Greeks get animated for Fling skits

By Erica Zucco

Published April 18, 2008

Fraternity and sorority members packed the patio behind Jesse Hall on Wednesday night, dancing to Miley Cyrus' "See You Again" and waving glittery cutouts of Greek letters. At 10 p.m., the Greek Week Fling Committee announced the skit groups that the judges selected as finalists.

Finalists included Pi Beta Phi sorority, Beta Theta Pi fraternity and Acacia fraternity, who performed "Hey Arnold: There's Trouble in P.S. 118"; Gamma Phi Beta sorority, Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and Beta Sigma Psi fraternity, who performed "Doug Goes to the Zoo"; Chi Omega sorority, Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, who performed "Beetlejuice: The Neitherworld's Most Wanted"; Alpha Delta Pi sorority, Pi Kappa Theta fraternity and Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, who performed "Who Cares About the Care Bears Anyways?"; and Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, Alpha Gamma Sigma fraternity, Sigma Chi fraternity and Delta Chi fraternity, who performed "Pinky and the Brain: World Decaffeination."

"Hey Arnold: There's Trouble in P.S. 118" mixed an original plot with plenty of direct references to the classic Nickelodeon cartoon. A fraternity member dressed as Gerald started the skit by playing the theme song on a saxophone as other members yelled the token phrase "Hey Arnold!" from the wings. Then, audience members were introduced to Arnold, who operated gadgets in his room with a remote control and sported a football-shaped head just as the character did on the show. Scheming Arnold-admirer Helga Pataki snuck into his room, stole his remote and used it to entertain herself and plague the students of P.S. 118. By power of remote, Helga even moved the sixth-graders into an upbeat dance sequence that combined hip-hop moves with an old-school soundtrack and flashing lights.

Members of Gamma Phi Beta, Pi Kappa Alpha and Beta Sigma Psi scripted a scene in which Doug Funnie and friends take a visit to the Bluffington Zoo, and his interpretive-dancing, overdramatic sister plans to let all of the animals escape. Before heading to the zoo, they stop at the Honker Burger, where dancers carrying trays and dressed in old-fashioned fast food restaurant uniforms filled the stage with kicks and turns. Another dance sequence broke out when Doug's sister released the "animals" (dancers) from their cages.

In "Beetlejuice: The Neitherworld's Most Wanted," Beetlejuice had to avoid the wrath of Ghost Hunter Dr. Ivanna Ghost-Be-Gone, whose business would fail unless she captured the ghost. With the help of Lydia, his excessively emotional real-world friend, Beetlejuice joined forces with other ghosts to survive. The decorations, costumes and dances all took on the darkly funny theme that accentuates the TV show, and the fraternity and sorority members not performing onstage joined in from their seats when it was time to yell "Beetlejuice" three times and bring him to life.

In a sharp change from the dark humor of "Beetlejuice," members of Alpha Delta Pi, Pi Kappa Theta and Tau Kappa Epsilon lit up the stage with bright colors, dressed as Care Bears and other well known cubs in a skit where the villainous Professor Coldheart, joined by Smokey Bear, the Charmin Bear and others try to put the Care Bears through a machine that sucked out all happiness and take away their "care." Before the curtain dropped, the Snuggles fabric softener bear yelled out, "Who gets to be on lunchboxes? Pajamas? Who got invited to Jamie Lynn Spears' baby shower?" Finally, "Dork Bear" was put through the machine.

In Zeta Tau Alpha, Alpha Gamma Sigma, Sigma Chi and Delta Chi's piece, Pinky and Brain of "Pinky and the Brain" turned all but one of the coffee beans in the world into ash in order to take over the world. Throughout the course of the scene, caffeine-crazed office workers at the New York Stock Exchange broke into a dance, and a reporter with pumped up hair and a desire to break the latest story fell victim to the mice's plan.

Preliminary rounds took place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Jesse Auditorium was filled with Greek students screaming for their chapters, waving posters and spirit sticks and projecting their letters across the walls. Tommy Junkins of Sigma Chi started a wave among his team, running up and down the aisles and raising his arms.

"I do this all the time," Junkins said with a laugh.

Regardless of their roles, fraternity and sorority members practiced for hours and hours to prepare for the preliminary rounds.

Freshman Delta Delta Delta sorority member Jennifer Weedin, who said she was an extra, practiced hours each day for several weeks with her chapter and Greek Week partners, but had no complaints about the time she spent with the rest of the skit members. Weedin said the best part of rehearsals was getting to know new people and hanging out with the fraternity members Delta Delta Delta was partnered with.

Junior Phi Mu sorority member Krystle Crockett was part of the dance team for her skit, which joined her sorority with Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and Sigma Pi fraternity. The skit portrayed a nightmare that plagued "Rugrats" character Chuckie Finster. Crockett said the group practiced an hour or two each night to get ready for Fling.

The grouped dancers were put to the test Tuesday night when the music for their sequence didn't play when it was supposed to. After a few moments the dancers started moving anyway and completed their entire act in silence.

Freshman Alpha Tau Omega fraternity member AJ Perry, dressed as a Smurf, danced for his fraternity as well. Perry said the group practiced their dance for two to three hours about three days a week.

"Being a Smurf is a new thing for me," Perry said. "It's been really fun, though, hanging out with the dance team."

Freshman Alpha Tau Omega fraternity member Evan Gohring played Papa Smurf in the skit.

Gohring said the skit members practiced for about four weeks and that some of his best experiences were hanging out with the members of Alpha Phi. Gohring had done some acting in high school but Tuesday was his first time performing as Papa Smurf, he said. "Smurfland" was performed by Alpha Phi sorority, Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity.

Junior Delta Gamma sorority member and Fling director Hillary Overfelt and senior Gamma Phi Beta member Fling emcee Lauren Isley said organizing the event took several weeks.

In addition to weekly Fling director meetings, the directors facilitated technical rehearsals and dress rehearsals before the event.

Nine in-between acts also performed over the three nights of Fling. A popular act was that of the House Mom Hotties, a group of house directors who dressed in flapper outfits and sang and danced onstage. House directors Elaine Malcolm and Dacie Cowles said the group had wanted to do something like this for a while, and when they found the right song, they immediately started working on their act.

In-between acts by Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity, Zeta Tau Alpha and Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Delta Pi and Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and Sigma Chi were selected to perform at Fling finals Friday.