By Graham Shea
Staff Writer
Last week’s Songfest proved to be another huge success, boasting five consecutive sold-out performances and between $20,000 and $30,000 in box office ticket sales.
Awards were announced Saturday night at the culmination of the final performance, with Delta Gamma and Psi Upsilon and Friends taking home the Sweepstakes Trophy for best overall show.
Competitors were judged on their music, choreography, set and costume, theme and enthusiasm. “It was so tough deciding,” said judge Cindy Williams. “They were all great. There was something in each one that was excellent.”
Williams was one of the many celebrity judges invited to score the groups at Songfest. Among other accomplishments, she appeared in “American Graffiti” (1973) and starred in the TV show “Laverne and Shirley” (1976-83).
Annabel Day of Delta Gamma and Psi Upsilon and Friends won the Producer’s Award for the competition, and Kenny Felkel won that group’s Director’s Award. “We put out everything we had,” Day said. “Over the past three weeks we’ve really grown into a family.”
Gripping her hard-earned Producer’s Award, she laughed as she remembered her past involvement with Songfest. “I did it my freshman year. They gave me the ‘most likely to direct Songfest’ award.” Day said she plans to go into children’s theater some day.
Senior Giuseppe Nespoli won the Director’s Award for Sigma Phi Epsilon, Delta Delta Delta, and Gamma Phi Beta. Junior Pia Manalo won it for Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Sigma Chi. The faculty/staff‘s Director’s Award went to Sally McIlwain, and Gamma Ghkkkkket Sigma and Friends’ went to Gregory Himes.
Many students who participated said they were satisfied to see their long hours of practice pay off in the packed theater.
“It was a lot of work,” said junior Sigma Chi Gordon Sumioka. “But that last week was probably one of my best weeks of school. That first day you perform, you see why you’re doing it.”
Freshman Scott Smith said he thoroughly enjoyed the Friday night performance.
“I’ve been to Songfest-type productions at Oklahoma Christian University, Harding University and Abilene Christian University,” he said. “Pepperdine’s was so much better.”
This year’s theme was “Songfest Academy: A Show of Class,” and each group organized its act around an academic theme. The acts were anything but ordinary, though, with characters ranging from lobsters to car mechanics.
“It looked like they really had fun,” freshman Brent Schackman said.
Junior Jennifer Chan, choreographer for Sigma Phi Epsilon, Delta Delta Delta, and Gamma Phi Beta, said the group bonded right from the start of practice. “We had a mixer in the beginning and played twister,” she said. “Everyone called each other family, and we always prayed together.”
Gamma Ghkkkkket Sigma and Friends Assistant Director Casey Gillam said the good times his group had were the most important thing to them.
“None of us were even sad when they announced that the other group had won the award,” he said. “It was a lot of fun all the way around.”
Refusing to surrender their upbeat mood after the final night’s performance, members of Sigma Phi Epsilon, Delta Delta Delta and Gamma Phi Beta kept high group morale after returning to a practice room vandalized with a dry chemical fire extinguisher.
One of the students called Public Safety, around 10:30 p.m., reporting a smoke-like substance in the room after returning from the finale. Public Safety and Pepperdine Fire units responded to the call and were able to clear the room of the chemical with fans so that the group could retrieve its belongings. They described the incident as “malicious mischief.”
The extinguisher was found in a trash can near Keck Science Center. The culprit has not yet been found.
Submitted April 1, 2004