Eat-the-rich

New York City is home to the largest Chinese population outside of Asia, with over 100,000 Chinese residents in Manhattan. Although Morningside Heights has never been considered one of New York’s nine recognized Chinatowns, it houses over a dozen Chinese restaurants specializing mainly in Sichuanese and Hunan cuisines.

Amid concerns about voter suppression, mail-in ballots, and COVID-19, Columbia University has created two early voting sites for the 2020 general election.

Over the course of one night, several brave and probably caffeinated students wrote, rehearsed, and recorded songs for their own nostalgic and hilarious parody of an iconic childhood film. The following evening was opening—and closing—night.

Following the closure of schools across the country in mid-March, Barnard’s and Columbia’s film departments began operating entirely remotely. In the film industry, production halted, movie theaters closed, and filmmakers reckoned with the limitations and possibilities of remote movie-making. Now, more than four months later, both Columbia’s film department and the film industry are ramping up operations—with adjustments. 

This spring, a number of student-led theatrical productions were deep into their months-long rehearsal schedules when Columbia administration made the call to move courses online for the remainder of the semester due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Without warning, the long work invested in these plays and musicals came to a sudden halt.

For Columbia’s student theater groups, the spring semester is when creative teams, actors, and designers produce a crowded roster of musicals and plays. Beginning in January, creative teams begin planning, casting, and constructing their upcoming productions. Amid the COVID-19 crisis and cancellation of on-campus activities, however, all student-led theater groups have been forced to cancel or postpone their shows until the fall semester.

The Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” lyrics light up the bottom of the screen. Shadow puppets pack a suitcase. Johann Strauss takes over for Vera Lynn in a Doctor Strangelove-inspired closing montage. Sprawled across YouTube, Facebook, and Zoom, this is interdisciplinary theater at its most inventive.

The West End Lounge, a bar and performance venue that has been a fixture of the Upper West Side since 1997, is known for its constant rotation of live entertainment ranging from concerts to drag shows. Over its 23 years of operation, it has warmly welcomed an enigmatic mix of performing talents, student musicians, and local patrons.

Sarah Kinsley Du, CC ’22—known professionally as Sarah Kinsley—sits in a room covered with post-it notes, piled with notebooks, and cluttered with old receipts, all filled with miscellaneous lyrics and potential song ideas. On April 10, these collections of random ideas culminated in the release of her debut extended playlist, “The Fall.”