Greek Fling offers a new take on evil

In addition to fun, Greek Week offers service to the community.

By Megan Stroup

Published April 17, 2009

After Saturday evening, MU students might find their childhoods have been a lie.

They might discover the so-called villains of their favorite storybooks were misrepresented and manipulated by the very characters they were taught to idolize: Peter Pan, King Triton, Super Mario and even Austin Powers. Perhaps after all this time, the "villains" will finally have their chance to redeem their reputations.

This year the Greek Week Fling Committee chose the theme "Evil or Misunderstood?" for the Fling performances. Each Greek Week grouping, comprised of two to four chapters each, chose a notorious villain as their individual theme and orchestrated skits to convince the audience that their character was not evil, but misunderstood.

For those who have never witnessed Fling, the term refers to the blood-pumping, elaborately designed, entertaining skits performed by each Greek Week grouping for the chance to earn 1,000 points toward their team total.

The ultimate Greek Week champions are decided by a point system based on six different categories, totaling 5,000 points. Greek students play competitive sports, nominate royalty, host special events, donate blood, perform skits and participate in service events to earn their points.

With the first games beginning last Friday and the final announcements not scheduled until Sunday, April 19, the tradition of Greek Week is more of a Greek fortnight.

One of the biggest scoring components is Fling, worth as many points as either blood or service.

"The time and the effort that the groupings put in to their fling production is about equal to their efforts put forth at the blood drive and participating in service events," Greek Week Director Lauren Isley said to justify the point distribution.

Kappa Alpha Theta Fling Director Sally McVey said the groupings dedicate a lot of time and hard work to their skits. She said everyone works hard during Greek Week and has to schedule skit rehearsals around the blood drive and service events.

"Skits are our way to celebrate," McVey said. "It's just a way to recognize that yeah, the Greek Week Committee really appreciates the hard work you're doing."

Isley said a large portion of the money raised through Greek Week comes from Fling ticket sales.

"Contrary to what most people think, the Fling competition is actually a way for the Greeks to give back to the community," Isley claimed.

Preliminary skits were performed by each grouping Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evening in Jesse Auditorium.

McVey said she believes the skits are entertaining for everybody and provide an excellent opportunity to get to know the other chapters in each grouping.

"Usually we're doing sports or service projects and you only get to know (the other students) on a shallow level," McVey explained. "But when you're interacting with these guys and underclassmen you haven't gotten to know day-by-day, you really get to know their character."

At every possible break between the performances, the students in the auditorium took the opportunity to support their grouping through boisterous chanting of their Greek letters. Often, the chapter names were indistinguishable from one another through the cacophony of cheers.

Some chapters supplemented their chanting by using flashlights to shine paper cutouts of their letters on the wall, the resulting silhouettes bouncing around on the wall to the loud pop music that filled each act transition.

"It's competitive," McVey said. "But we all realize in the whole scheme we are united."

The skits used choreographed dance routines, popular music, coordinated costumes, ornate backdrops and even a unicycle to impress the judges.

The Fling Committee chooses judges familiar with Fling or have some experience with judging Fling in the past, committee member Hannah Vargon said. They also choose Columbia community members and MU faculty.

Former Greek Week participant Chris Prestigiacomo, Hickman High School teachers Andy McCarthy and Chris Delong and Julie Kammerich judged this year's preliminaries.

Groupings also incorporated a variety of witty jabs at current events and topics into their performances, including Chase Daniel's senior season, the AIG bonus scandal and the infamous Snuggie. One skit even referenced the popular FML blog.

The skits were punctuated throughout the night with shorter in-between acts, called IBAs. Isley said IBAs are generally students singing or playing an instrument, but they can be anything. Although the IBAs do not earn points for Greek Week, the best acts are chosen to perform again during finals night.

The eight Fling beneficiaries were also introduced between skits, including MedZou and the American Cancer Society.

Representatives from each organization shared their appreciation for the financial support they receive from Greek Week.

Meals on Wheels representative Marsha Walker said she was a former participant of Greek Week, but they did not have a community service element during her experience.

"You figured out how to have fun and give to other people at the same time," Walker said, complimenting the Greek community directly. "That's a great combination."

Walker said Meals on Wheels will use the money generated from Fling to purchase food to deliver to people in Columbia who need assistance.

Other beneficiaries also specified what the Fling money would be used for in their organizations. The Ronald McDonald House is hoping to purchase playground equipment for sick children and Welcome Home, a charity that provides shelter and assistance to veterans in the community, used $9,000 from Fling last year to build kitchens.

After three nights of preliminaries, the five groupings that advanced to the finals were announced last night. Chi Omega and Pi Kappa Alpha advanced with their skit "A Big, Fat, Bug Wedding;" Kappa Alpha Theta and Beta Theta Pi moved on with "Nottingham: The Place of the Sheriff's Curious Case" and Pi Beta Phi, Alpha Gamma Rho and Sigma Phi Epsilon advanced with "Hook is Not a Crook." The final two groups selected to perform in the finals were Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Kappa Theta and Delta Sigma Phi with "The Mirror's Just Not That Into You" and Alpha Delta Pi, Delta Upsilon and Acacia with "What's in the Chest?"

The judges selected the best five skits based on criteria including overall plot, dance choreography, props, music, humor and the backdrop. This year, each grouping was also judged on their creativity in incorporating a rope, a prop the committee required every skit to include.

For the preliminaries, each skit had a cliffhanger ending. During the final performances tomorrow night beginning at 7 p.m., the final five groups will be able to finish their story. It will be up to the audience to decide whether the main characters are evil or just misunderstood.