After many months of planning, the Class of 2020 held the annual Coffeehouse talent show on Friday, Nov. 30. Coffeehouse benefits the junior class in their preparations for prom, in addition to giving students, teachers and families an evening of food and entertainment each year. This year, there were 34 performances ranging from singing to dancing to poetry, and over 200 tickets sold.

Hosts and juniors Colin Martin of Middletown and Ryan Swanson of Brielle kept the banter alive all evening. Interim hosts filled in for Swanson and Martin while they were “late,” including juniors Evan Kuo of Tinton Falls and Ben Hewson of Fair Haven, who displayed their talents in a keyboard battle while waiting for the hosts to return onstage.

Martin, who also serves as vice president of the junior class, said various committees worked together to organize logistics, food, sound, decorations and advertisements.

“We as a council tried to delegate as much power as possible to the individual committee heads, who did a lot of the work,” Martin said.

A major challenge for junior council was the time cut. In past years, the event lasted approximately 2.5 hours, but this year it was cut to 2 hours due to fear that the audience might lose interest at a longer show. To accommodate the shorter runtime, the council limited acts to 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

Junior council member Mary Eknoian of Wall said the council cut a few acts from the program due to the time restraint.

“It put a lot of pressure on us,” said Eknoian. “We were the first class to ever make cuts, which was a really difficult decision.”

Junior class adviser Emily Crelin said she thought the new time restraint was for the best, despite the challenges that it posed.

“It caused the performers to really hone in on what they wanted to get across in their performance in a shorter time,” Crelin said.

Freshman Drew Lepping of West Long Branch said that despite the similarity of the acts, the audience remained entertained.

“There was a lot of singing, but it didn’t keep going on and on,” Lepping said.

Sophomore Georgia Trentalange of Middletown said she appreciated the level of talent showcased by fellow students at Coffeehouse.

“I thought everyone put on a great show,” Trentalange said. “I find that the talent pool at CHS is very deep.”