The lights were dim in the band room, and members of the audience waited eagerly as Helena Chávez took a deep, nervous breath. Then she began singing an acoustic version of “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People.

The audience responded with a burst of applause and demands for an encore, which came in the form of Chávez’s own adaptation of Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl.”

FemMic, as it was called, was an all-female open mic that took place on Wednesday, March 27, and was intended to bring the school’s female performers into the spotlight.

The night also marked junior Jan Meese and sophomore Mike Suh’s last night as hosts and organizers of the open mic, in part due to criticisms that, Meese said, were beyond their control such as the gender ratio among performers.

In spite of the non-weighted, first-come, first-serve system, in the past, the open mics have attracted a disproportionate ratio of men and women, Meese said.

“It’s not nice to be accused of something that you don’t have control over and also not to get thanked for the hard work you’re putting in,” Meese said.

FemMic, he said, was part of his and Suh’s efforts to remedy the gender imbalance among performers.

“The low female attendance of the open mics was brought to our attention,” Meese said. “And Mike and I really wanted to fix that.”

Performing arts teacher Carolyn Castellano, who oversees the open mics, said that FemMic accomplished that goal.

“It was successful,” she said. “There were three new women that were here, and they braved it and performed.”

Junior Sophia Pekowsky, sophomore Giovana Castro and junior Nicole Strounine, members of the “Ukeladies,” called FemMic an important effort.

“We need to encourage more girls to participate in these things and encourage more people to come and support them,” she said.

According to Pekowsky, the Ukeladies have offered to take over hosting responsibilities.

Castellano said that there is no question that open mic will continue following Meese’s and Suh’s decision.

“It’s a good outlet for kids to come and play,” she said. “There’s not a lot of places where people under 18 can come and play music, and it’s very supportive, so I hope that the word gets out, that more people will come, listen and be supportive of all the music that’s around here.”

Junior Fletcher Hartman, a frequent attendee of the open mics and a close friend of Meese and Suh, said he was excited to see FemMic attract some new female faces and that he hopes that similar efforts will be made in the future.

“It is a male-dominated environment, and I don’t think that’s necessarily Mike and Jan’s fault. I absolutely loved seeing people who hadn’t played music before come out and show us their amazing work,” Hartman said. “I’d love to see an atmosphere more like this happen again and continue to happen with open mic nights here at the school.”

Ben Gladstone can be contacted at [email protected].