Cum Laude hosts 21st annual Coffee House

The Carlson Family Theater was lit with dim mood lighting and the stage was covered in an assortment of beanbags and blankets; the 21st annual Coffee House was set to begin. This year’s Coffee House was a ’60s space theme, which was displayed through the projected slide show of various vintage space themed pop art behind each of the performers.

First curated in 1999 by the Cum Laude Society as a way to give back to the school, Coffee House provides an informal setting for Viewpoint high school students to come together. Non-Viewpoint students also attend to watch their friends perform.

Coffee House is “an event of music, poetry and performance, put on by students, for students – it is an inviting shared space of talent, creativity, warmth and inspiration,” said Mr. Azhar, President of the Viewpoint Chapter of the Cum Laude Society.

There was a vast array of performances this year including singing, poetry, Bollywood dancing, and acting. Some highlights from this year’s show include Coffee House’s first ever drag performance by Eddie Wolfson (’19) performing to Purse First. Wolfson stunned the crowd with his death drops and showering the crowd with fake money. Other highlights include a classical duet by Anette Izumi (’19) and Daniel Kuelbs (’20), and stand-up from Abby Kolbrenner (’19) and Nyssa Singhal (’19). Kolbrenner and Singhal did not miss a beat with their Viewpoint-themed jokes, which ranged from gender-neutral bathrooms to the teen Juuling epidemic.

Julien Fagel (’21) describes his first Coffee House experience as “super cool” and says it was “one event of the year where I really felt a sense of community at Viewpoint.”

“It was a nice way to say goodbye to our seniors and for them to give back to us one last time,” Fagel said. “Whether it be through drumming, dance, or comedy, they left us with a token to remember them by.”