On Saturday, Jan. 30, Keene State College’s Mabel Brown Room was filled once again with music, laughter and entertainment for the Social Activities Council’s [SAC] annual Saturday Night Jive event.
The talent show had ten acts in total, including improv comedy, live music and spoken word poetry.
According to SAC’s Events Coordinator Connor Turmelle, 160 people showed up to the event, which he saw as a “huge success.”
“I am so happy that we had over one hundred people because I feel like everyone in the show worked extremely hard to get chosen to participate and everyone in the crowd enjoyed seeing all the acts hard work pay off,” Turmelle said.
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Choosing the Saturday Night Jive participants is a process in itself. According to Turmelle, students are able to audition before the show on four different days.
“Once the four audition days are over, the events committee comes together to talk about which acts they feel would go over the best in the show,” Turmelle said.
Senior Roger Weeks, who performed original songs alongside senior Kaylene Lemme, said he was nervous about auditioning at first.
“I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to audition because of my debilitating stage fright,” Weeks said, “But lately my music has been so well received by the Keene community that I’ve been gaining more confidence and I felt that I was ready to start getting myself out there.”
Weeks continued, “It was time to actually perform. [Lemme] and I worked extremely hard, but I think what helped is that we didn’t look at [Saturday Night Jive] as a competition, but more of an exercise to get over stage fright. We went into it really relaxed.”
The easy-going attitude paid off because Weeks and Lemme took home the first place prize of $300.
“I honestly couldn’t believe it. I’m so happy and proud and just overwhelmed with everything right now,” Weeks said.
Lemme said she was also surprised by the win.
“It was totally unexpected. The entire thing was fan voted, so we feel really thankful that people actually enjoyed our music as much as we enjoy playing it,” Lemme said.
Lemme also said she was impressed by the other performances.
“I’m also so proud of everyone else who performed. I was blown away. Everyone did such a good job,” Lemme said.
KSC’s improvisational comedy troupe Three Ways ’Til Sunday came in second place, while junior and stand-up comedian Pat O’Donnell came in third place.
Students and members of the community in the crowd said they also thought the Saturday Night Jive event went well.
Junior Jessica Sullivan said the show was better than she expected it to be.
“I’ve never been to [Saturday Night Jive] before, but I ended up coming on a whim and I’m honestly so impressed by all of the people who performed,” Sullivan said, “We have an insane amount of talent here that I think more people should know about.”
Sullivan said her favorite part of the show was seeing other students showcase their talents.
“I recognized a lot of the people who performed from classes or just walking around campus, but it was so cool to see that all of them had these amazing talents hidden,” Sullivan said.
In the end, the reactions from the crowd at Saturday Night Jive puts a smile on Turmelle’s face.
“My favorite part of [Saturday Night Jive] is when the parents and the students come up to me afterwards and they are so happy that they are crying because they love all the hard work that SAC as a whole puts into the event. It’s just so awesome,” Turmelle said.
Stephanie McCann can be contacted at smccann@kscequinox.com
