Soft chatter builds on top of each other as the time comes. The light on the curtains shows the name of the auditorium, “Renton IKEA Performing Arts Center”. The lights dim, the soft chatter silences. The director, Sara Khelghatian, stepped on the stage. She introduces herself and indicates the hard work it took to prepare the show. Proceeding this, they open the curtains. The student hosts introduce themselves and begin with their common opening courtesies. As they finish, they introduce the first to participate, who comes up as they leave. The audience glares at the first participator, immediately breaking their no phone courtesy, to record one of the first of many performances happening that night.
This was the scene set during the annual RHS Talent Show performances on October 8th. According to one observer, the show was a “great showing of the talent at RHS”. This refers to the many students that performed in the show.

Those night’s showings included an array of different talents, such as a poem reader, musical performances and dancing. The more recognized groups among the performances would be the two student unions, the Filipino Student Union(FSU) and the Black Student Union(BSU). Both the BSU and FSU performed their dance routines which could be recognized by any student within RHS. However, they were not the only people receiving cheers that night. Some of those cheers were directed to some of the less recognized performers that night. One of those performers being Honey Sanders, the third performer and RHS student. She went on the stage and sang a single of the song “Promise I’m Trying,” paired with a ukulele. The song was written by Cavetown and played softly on the behalf of the performer. This seems to set the tone among the crowd, for they were quiet throughout the song. Continuing through the night, the show has a more upbeat song. More specifically, Michel Guzan’s memorized playing of “The Turkish March,” written by Mozart. The music was fast-paced, making the fact that the self-taught pianist mesmerized the performance more impressive. As the show was nearing the end, the audience sees Shacur Ali present his talent. His performance can be described as a light dancing routine with a selection of Chris Brown songs, with two backup dancers behind him. There were a lot of lights. There were so many lights that the main performer, Shacur, started disappearing and reappearing on stage depending on the lights, giving a cartoonish appearance to the dancer. The audience responds with cheers. Following these last performances, the entirety of the Talent Show’s staff came out to bow to the audience one last time. The hosts, student unions, single performers and stage crew all joined the slowly growing crowd among the stage. Upon that last bow, the curtains closed and the show was over.

Afterward, I was able to speak with the drama class teacher, the organizer of the Talent Show for the consecutive fourth time, Ms. Sara Khelghatian. When Ms. Khelghatian responded about the importance of the talent show, Ms. Khelghatian said, “I think it is important to celebrate all of the different talents all kids have, students have. I’m comfortable and familiar with the IPAC [IKEA Performing Arts Center], the theatre and how it runs, so I have access to it, so I really want to make sure that students are given the opportunity to shine”. As the main organizer of the show, Ms. Khelghatian was also willing to tell the paper about the main organizational problems of the show. According to her, the main problem was finding the time to rehearse the show was “…all the students that were involved, most of them were in other clubs or other after school activities or other sports, so trying to organize time and respect their time and my own time is difficult just because everybody always has something else to do…” However, they were all able to perform the show despite these difficulties. The team, through the words of Ms. Khelghatian, was “professional”, “on time” and came “together like a family.

The audience has their own opinion on the show. Aside from the clapping coming from them. One observer stated how it felt good that everyone was expressing themselves. Another observer of the event states that the show was a platform “to be themselves in front of others”. A third observer stated their enjoyment of the BSU’s dance routine. No matter the comment, they remained positive toward the show. Ms.Khelghatian states the crowd as “so lovely and so kind and they were so generous with their applause…”

The proceedings collected by that same audience will be used to fund the RHS Spring Play, a production of the musical “Mamma Mia”. The play will be performed on April 23rd, 24th, and twice on the 25th of year 2020.
As of today, the crowds are busy talking about the show. The whispers consist of people congratulating the participants. Crowds push out of the doors as they start to disperse. The outside is dark due to the late hour. No matter what people thought, their talk merges together as the night dispersed. For perhaps the whole night, the majority would be talking about the show and about the talent shown here tonight.