On Thursday, Nov. 18 from 7 to 10 p.m., Student Program Board (SPB’s) entertaining annual talent show will showcase what OU students can do. The show will be located in The Habitat, as OU students are encouraged to attend (for free) and support their peers.

Audience members can expect to see a variety of talents on stage — such as singing and dancing.

“In the past, we’ve had singers, musicians, dancers and comedians,” Stephanie Jurva, assistant director in the office of student involvement (OSI), said. “Anything that can be reasonably and safely performed on stage is encouraged.”

Cash prizes will be distributed to the three top performers of the night. The prize winners will be selected by judges, and one prize winner will be selected by the audience.

“There are three judges: one professional musician, one School of Music, Theatre and Dance professor and one OSI staff,” Joshua Robinson, SPB president, said. “We are looking for critiques based on technical performance and stage performance. All for the goal of constructive feedback to help the performer in the future.”

What makes OU’s talent show different from your traditional television talent show is students have the chance to see people they may know perform. In addition, students can go and see how talented their peers are.

“It offers them a chance to see people they know perform,” Caleb Hardy, SPB special events director, said. “It also gives them a chance to see what their peers can do.”

Talent shows, in general, offer participants a unique opportunity to perform their talent in front of a live crowd. Through this performance, they may be able to overcome their fear of being on stage, gain more confidence in their abilities, boost self-esteem and practice their talent.

“They could overcome a fear of entertaining in front of people — they might gain confidence” said Hardy. “It’s good practice for them to get better at a skill. It also gives students a chance to do something they enjoy.”

The SPB continually puts in much work to present this event yearly. A collaborative effort is required to make sure the show lives up to the standard the SPB sets.

“It takes many members of the board to put this event together,” Jurva said. “The annual events director is the main person involved. It also takes the creative director and the marketing director to do the advertising. The tech director plans the light and sounds and the entire board works together the night of the event to be sure everything runs smoothly.”

The OU Talent show offers an exciting evening of entertainment to OU students and its participants. The occasion provides performers with a night they will never forget. Audience members also benefit as they can have an exciting time and support their friends.