The annual K.A.O.S. Step Show — the Midwest’s largest — is scheduled to be held Saturday at the 3,500-seat Chicago Theatre, 175 N. State St.
The show will feature six championship teams from around the Midwest. Each of the teams has won or placed at major competitions this year.
“It’s going to be one of the most competitive shows held in a long time,” said Douglas Williams, who is responsible for the K.A.O.S. Web site, corporate sponsorship and publicity.
Also featured will be comedian B. Cole, a Chicago native who will host the show for the second straight year.
Cole is a regular comic on Black Entertainment Television’s Comicview.
Although the event traditionally has been held on campus, it was moved downtown to accommodate larger crowds, organizers said in a press release. Since it began 13 years ago, attendance at K.A.O.S. has increased more than threefold.
“The Chicago Theatre is so much of a better venue for this type of event,” said Williams, a McCormick senior. “It’s stepping up the show another level.”
He added that most of the people who attend the event come from other schools, some from as far as Philadelphia or Washington, D.C.
K.A.O.S is an acronym for the four major fraternities — Kappa Alpha Psi, Alpha Phi Alpha, Omega Psi Phi and Phi Beta Sigma — that donate some of the funds from the event to charities and causes that have included the Bronzeville Children’s Museum, the Salvation Army, AIDS research and sickle-cell research.
Organizers also have established three scholarships — two for Chicago-area high-school seniors and one for a Northwestern freshman.
The show begins at 7 p.m. and tickets are available through TicketMaster or at the Chicago Theatre’s box office.
A post-show party will be held at 9 p.m. at Union Station, 210 S. Canal St., and tickets can be purchased at the door. The venue features more security than was available at the party last year, when University Police called the Winnetka, Wilmette and Kenilworth police departments for assistance after a delay in the party left several thousand students in the parking lot of the Sports Pavilion and Aquatics Center.
