Spring Coffeehouse 2023: A showcase of love – the good, bad, and ugly

The cringiest couples on campus, a Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo mash-up and the gut-wrenching pain of heartbreak — all these things were brought to light at the Vines Center in front of over 7,000 students for one of the most anticipated on-campus events of the year: Coffeehouse. 

The theme for this year, “Exes and XO’s,” clearly displayed many of the common experiences of Liberty students, like the “ring by spring” culture, the trouble of finding first date spots on campus and rejection.

Each semester, Coffeehouse provides Liberty students with the chance to audition and, if accepted, to perform in front of thousands of students. Each part of the show was catered to the theme with the songs, outfits, games and even the credits being a subtle ode to the classic film “The Parent Trap.”

The show opened with a Whitney Houston cover of “I Will Always Love You” performed by Aunalyse Darby. The powerful vocals of Darby rang out through the arena, causing the crowd to roar back in excitement.

Cort Comfort, the director of Student Activities, said as soon as the theme was suggested in planning, there was no
going back. 

“There’s a culture on Liberty’s campus that we don’t always talk about, but we all know it. It’s this very interesting dating culture of you come to a Christian campus, a school where, by and large, students have a really intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and they want to find someone who also has that relationship with Jesus Christ,” Comfort said. “While that is great, it also leads to some very interesting dating culture at Liberty — like you have really short proposals sometimes, people meeting and getting engaged within a matter of months.”

Comfort said it was this occasionally unspoken culture that really drove the idea that it would be perfect for a Liberty student audience.

One video made by Liberty students for the event, titled “How Different Majors Flirt,” caricatured theatre majors as being highly dramatic in their pursuit of love, undecided majors giving blank stares at their crush and law students objecting to the fact that their love interest has a boyfriend. Liberty’s Student Activities also hosted several different games asking for the opinions of those in attendance in a bit called “Red Flag, Green Flag.”

The question was also asked of the guys in the room whether they prefer girls who get along better with their moms or know where they want to eat. The men in the room expressed their opinion unapologetically, preferring a girl who knows what she wants to eat. The games were played between all of the talent and hilarious videos seen on stage and screen.

 Videos created by students creatively illustrated Liberty versions of iconic movies about love, like “Twilight” and “Pride and Prejudice.” 

The “Twilight” short, instead of depicting vampires and werewolves, poked fun at “super seniors” at Liberty. The “Pride and Prejudice” clip humorously depicted a star-crossed love between a girl living in South Tower and boy living in Commons.

Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo fans clearly made their presence known shouting in support of Maddy Vandy, who performed a mash-up of Rodrigo’s hit song “Driver’s License” and Swift’s “All Too Well.” 

One group called We Three Strings played melodies from the Academy Award-winning film “La La Land” with two students joining them on stage to reenact the dancing numbers from the film as well. 

Another band called Carlisle fired up the stage, daring to sing the hit Adele song “Rolling in the Deep” with a burning red heart in the background, which emphasized the glorious heartbreak and passion behind the lead singers’ striking voices. One of the musicians from Carlisle, Lexi Kuzins, expressed why this performance meant more to her than just any
other gig.

“As a senior, I’m really excited, but it was really bittersweet tonight,” Kuzins said. “It was just really fun, and it was a really cool way to end it but always sad. But we’re excited because we’re doing After Party too, so it’s not over.”

Seth Good, who performed in a cover of the song “Falling” by Harry Styles, said the atmosphere of Coffeehouse was something that made the night for him.

“It was a lot of fun; the energy of the crowd was pretty sick,” Good said. “And I also get to do it with my best friends on stage, so it was a good time.”

Comfort said this particular Coffeehouse stood out from the rest with over 60 groups auditioning, the most they have ever had. Only 15 of these acts made the final cut, making this the most competitive Coffeehouse he has ever been a part of. Comfort predicts this could be because of the theme, allowing lots for students to relate and be inspired.

Student Activities still has many events coming up through the end of semester, including After Party. To see details on any future events, visit the student activities website.

Lechner is the social media and web manager for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on Twitter