 2019 Open Mic Night

by Grace Whitman ’22 A&E Staff

BOP Open Mic Event 2019
Tobin Burgdorf ’21 captured the crowd with his rendition of the award-winning song “Shallow.” COURTESY OF GRACE WHITMAN ’22/ THE COWL

Although fall is fast approaching, Friartown brought a piece of summer back during the Board of Programmers’ (BOP) Open Mic Night on Slavin Lawn on Sept. 20. BOP’s Entertainment Committee, led by Sydney MacKillop ’20 along with Dan Naumec ’20, Mary Kantor ’21, Sean Breuche ’21, Estarlyn Hiraldo ’21, and Laura Cheevers ’21, began promoting the Open Mic Night a few weeks prior on Instagram and through posters hung up around campus.  

Although a typical Open Mic Night consists of contestants performing either covers or original songs, many audience members were pleasantly surprised when some contestants put their own spin on their performance. 

Yamel Camilo ‘23 volunteered to share two original poems. When asked what inspired him to read poems when everyone else sang a song, he replied, “Well, first of all I can’t sing, but I felt like describing the words that are universal themes like love and friendship is really inspiring to others. I feel like putting them on paper is more important to me than just singing a melody because those themes will last forever, more than a simple catchy tune.”  

Megan Stenberg ’21 and Raychel Pesci ’21 took on karaoke during their Open Mic Night performance. They started a crowd sing-along with the lyrics, “If I was your boyfriend, I’d never let you go” from Justin Bieber’s “Boyfriend.” Stenberg said, “Although we took a different approach, it’s so cool to see all of my peers who are actually really talented perform, so I think it is a great event to get everyone together and Slavin Lawn is a great place to do it too.” 

Continuing the karaoke theme, Tobin Burgdorf ’21 took the stage next and performed a solo version of “Shallow,” Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s Oscar-winning duet. He left the crowd in stitches with his dynamic performance. His friends even brought posters that read “Go Toby” and “A Star is Born.”

Cheevers was ecstatic when she saw how many students came to support Open Mic Night. “I am so happy the weather turned out to be so beautiful. I think we got a lot of support because of that, which is great,” she said. 

Open Mic Night was a prime opportunity for performers to get comfortable on stage and get other PC students outside on Slavin Lawn amid the beginning of school stress.