AHS’s most talented singers, poetry readers and instrument players will gather in Clausen Hall from 2: 15 – 4 p.m.on March 13 for The Filament’s spring Coffee House. The club has begun its preparations for the event, as well as them introducing changes to past Coffee Houses.
“Well we’ve started making flyers and talking to people for auditions, and we went over how the first one went, so we can avoid past mistakes,” junior co-editor in chief Melissa Stamp said.
In the past, The Filament has dealt with issues such as unprepared performers, overlooked details (like microphone stands) and the introduction of last-minute acts.
“We’re holding auditions a week before, and we’re not allowing last minute auditions,” senior co-editor in chief Marwa Eltahir said. “We feel that it’s not fair for people who took the time [to audition beforehand]. We’re avoiding that situation.”
Auditions will be held after school on March 6 in sponsor Kathleen Mathis’ room, 269A. Potential performers will perform in front of editors and Mathis.
“All you have to do is come to Ms. Mathis’ room on the day of auditions, audition with us, give us your email address, perform for us, and we’ll email them later to tell them if they got in or not,” Stamp said.
The event can only be held with community support: AHS students who perform, the audience and local coffee shop Beanetics, on Columbia Pike, which donates coffee for each Coffee House.
“We’ve been affiliating [with Beanetics] for several years,” Eltahir said. “They’ve been very generous every year.”
The partnership started several years ago when an editor approached several community businesses to see if they’d want to partner with The Filament.
“Every year Beanetics donates coffee twice,” Mathis said.
The Coffee House is held twice a year, but this spring showcase is especially memorable for Mathis as this is her last one as sponsor. Next year, English teacher Fusun Sulzbach will be the sponsor of The Filament for the 2013-2014 school year.
“This is my last one as an adviser for The Filament,” Mathis said. “For that reason I especially want this one to go well. I just want it to be an enjoyable event for staff members, performers and audience members.”
Eltahir has similar goals for the last Coffee House of the year.
“I just hope that AHS can showcase their artistic talent to the school and show people that The Filament is a community initiative and hopefully entice people to buy the magazine,” Eltahir said.
