The College Voice

Issue date: 3/9/09 Section: Entertainment

The house lights are out. The stage lights are on. Students and professors flood the door in masses, dressed from head to toe in beads and flashy colors. But despite the excellent performances, it was the fact that the Late Night Series (LNS) was hosted by the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Friends Club (LGBTF) drove people to the night's entertainment.

On Friday, February 20 the Late Night Series took place in the Communications Building on the West Windsor Campus of MCCC and the theme for the evening was Mardi Gras. The LGBTF hosted that night's event to promote their club, get their members actively involved, and to take some stress off of the usual LNS hosts, the Drama Club. The night's itinerary included various on-stage performances such as live music, stand up comedians and poets, and impromptu acting.

Audience members, many dressed in a wide variety of costumes, continued to arrive even as the show kicked off. One person sat down in the front row dressed as a drag queen adorned with numerous colored beads around the neck, a colorful dress and a white wig.

Another individual decided to come dressed as SpongeBob SquarePants, accessorized with plenty of blue and yellow beads planted on the collar of the large body-suit. One of the last individuals to arrive was dressed as Freddie Krueger complete with a black cape, mask, and knife to compliment the costume.

Rachel Boruch, a first year student at Mercer, performed the opening act singing "I Don't Believe You" by popular vocalist, Pink. Boruch sang with passion; one could tell the amount of effort she put into her performance just by looking at her face. "[It is a] place to come to forget your problems and your troubles" said Boruch when asked why she loves to sing.

While the LNS featured a multitude of talents, none got the crowd quite so engaged as Scott Schendlinger's stand-up comedy. Schendlinger, a 23 year old from Oceanside, Long Island (New York), started doing comedy on the LNS five years ago. Despite the rude and sexually vulgar phrases used in his act, such as "Vegans have no souls" and "I don't respect women," Schendlinger captivated the audience's humor and caused an uproar of laughter in most of the room's occupants.

As the acts finished and the final singer left the stage, the most anticipated event of the night began: the post dance party. The audience flooded to the stage to rave with the actors and actresses of the night, and the DJ was more than booked with song requests. Shirts were off as techno music blasted from the speakers. Blinding strobe lights and multi-colored party lights illuminated the bare chests of most of the males on stage.

The event was "really great," according to Alex DeFazio, faculty advisor for the LGBTF. DeFazio was amazed by not only the turnout for the event, but also by how much fun the students and faculty were having. When asked how to sum up the evening, DeFazio replied "[It was a] gay old time."

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