The ninth Voices of Youth took place on Saturday May 2 in the Tokai Room “Voice with one Red Shoe” set the tone of the evening. Everyone present pigged out at the food table and clapped as hard as they could at the end of each marvelous performance.  The MC’s, Kaleb Honsberger, Samantha Yamada, Jaime-Lee Brown and Luke Stocking kept the evening rolling smoothly (and funny) all night.

The opening act of the evening was the choir, who sang as beautifully as usual.  Next came Ben Denhoed and Josh Lake, who played guitar and sang the song, “Matter of Time.”  Following their act was a ventriloquist act, with Luke Stocking being the “dummy” who read an Oscar Wilde poem chosen by Meghan Senese.  Donna Wilson performed next, playing and singing the song “Gutter Saint,” about Mother Teresa.  Elizabeth Mensa followed up with the song, “The Water is Wide” and Peter Gosling creeped out everyone with his poems.  Jonathan Grove moved into the spotlight when he invented a piano solo, and then moved into a jazz/bluesy number. At this point Ryan Chalupa jumped up to his drums and joined in.  Soon after, Ryan, Amy, Jonathan, Laura, Katherine and Luke did an improvised, catchy jam.

Joe, “the refreshment guy” wowed everyone with his mime act, which featured him doing such things as eating an apple that had a worm in it, and blowing a balloon.  Matt Capatosto turned up the volume next, as he sang a propaganda song, with Ryan Chalupa on drums and Luke Stocking beeping out the swear words.  Katherine Ovens read, “The Voice in Your Head,” which is an amazing essay which some readers may remember seeing previously in the Tiger’s Roar.  Heather and Ashleigh Patterson from Sharon Ontario performed Beethoven’s “Spring Sonata,” on the piano and violin.  Next Tara Hannah spoke on the subject of conformity and Sara and July showed off their tap dancing talents to “Brown Eyed Girl.”

Ben Huizenga had the crowd laughing and collectively catching their breath when he showed a movie he had made, involving bikes and jumps.  Laura Wilson and Katherine Perrott did a beautiful rendition of an Indigo Girls song and Daniel Wigdor read an essay called “The Look,” about teaching. (Check it out on this website.)  Some comments Daniel had made just before he started his essay, led to Sylvia Lamb jumping up and talking about the cuts the Harris government is making to education.  Following this speech, Dan Betts sang and played guitar, and Jessie Baird read a poem.

One of the most spiritual moments of the evening happened when the crowd meditated and Mike Honsberger came in spirit to the Tokai Room.  Images of his co-op placement in “a little island between Hawaii and Australia” flashed onto a screen at the front of the room.  Jonathan Honsberger did a wonderful job explaining the pictures.  In perfect juxtaposition, Seanna Davidson went up next to tell people to “just go out there and do it.”  She talked about getting out, helping others and seeing the world.  Tye Sprules followed Seanna by playing guitar and singing the Ben Harper song, “Walk Away.”  Sabrina Fiege then read an amusing essay about ISU’s. (Read it on this website.)  Next up was Darryl Pike who played his guitar and sang, followed by Ryan Chalupa drumming on pots.  The final act was Jack, Ryan, Amy and Jonathan, who played a toe-tapping improvised song, to lead everyone out of the room.  Thanks to everyone who performed, or was a part of the audience, Saturday was a memorable night.