“Roll theme song, roll opening credits, enjoy the show” roared through a packed Cahn Auditorium as the annual Greek extravaganza Maysing let students put Northwestern life in a humorous light using the theme TV take-offs.

Twenty-four Greek houses in 12 pairs of fraternities and sororities rocked at the Tuesday night event.

First-, second- and third-place awards were given to the best acts on the basis of “performance and quality” as determined by a panel of three judges: Mark Witte of the economics department, Susan Dun of the communication studies department and Eberhard Zwergel of the chemistry department.

The event was sponsored by Order of Omega, a national Greek leadership and honor society.

This year’s first place winners were Gamma Phi Beta and Delta Chi, which performed a spoof on the popular 1970s and ’80s game show “This Is Your Life.” Second place was awarded to Delta Zeta and Alpha Epsilon Pi for their version of the dating show “Blind Date.” Kappa Alpha Theta and Sigma Phi Epsilon took third with a take-off on “Fresh Prince of Bel Air” entitled “Fresh Prince of NU.”

Audience members roared with laughter as winning pair Gamma Phi and Delta Chi joked in their game show about loving their Russian teaching assistants, the lack of a dating scene at NU, “hook-ups,” The Keg of Evanston and catching roommates in embarrassing situations.

The sorority and fraternity, who also opened the show, teased each other as the girls sang, “Ask us out!” with the guys replying, “But they don’t look that good.”

“We chose this take-off because it was easy to work all the songs into it,” said Gamma Phi member Mary Zell, a Weinberg freshman. “It was really fun putting it together and Gamma Phi hasn’t won since ’96, … but even if we didn’t win it was worth it.”

About 300 students acted, danced and sang in the 12 sets of skits. The scripts were written six weeks ago with rehearsals beginning two weeks later, said Cara Ludutsky, secretary for Order of Omega.

“The groups did a really good job and worked humor into the real world of Northwestern with a lot of creativity,” said Ludutsky, a Speech junior. “Every single team has a really solid skit that they are really proud of.”

In years past the event has been infamous for students drinking as they take the stage.

This year strict rules were enforced by University Police, who patrolled the doors and didn’t allow any bags into the auditorium.

“In the past it has been known to be a drunken debauchery, but to get away from that image this year, we had tailgates previous to the event with just mingling,” Ludutsky said. “We didn’t want to focus on the drinking but rather the entertainment value.”

Participants were required rehearse scripts more than six weeks ago to receive feedback and assure the quality of the performances.

Ludutsky said no drug references were allowed in the scripts, and Order of Omega cut topics it felt were in poor taste, such as degradation of NU administrators.

“I’m excited because there were a lot more problems in the last couple years with the people being rowdy, but this year the participants with their excitement and involvement with the theme did an excellent job,” said president of Order of Omega and Weinberg junior Jessica Goethals.

Judges and many audience members said they enjoyed each act for its unique application to NU’s social and academic scenes.

“I was really impressed with the level of talent in the performers,” Dun said. “It was lots of fun, and I had no idea that this many Northwestern students could sing.”

“I’m glad I was invited and I would’ve come even if I had to pay to see it,” Zwergel said. “All of the acts received very high marks, just some were better rehearsed. They all had a genuine feeling to entertain.”