Baker Center performers are takin' the stage 2 nights a week

by Sarah Laubacher
For The Post

The Front Room’s Open Stage Night has been a Friday night tradition for longer than host Bruce Dalzell can remember.

It’s become so popular that Dalzell has added another night. For about 10 years it’s been a Friday-only event, but now aspiring performers can play Wednesdays as well.

The new Wednesday Open Stage is in the Bunch of Grapes Room, which offers a more intimate setting. Time slots to perform still are in demand, and some performers said they liked the new night better than Fridays.

Ohio University sophomore Alaina Feltenberger has participated in both Friday and Wednesday’s open stage nights and said she prefers the Bunch of Grapes Room’s low-key setting.

“The room is smaller, darkened down, and it’s more of a relaxed atmosphere,” she said.

Dalzell said the new location allows the Open Stage concept to cater to a variety of performers.

“It’s going to be great for the different kinds of performers that don’t always work well in a big room,” Dalzell said. “If what a performer does is more subtle, or if they are more timid, their performance won’t be swallowed up by the big room, and they can get across whatever they’re doing.”

Dalzell predicts Wednesday night’s audience might be more attentive than Friday’s.

“There won’t be as much traffic — no smokers on their way out to the patio and no people there just to get free pizza,” he said.

Feltenberger said the crowd was smaller, but the people were there to listen to the music.

“People seemed more polite and more willing to stay and listen to everyone,” she said. “I think it’s insulting when people get their whole dorm floor to see them, and then they all leave halfway through the next performance.”

Dalzell also said the Bunch of Grapes Room is a good atmosphere for performers who don’t have a lot of support.

“Sometimes it can be a little lonesome in that big room (The Front Room),” he said.

Friday’s Open Stage Night in The Front Room still has its advantages. Having a larger audience helps new performers gain confidence, experience and exposure.

Local musician David Valentine, an Open Stage Night regular, said getting used to performing in front of a crowd is important.

“Being a theater major, it helps to get as much experience as you can being in front of people … to have that interaction with the crowd.”

Valentine has played both of Dalzell’s open stage nights, as well as open mic nights around town. He said crowds at these events usually are more appreciative than people who happen to see live music while they are at a bar to drink, and the atmosphere in general is more accepting.

“You don’t have to prove your validity to anyone in order to play,” he said.

Both Open Stage Nights attempt to provide an outlet for free expression of creativity, in whatever form it might take. In the past Dalzell has seen everything from Edgar Allen Poe readings to puppet shows.

“It runs the gamut,” he said. “Open Stage has a history of being a music thing, but we always try to encourage other kinds of performance.”