Cartoon characters invaded Northwestern Tuesday night: Judy Jetson couldn’t get a date, Taz was overwhelmed with extracurricular activities, and Alvin the Chipmunk was gaining the freshman 15 rapidly .
Played by teams of fraternity and sorority members, cartoon characters sang and danced about NU life at this year’s Maysing 2004 Classic Cartoons competition, presented by the Order of Omega, a fraternity and sorority honor society. The event, which took place at Tech Auditorium, drew a crowd of about 550 students, but dwindled to about half that by the end of the night.
“Northwestern is a pretty esteemed school, so it’s fun to make fun of yourself and have people laugh,” said Communication freshman Jonathan Plescher, a member of Delta Chi. “It’s just a good time.”
For the second year in a row, Delta Chi and Kappa Delta beat out seven other teams to take home first place. NU faculty members Mark Witte and Eberhard Zwergel were judges for the event.
Delta Chi and KD’s winning skit, “Cartoon Characters meet Counseling,” featured troubled cartoon characters struggling through NU social life such as finding dates and using fake IDs at The Keg of Evanston, 810 Grove St. Unlike other teams, which stuck to singing and dancing, Delta Chi and Kappa Delta had a live band play their music. To the crowd’s delight, the skit ended with a performance by Weinberg freshman Eli Goodman, who performed a rendition of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” while bare-chested and covered with glitter and sparkles.
Care Bears, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Smurfs also made appearances throughout the night. A couple of groups spoofed reality shows, such as American Idol, in their skits.
“We really wanted to take it to the next level with something fun everyone grew up with,” said Weinberg freshman Tony Habschmidt, a member of Phi Kappa Psi, who played a smurf.
Thursday night at The Keg served as the setting for several of the skits.
“The Keg is the most representative of social life at Northwestern,” said Communications sophomore Daniel Hess, who wrote the script for Gamma Phi Beta and Beta Theta Pi. “The reason why I chose The Keg is that it’s such a perfect way to describe the way Greek life works, trying to balance social life with academic life.”
Late night Burger King runs also were a repeated joke.
“It was very appropriate and hit close to home,” said Medill freshman Elizabeth Sabrio, a member of Alpha Phi. “It was very accurate about our experience at Northwestern.”
For the first time, the Order of Omega held try outs for this year’s Maysing to clean up the content of the skits. Inappropriate or unprepared skits were cut from the show. Some teams were allowed to revise their acts, said Order of Omega President Paul Balash, a McCormick junior.
“The Order of Omega has standards for the highest ideal of Greek life, the Greek community should stand for the same as well,” said Order of Omega Vice President Rachel Erwin, a Communication junior. “We wanted to show our best qualities instead of play off the stereotype that perpetuated the negative.”
The event was mostly performed and attended by freshman pledges and served as a chance for pledge classes from different houses to meet each other.
“I feel it’s a tradition that should continue for years to come,” Hess said. “It’s a unique way for the Greek system to come together and at the same time for students to appreciate life at Northwestern.”
