On Tuesday night, hundreds of Greek students cheered for their Homecoming groups and waved posters with their Greek letters above the loud, excited crowd on the steps of Jesse Hall.

At midnight, the Homecoming Talent Committee announced the fraternities and sororities that made it into finals and the winners of superlative awards.

For weeks before Homecoming, fraternity and sorority members worked on dances, skits and songs to perform in the Homecoming talent competition, one of several events that earns points for Homecoming Greek pairings and can help them win the first place participation title at Sunday’s announcements.

Each skit incorporated a popular song with lyrics tailored to fit the theme of Homecoming, MU or Columbia.

Groups chosen for finals included Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity; Alpha Phi sorority, Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity and Phi Kappa Psi fraternity; Alpha Delta Pi sorority and Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity; Chi Omega sorority, Delta Chi fraternity and Delta Tau Delta fraternity; and Delta Delta Delta sorority and Kappa Alpha Order fraternity.

On Tuesday night, Jesse Auditorium was full of loud chants and colorful posters as excited Homecoming groups waited for the second night of talent preliminaries.

As hosts sophomore Bonnie Thomas and senior Andy Clark walked onstage to begin the show, which was themed “The 99th MU Grammy Awards,” The audience erupted with applause and used flashlights and cut-out letters to project their chapters’ letters on the dark auditorium walls.

Alpha Delta Pi and Pi Kappa Alpha’s skit song was a lively rendition of “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” performed by Shakespeare, Gumby, well-known statues at MU and other characters portraying MU student traditions.

The skits also included energetic dances in which men and women dressed in costumes and danced to mixes of upbeat music.

“Participating in dance was really fun,” Kappa Alpha Theta member Michelle Flandreau said. “The week before Homecoming we practiced pretty much every night. In Theta, we have required Homecoming hours, and most of mine were spent dancing. It was a lot of work, but it was also really fun.”

The second night opened with a tribute to the School of Law and was performed by Gamma Phi Beta sorority and Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity. Directed by sophomore Susie Steimle and senior Andy Cohen, the skit stressed the importance of friendship and teamwork and featured a helpful, energetic gavel and a singing Constitution.

Cohen, the Alpha Kappa Lambda skit director, said the group worked on the skit about 20 hours each week. The process of skit direction also included brainstorming for the skit’s plot.

“We were struggling for ideas and went through about three different scripts,” Cohen said. “I was thinking and came up with the idea to do a skit about a skit, and we collaborated and came up with a plan.”

Kappa Alpha Theta, Beta Sigma Psi fraternity and Pi Kappa Phi fraternity performed a skit in which two fraternity members traveled back in time, visited different academic departments and tried to decide what to major in. After meeting Tennessee Williams and witnessing dances, themed in accordance with the Spanish and chemistry departments, they decide to major in history.

Pi Beta Phi sorority and Phi Kappa Theta fraternity featured a Texas Raider stealing a book with all of the secrets of Homecoming. The spirits of Discovery, Excellence, Respect and Responsibility, MU’s core values, don capes and superhero gear in order to save the day in Speaker’s Circle.

Delta Gamma sorority and Delta Upsilon fraternity went back in time to discover the source of the great fire at MU in 1882. After discovering Texas Tech was to blame, they cleared the name of the School of Engineering and went on to win Homecoming.

Kappa Delta, Alpha Gamma Sigma and Tau Kappa Epsilon played host to a fashion show in which girls from Texas Tech and MU battle in a fashion competition that will decide the outfits MU Homecoming Royalty members will wear. Although a student from Texas Tech tries to steal the winning plans, an MU student overhears her discussing the scheme and saves the day.

Alpha Chi Omega sorority, Delta Sigma Psi fraternity and Kappa Sigma fraternity closed the second night’s show by bringing audiences back to 1992 with windbreakers, side ponytails and references to New Kids on the Block. In the end, MU quarterback Chase Daniel escapes his villainous math teacher and races to Faurot Field, moving on to win the game and a New Kids on the Block concert for MU.

Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, Alpha Gamma Rho fraternity and Sigma Chi fraternity honored the Sinclair School of Nursing with a skit featuring a spirited band of nursing students who cure Daniel after villains from Texas Tech pose as Dr. Quinn and Dr Pepper and suggest that he drink some of their “Texastine” to cure him of his heart ailment.

Phi Mu sorority, Sigma Nu fraternity and Sigma Pi fraternity produced a skit featuring the School of Agriculture. When a family from Texas Tech comes to MU to destroy the land, kill the crops and sabotage Homecoming, they realize they have found a home for themselves and decide to transfer, believing that at MU, there is something for everyone.

Alpha Phi, Alpha Epsilon Pi and Phi Kappa Psi based their skit off of the popular NBC show “The Office.” The skit included pop culture references balanced with humor, acting and dancing.

“It was a really big deal, because it’s been awhile since Alpha Phi’s made it into finals,” Alpha Phi sorority member Rachel Keller said. “Everyone was really excited when they found out.

Alpha Delta Pi and Pi Kappa Alpha’s skit took into consideration MU traditions on and off campus. When an angry School of Journalism expellee poses as a construction worker and plans to destroy MU with his giant bulldozer, statues at MU and symbols of Columbia hot spots, such as The Flying Cow and The Blue Note, step forward to save the school.

Chi Omega, Delta Chi and Delta Tau Delta’s skit featured a Western theme, in which an angry family of Texas Raiders captures Truman the Tiger and MU’s athletic coaches. Determined to bring the coaches back and to win Homecoming, the athletes work together and with the help of Varsity M Man are able to save their coaches and win the game.

Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity’s piece featured the song “Tainted Love.” In it, when Truman the Tiger visits the College of Veterinary Medicine looking for a cure for his missing stripes, he instead receives an illness-inducing shot from a red and black villain. In the end, veterinary school students must save Truman and, in turn, save Homecoming.

Delta Delta Delta sorority and Kappa Alpha Order fraternity’s skit focused on the MU tradition of rubbing the David R. Francis statue’s nose to receive on A on a test. In the skit, a doctor from Texas Tech creates a liquid that will inflict “Red Fever” on MU students and make them ill before Homecoming. But MU medical students cure the sick and save the day, clearing the path for MU to win the game.

This article was provided by: The Maneater
Written by: Erica Zucco