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The Coffee House stage where students perform music, standup, poetry readings and more.

MACK OLMSTED/THE QUADRANGLE

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By Mack Olmsted, Features Editor

Coffee House returned this semester on the fifth floor of Thomas Hall with musical performances, stand-up comedy and poetry readings, where participants showcased their talents in a casual and judgment-free environment.

Seniors Matt Regalado and Jill Tuthill have been hosting Coffee House for a year and are excited to continue highlighting student talents throughout the current academic year. 

Regalado first performed on campus through Coffee House, where he gained the courage to take the stage and display his talent to like-minded peers.  

“I remember when I was a freshman, I was nervous about performing and playing music or singing in front of people,” Regalado said. “It was Coffee House that sort of got me into that mind space of being able to perform and sing in front of people and show them who I am musically.”

Regalado encourages anyone interested in performing but who might be scared of being on stage to go to a Coffee House event. 

“If you’re too scared to perform, just come and watch, and you’d be surprised how easy it is to sign up to sing something or to say something,” Regalado said.

Samantha Pavlik, a senior at Manhattan University, got on stage for the first time and did a reading on an original poem she wrote.

“This was my first time, and I planned it about seven minutes before I went up,” Pavlik said. “I was just inspired by people putting themselves out there, so I just did it, and I’m always surprised about the talent on campus so I figured maybe I’ll give it a shot. It was so scary. I just kept looking at my phone, but I felt good about myself, and I tried it, and it was fun.”

 Lochlan Reeder, a senior at MU, performed an original song he wrote. He is a frequent attendee at the Coffee House events.   

“It was pretty chilly tonight, there were a lot of nice vibes, a few new people and a lot of old faces, too,” Reeder said. “Coming back to campus, Coffee House is a good start to the year and I thought everyone did a good job and they got a decent variety of performers in here. My favorite part about it all is the vibes. You’d look over at your friend and talk about the performances being cool.”

Senior Mark Dusovic was another attendee who performed an original song he had written. He described his experience to The Quadrangle.  

“It’s fun to be here and meet people and hear them,” Dusovic said. “I have been to pretty much all of them since I was a sophomore and they are awesome. I like them because my friend runs them and it’s always fun to play your music and hearing people’s original music.”

Regalado was pleased with the performances last Thursday and hopes that new people will continue to attend the event.

 “It’s a whole new semester, this is just the first one of the year and I hope everybody comes into our next one and checks it out,” Regalado said. “If people are interested, they can follow us @mccoffeehouse on Instagram.”

*Editor’s Note: Jill Tuthill is The Quadrangle’s assistant A&E editor.