Up On Stage spotlights campus talent

For nearly a decade, a group of students and faculty have brought diverse campus talent up on stage before their peers.

In front of a relaxed crowd of about 40, a vast range of amateur Penn artists participated in Up On Stage at the Platt Student Performing Arts House on Friday. The event was the second open mic of the year hosted by Penn Collective — an organization that puts on the show several times per semester.

In the past, the event has played host to artists of all forms — from slam poets to belly dancers — and while this installment was mostly musical, it also included dancing from Penn Samba and a stand-up act from comedy club Simply Chaos.

Up On Stage is headed by Wharton professor Nick Gonedes. who helped found Penn Collective in 2001. “Basically, we wanted a venue for live performances,” he said.

Harnwell College House originally hosted the shows, but a changeover in Harnwell’s House Dean put the event on hold in 2006. “There was a chance [Up On Stage] was going to die,” Gonedes said. That is when Platt conveniently opened up. The event “gave [Platt] programming, and it gave us this space,” Gonedes said.

Penn Collective consists of Gonedes and four other members, who do most of the event planning within a week of the performance. Wharton sophomore and Penn Collective member Amanda Urena stressed the laid-back atmosphere of the group, which was reflected by the at-ease mood of the event.

She added that the show “doesn’t cost anything, so people can see some great talent that normally isn’t accessible.”

“Everything is just ‘come and enjoy it,’” Gonedes said.

College freshman David Aronia lauded the ambiance of the performance. “It was a really solid event if you like playing in front of people,” Aronia said. “The audience was very supportive.”

Rather than being a pure open-mic event, Up On Stage includes an element of scheduling, so as to not leave everything to chance. “We never want it to be a situation where we don’t know what’s going to happen,” Gonedes said. However, after about two hours of planned performances, the emcee invites onto the stage anyone who wishes to perform.

In addition to the open-mic shows, Penn Collective also runs the Penn Music Database on their website. They formed it for the purpose of providing a forum where musicians can collaborate if they are interested in forming or joining a musical group.

The next Up On Stage will take place on April 1 in Platt.

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