During the snow-filled night on Thursday, Feb. 22, Keene State College’s concert band honored the dead of the recent Florida school shooting to begin its presentation titled, To Name the Unnameable and Communicate the Unknowable.

Angelique Inchierca / Photo Editor

In honor of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the ensemble performed Ava Maria composed by Franz Bliebl.

In his opening, KSC band director and professor James Chesebrough said the arrangement was unrehearsed.

KSC senior music major Molly McCoy said, “I was incredibly moved. In the middle of it, I started crying.” She said the piece was already impactful on its own but the band performed in a way that allowed the audience to feel the emotion fill the air of the room.

“It was also very incredible for me to be able to see one of my teachers [Chesebrough] feel the emotion before he even lifted the baton,” she said. “We go through these performances and majors wanting to make the world a better place through art, so any time anyone does a performance like that in view of something horrific happening, it really impacts everybody watching it.”

Chesebrough started the ensemble series opening night by informing the audience that, because of the inclimate weather, their featured guests, The Quabbin Regional High School Symphonic Winds, were unable to come to the college to perform.

Afterwards, he said some words on the recent tragedies in Florida and asked the audience to hold the applause of their first performance.

The following musical arrangements were conducted by Chesebrough, student and assistant conductor Eric Dill and guest conductor Peter Lewis.

Before the start of the piece, Stardance, composed by Michael Sweeney, Dill turned to the audience and performers walked off stage and stood in the isles between audience members where they stayed until the end of the composition.

McCoy said she believes Dill conducted very well and applauded him for working with such a difficult piece. “I thought it was so cool that all the instruments were around with [the audience],” she said. “It was incredible.”

KSC sophomore and the concert band’s part-time pianist Jason Coburn said he loves performing and learning music because it teaches you to be a leader and connects people together.

Coburn thought the recital went extremely well. “[Tonight’s concert has] been great,” he said. “The blend of instruments are definitely great. It sounds like they have strengths in all areas.”

KSC senior Katrina Cloutier works at the Redfern Arts Center as an usher and said she has seen KSC’s concert band perform a handful of times over the past two years. “They are very well rehearsed and they sound beautiful,” she said. “I enjoyed listening to them, and I think [the audience] did too.”

McCoy said the KSC concert band’s performance was very dynamic with the different varieties of songs, moods and styles.

Coburn said, “I am grateful to have been apart of [tonight’s recital]. I’m more like an addition to [band] so it’s definitely a privilege that they asked me to be apart of their ensemble.”

Coburn said he is excited for future recitals. “I’m definitely looking forward to the next concert because, for me, I’m on more pieces,” he said. “I think the band, as most ensembles, as the year goes on the sound constantly improves as you practice with the same people.”

Student and Faculty recitals will occur all throughout the months of March and April; upcoming events can be found on the Redfern Arts Center’s website.

Angelique Inchierca can be contacted at ainchierca@kscequinox.com

Many can recall the phrase “Laughter is the best medicine”. For one Keene State College student, humor has a special place in her heart and future career path. What began with trouble, ended in laughter. Aspiring comedian Dominique Pascoal said she believes her interest piqued during her years in secondary school. “I was always kind of like a hambone, the ‘class clown.’ I got in a lot of trouble in high school,” she said.

Colton mccracken / senior photographer

The KSC senior said, when she started getting in trouble, she would take the negative situations and use them as a comedic outlet to relieve the situation. Eventually, she began looking forward to going into the office to put on a performance of sorts. After almost four years here at the college, this theatre major’s passion for acting has shown as she has participated in multiple KSC theatre productions and improvisational performances. Pascoal was even nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship, and is now the president of KSC’s Improv Club. Pascoal’s acting and skits have traveled beyond the walls of the Redfern Arts Center and even New Hampshire.

This past January, Pascoal traveled to Orlando, Florida, with her mother (who was attending a conference) and performed at an open mic event held by an improv club. She said she loved the experience and would love to perform stand-up more often but finds it difficult to do here in Keene; during the summer she is able to perform comedy acts in her home town of Manchester, New Hampshire.

KSC sophomore and theatre major specializing in acting Justin Park is a close friend and classmate of Pascoal. “I met [Pascoal] in improv club [last year],” he said, “When I joined the team after that first semester, we became friends and took similar classes.”

Park observed Pascoal perform on multiple occasions and said her style is different from others he has seen. “[Dominique] has this kind of energy to her that a lot of people can feed off of and will just listen to her. Especially when she can articulate herself well and is prepared to what she wants to say, it comes off greatly,” he said. He said she is often a “hootie-who” who gets people’s attention by her actions and very comedic style. He added that past her comedic vibes, people respect her as a leader as well as a performer.

Pascoal said comedy and positive spins come natural to her. “I like looking at the bright side of things. There is always a twist that you can make, whether it be dark or unfortunate,” she said. She said that creating positive reflections of negative situations are important to laugh and smile during hard times. Quoting Dalai Lama, she said, “Love and Compassion are necessities, not luxuries, and without them humanity cannot survive.”

