“Nightmare on 7th Street” was a night full of passionate performances, creative costumes and spooky videos Wednesday in the Seventh Street Underground.

The University Board main stage hosted the event.

The decorations set the mood at the beginning of the night, with tables set with black tablecloths, filled with candy, flickering plastic candles, little jack-o-lantern baskets and spider rings. Tied to the table were long orange and round black balloons.

Though there were a few technical difficulties, that didn’t stop the performers or the hosts. Before the performances began, there was popcorn being made and people giving out raffle tickets.

The first performer of the night was Chelsea Ray, a sophomore communication studies major, reading an original poem called “The Struggle”.

The poem explored themes such as the struggle of wondering how to pay for things, how life is tough, and most of all, how she refuses to give up. Ray also performed another poem entitled “Why the Pain.”

After Ray’s poems, the hosts played a prank video showing an actor wearing a Chucky costume and running out of a movie poster, chasing unsuspecting people waiting at a bus stop. The audience could be seen laughing and cheering as the people tried to get away.

The video was followed by some Halloween trivia questions asked of the audience, such as the name of the uncle in the Addams family. The person who answered correctly received a cowbell.

Shadezja Garrett, a sophomore journalism major, then played a medley of songs including “Marvin’s Room,” “Superman” and “All My Life.”

“(Performing) was pretty cool, especially performing in front of people I know.” Garrett said after the show. “This was more of a mellow environment, not so big, not so broad, so I was more in with the crowd.”

After another video featuring a mechanical demon baby terrorizing the public, there was another set of poems by Shamerea Richards, a senior communication studies major. Reading them off of her phone, she performed her poems “Friday” and “P.O.W.”

Claire Joy Castelli, a sophomore marketing major, then performed her rendition of “Taylor the Latte Boy” with a piano accompanist. After Castelli’s performance, one young poet debuted his original poem for the first time.

With the conclusion of the performances came the costume contest. The costumes included a hippie, devil, Luigi, a person with a monkey mask and banana costume and a break-dancer.

The audience’s cheers decided the contest, with the two finalists being Luigi and the monkey/banana person. The contest took a competitive turn here when Shamerea Richards, who dressed up as Luigi, said, “It’s a me, Luigi, and I’mma whoop this monkey’s ass.”

In the end, Luigi emerged as the winner with the most enthusiasm from the audience, and treated the audience to a victory dance.

The raffle ended the night, with three lucky audience members winning some scary movies on DVD.

Kendall Hurst, a junior corporate communication major, said that something she liked about the show was that “all of (the acts) were unique, and (they) made it their own.”

The host of the show, Angela Davis, a junior sociology major, said the show “exceeded (her) expectations.

“Because there was another event (going on tonight), we didn’t expect many people,” she said. “But we definitely had a great turnout.”

She also said that hosting was a good experience.

“It was a fun to learn how to work for the crowd,” she said. “I don’t like speaking in front of people, so it’s good practice. I was so happy to see old and new faces, and I hope to see them again.”

Cassie Buchman can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].