Cristian Valentin
Equinox Staff
Last week, six Keene State theatre and dance majors along with their faculty advisor Doug Wilcox wondered whether their senior capstone production, Meshnet, could successfully deal with the question, “What would happen if the Internet was to disappear overnight?”
On Thursday and Friday, May 2 and 3, they had their answer: Yes.
Keene State sophomore Tyler daRosa said he enjoyed the show and could not pick a favorite part. “Oh god, my favorite part of the show? I know it’s kinda weird to say but probably the whole thing, just because it touched on something that is so important. I loved the movement, how they had scenes that were just movement and they didn’t have to say anything but you still understood what was happening. You understood everything that was going on in the show but not everything needed explaining, I thought it was very well done,” said daRosa.
Audience and KSC faculty member Trinity Nay said she believes the performers did an admirable job. “I thought the combination of the movement pieces and the more traditional verbal scenes, what I would consider traditional acting, transitioned the journey because there were so many vignettes that it tied the story together well,” said Nay.
Wilcox said that he was proud of the work every student put in, proud of how they went from nothing to something, and proud of how they were willing to take risks.
The six seniors who performed were Ashley Gage, Erika Kucks, Heather Hunt, Anthony Gentile, Isaiah Lapierre and Jacob Lavoie. The performance told its story in a non-linear format that included various movement pieces, speaking portions, and performers playing different characters at different times.
This performance has been in the making since the beginning of the semester and the seniors said they truly feel that they’ve grown together from the process. “I learned how to deal with difficult situations interpersonally. We also dealt with creative differences and would reconcile them in a positive way to make something we can all be really proud of,” said Hunt.
Kucks agreed with this and believes that they have not just grown in many ways,“I think now that we have this whole performance about to go up, time just slipped by, but we used it so creatively. During the week it was very helpful to have two classes but we also all met most Sunday nights and got together and grew outside of the classroom as well.”
According to the performers, these risks included thinking of ideas that they thought might look or sound stupid but suggesting them anyway and even making changes the day of the performance.
Crew members in the performance include Stage Manager Anna Fialho with Genevieve Joly working the light board and Cassidy Herrick running the sound board. The performance was held in the Redfern Arts Center Wright Theater from 7:30 p.m. to around 9:30 p.m. There was also a talkback after the show that allowed audience members to ask questions.
Cristian Valentin can be contacted at
cvalentin@kscequinox.com
