Off The Lane's Open Mic Night
On July 22, Off the Lane hosted their very first Open Mic Night, and it was a great success! Envisioned by OTL's Program Manager, Sophie Brubaker, we’re excited for this event to become regular programming for our ML/OTL communities! We sat down with Sophie to tell us all about this new ongoing event!
What inspired Open Mic Night?
This year, since our artists span across two companies in NYC (Off the Lane and our parent company, Mustard Lane), we are making a huge effort to connect the two communities.
The open mic night was a chance for OTL and Mustard Lane folks to introduce themselves as artists - and people! - in a setting that was only right for what our companies focus on (the arts in NYC, of course).
Did anyone surprise you?
Oh my gosh YES. So many folks decided to perform ON THE SPOT once they saw other artists being brave and bold.
The itch to perform spread like a wildfire in the space.
We had everything from original songs to covers to people playing instruments to comedy sets.
One Laner, Keith, came in adamantly saying that he was not able to perform that evening because of a cold, but then he picked up a guitar and sang and rocked all of our socks off.
Any other standouts to grace the open mic?
We had a set of three roommates (two connected to OTL and one new to the community) who came in with an original song.
One roommate, Ryan, played the guitar while the other two roommates, Rachel and Kelly, sang gorgeous harmonies.
It was their first original song and performance as a new band called, “Picnic House,” which was just so special for us to witness.
So...how does it work exactly? Can anyone come & perform?
Anyone can perform! Sign-ups are first come, first served at Meaux Space, and we encourage all types of performance including song, dance, monologues, comedy, storytelling, poetry etc.
Do you have the hookups for sound & all that jazz?
We've got all the hookups! Microphones and speakers and a keyboard! If you need any other hookups, let us know, and we can see what we have in the community!
Will there be more open mic nights...?
Another big YES!
We want to make open mic nights a regular thing to give all of our OTL and ML artists a chance to perform, workshop any pieces that they are working on, and meet other artists!
The next one is going to be on Thursday, August 24th at 7pm ET!
Even though the event was created to connect our OTL and ML communities, it is always open to the public, and we can’t wait to invite you to be part of our arts family!
RSVP NOW!
Check out last week's Laner of the Week feature!