What Insomnia Theater is doing when they’re not performing

On February 24th, Insomnia Theater hosted its very own open mic night along with Media Meltdown production, where there was a promise of singing, reciting poetry, and doing the Hokey Pokey and the Cotton-Eyed Joe.

The opening act was a duet singing a Book of Mormon song called “You and Me (But Mostly Me)” The singers introduced themselves as Emily and Lisa followed by the disclaimers, “I can’t play the ukulele that well but I’m going to play it” and “I can’t sing that well but I’m going to sing.”

One singer who wasn’t afraid to rearrange the stage thanked the Amazon sponsors. He sang two songs, one called Sleeping Limbs by From Indian Lakes. Then before playing the second, which was an original, he said, “I tried to write songs my whole life as most people who learn some chords on a guitar do.”

A singer who went by the stage name Dizzy covered Strings by Young the Giant while playing guitar. She also did a mashup of Hot N’ Here by Nelly and Birthday Song by 2Chainz. Dizzy is a transfer student from St. Joe’s who used to practice a version of the song with her roommate. She sung it in a way similar to the My Neck, My Back cover by Elle King.

After getting emotional and missing her roommate, she eventually took a selfie with the audience to prove to her friend that she was brave enough to perform. This all prompted a member of the audience to yell, “I’m so glad there was a second song.”

Another performer mentioned his roommate, except his act was reciting poems about cheese. Other acts included a piece of the script from Kazaam being performed, as well as a poem by George Watsky. A piece of literature about sex in medieval times was recited, and the audience learned the origins of the name Vagina Monologues.

At the end, there was an Amazon give away by Amazon Student representatives who asked trivia about the company and rewarded five dollar gift cards to those who answered correctly.

“We always try to have one event a semester that isn’t our shows, something different to keep our name out there to the university, so we did a last minute Open Mic during the year when our cabaret fell through, and it’s been a successful tradition,” said Cara Glatfelter, senior Media Studies and Production major and president of Insomnia Theater.

Cara mentioned that a lot of acoustic guitar players and singers like to come out and showcase their own songs, and there is a lot of spoken word. The performers usually aren’t Insomnia Theater members. The event is open for anyone to participate. Cara said that Insomnia just wants to facilitate an easily accessible, supportive place to showcase talents.

“The open mic is a lot more casual, and allows a lot of different types of people to participate. The shows are usually the same group of people participating in our shows, with a huge audience and a lot of stress from the day. The open mics are so much more relaxed, you just show up and do whatever you feel like. No stress about doing things right or wrong, and lets people who aren’t really into the theater part of Insomnia Theater still be able to know us and have a place to show their thing.”