Campus Creatives Shine at Arts Coffee House

Millbrook School is overflowing with talented creatives who have something important to say through the performing arts. We have regular opportunities for group and solo performances on campus, from Monday Melodies in Assembly to major stage productions in the theater each semester. But one of the best opportunities for students to show their creative chops is at the Arts Coffeehouse.

Held the Barn, the Arts Coffeehouse is a student-organized open mic show where any student can sign up to play music, read poetry, perform a dramatic monologue, and more. This year the show was run by Josiah Guiles ’26, a young man ubiquitous in musical performances throughout the school year—and a MillbrookEngage intern at Millbrook Music Salon over the summer. Josiah was nervous about how the show would go at first, but in the end, artistic Mustangs did what they do best: showed up, turned it in, and turned it up!

“Coffee House killed this year!” reported Josiah. “I was super afraid it would be a bust, because nobody signed up—but once I went up and did the first performance, it gave the crowd courage to come up themselves. I opened the event thinking I'd have to beg people to perform but there were so many that wanted to go, I had to make a queue. This year we had 40-plus people attend Coffee House, and dozens of performances.”

 

Sharing art is a vulnerable thing to do, but at a boarding school surrounded by supportive friends is the perfect place to start getting comfortable on stage. Major kudos to Josiah and his crew for creating a safe space for campus artists to shine!

 

Here are more Millbrook spaces where students can scratch the performance itch:

 

 

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