The annual Parents Weekend improv showcase opened to an audience of curious families and excited students, sprawled around the Cat in the Cream’s few tables and over most of its floor. Guitarist Andrew Gombas, OC ’12, introduced the show with charming, witty stage banter and a few cutesy but skillfully played original songs. The songs — dealing with such issues as falling in love with a jellyfish and becoming romantically snowbound in a cabin — ranged from endearingly silly to annoyingly trite. Fortunately, Gombas mitigated any potential for obnoxiousness by radiating genuine friendliness, speaking with candor about his love for a high school girlfriend, which “hit him in the face like a dead fish,” and enthusiastically...

The Oberlin College community came out in droves to the Cat in the Cream last Saturday night to see slam poet Anis Mojgani, packing the entire venue with the sweaty bodies of poetry enthusiasts. Some were lucky enough to grab a table or a spot on a lumpy couch with friends, but plenty of less fortunate fans waited just outside the door, hoping to be let into the already overcrowded coffeehouse. Improvised overflow seating included comfy patches of floor on the stage itself, as fans encircled poet Anis Mojgani physically and with their rapt attention. Associate Professor of Creative Writing Kazim Ali opened for Mojgani without having had much time to prepare, but he still captivated the audience with his performance....

Award-winning poet, actor and playwright Carlos Andrés Gómez performed a spoken word poetry production at Oberlin’s Cat in the Cream on March 12. Entering center stage, Gómez immediately captivated the crowd with his honesty and raw emotionality and kept them engaged throughout the show with his wit, passion and charisma. With his questions, stories and satirical commentary on our modern culture, Gómez succeeded in eliciting a radical reaction from the audience. Gómez began as a social worker for disabled children in the Bronx and Central Harlem, and through his work as an HIV/AIDS advocate he raised $40,000 for the cause. As a poet, Gómez has continued his involvement in these causes, using them as the building...