Pascoal said she found her passion in helping others in her own way to help humanity. “Creating these characters and these stories… the way I see it is, ‘Wow, I hope this experience makes you aware of something’ and it would be awesome if you went out and acted upon it,” she said, “If anything, you get to escape for a while. Whether that be a comedy show, or a movie, or anything, I just want to contribute to people having the ability to escape from their own life.”

Pascoal said she encourages people to come out of their comfort zone and to follow Robin Williams’ advice: “You are only given a spark of madness, you must not lose it.” She said students who are too afraid to step out on stage are always welcome to come to KSC’s Improve Club to watch skits, get inspired and, hopefully, perform.

KSC theatre and dance lecturer PeggyRae Johnson said that all performers and entertainers go through hours and hours of hard work and training to get where they are. She added that art plays an important role in society and history as it is what we base our lives around. Whether it is music, art, cooking, or entertainment, Johnson said cultures are created around art, but it is very under appreciated in modern times today.

Pascoal said that we act every day of our lives, and comedy is her way of adding to today’s culture. Park said he wants to see Pascoal on television shows similar to Saturday Night Live, where comedy is valued and intertwined with real life problems and situations. Pascoal said, “A lot of people want to see me on SNL because I have a cornucopia of characters and bits that I just create on the spot… My plan is to go out to the West Coast when I graduate, get involved with an improv troupe, do stand-up and also do auditions.”

Whether she is the next Oscar-awarded actress or comedic talk show host, Pascoal said she is ready to make her mark in entertainment history.

Angelique Inchierca can be contacted at ainchierca@kscequinox.com

“Art” is one word that holds dozens of meanings. Whether you are a musician, a dancer, an actor, or anything in between, an artist shares their story in their own unique way.

This past weekend, on Friday, Sept. 22, Keene State College’s Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery, or the Thorne for short,  held their first gallery showing. Teachers and former art students came from all around to see the “Bob Neuman ‘Impulse and Discipline’” event in remembrance of Keene’s local artist and former Keene State College Professor, Robert S. Neuman.

Angelique Inchierca / equinox staff

Neuman, born in 1926, had been drafted from Idaho, attended art school in California and traveled to Spain and Germany before settling down here in the Keene area and even teaching at the college before retiring.

The Thorne Art Gallery’s Director Brian Wallace explained how the gallery started for the community of Keene and keeps its original roots by staying connected with the locals around. One way of doing this was to showcase a beloved mentor and friend’s artwork after his passing.

For many, this event acted as the first impressions made to people who had never known Neuman or the Thorne Art Gallery before.

“This is my first time learning about him [Neuman],” Swanzey resident Shane Maxfield said. Most students shared the same unknowingness about Neuman, but said they were not disappointed in what they saw.

Keene State sophomore Olivia Cattabriga described his work as “super expressive and energetic,” while Emma Johansen, a sophomore, said, “I love the colors, it’s so bright.”

A lot of students expressed that when viewing Neuman’s work, each piece caught your eye for a different reason than the last.

Keene State Alumna Taryn Heon explained it as “very alive and diverse.”

Angelique Inchierca / equinox staff

Similar to Heon, Wallace said, “He [Neuman] had a really diverse way of thinking about things.”

When walking through the gallery, Neuman’s history was displayed throughout. Wallace explained that the gallery showcased each decade in its own section.

“He [Neuman] kept evolving into new styles,” Wallace said. With each new decade came a new experience, which changed his style of art.

This explains the wide range of emotions and descriptions that students said they felt were given to them while walking through the layout.

Keene State sophomore Emma Johansen described the artwork to be “all so different, but also the same because of the abstract.”

While walking through Neuman’s story, each person was able to create their own line to add to his existing page.

“You see it and interpret what you want from it,” said Jackie Aubuchon, a first-year at Keene State College.

Fans of Neuman’s abstract and geometric art can be looking forward to events similar in the near future. Wallace announced that the family and friends at the Thorne Gallery that night would be coming together again on Oct. 13 to finish shooting a video documentary about Robert S. Neuman, and again in November for a book session on Neuman’s larger impact on art history.

Outside of these events, Wallace said he urges Keene State College students to visit the Thorne whenever they find free time to stop in.

Cattabriga said, “I think that if they [KSC students] have the slightest interest in art, they should visit. I mean, I wouldn’t go to a math gallery, but if they have the slightest interest, they should.”

Josh Farr, a gallery director from a neighboring town, helped set up this exhibit and explained the pleasure it gives gallery workers to see art appreciated by people from all sorts of different backgrounds.

Wallace invites campus students by saying “If the doors are open, we’re open,” and said he hopes to see more students use the Thorne-Sagendorph Art Gallery to their advantage as a free activity.

Angelique Inchierca can be contacted at ainchierca@kscequinox.com