This year Class Council, a non-greek organization, made it past the preliminary round of Sooner Scandals auditions for the first time. Class Council competed Feb. 26 and became one of the final eight teams in the big show, “Sooner Scandals: Life’s a Game.”
The 2017 Class Council Scandals team, which is comprised of 29 cast members, will perform "Chess Side Story." The musical act was chosen to suit the theme of this year's show, "Life’s a Game.”
In November 2016, Class Council was invited to join and expand the show outside of the greek world, said Elizabeth "EB" McCready, advertising and management senior and head director of Class Council.
Unlike greek organizations, Class Council did not hold cast auditions. The Class Council cast is "one of the coolest things I've ever been a part of because you have students from all over campus," McCready said.
The cast is comprised mostly of members of Class Councils 2017-2020, McCready said.
"We have people who are super, hyper involved, who know everyone and do everything, and then we have students who are transfer students. So they started their Sooner career off participating in Scandals," McCready said.
Class Council's involvement in Scandals has brought people from different organizations on campus together. Other than differing class orientations, it includes people who are not in greek life and have always wanted to participate as well as people involved in greek life who did not want to participate with their sororities or fraternities.
"It's an incredibly diverse group of people, and to see them all come together and work towards a common goal is the best part of it," McCready said.
Class Council's cast also includes members who have done Sooner Scandals and University Sing in the past with their sororities or fraternities.
Cameron Burleson, political science junior, SGA vice president and lead cast member, said, "I'm in a fraternity that does Scandals every year, so I've done Scandals for the past three years. So I'm used to the time commitment that comes with it."
Burleson feels being a part of the Class Council Scandals group gives him the potential to make a difference because the cast involves individuals who aren’t a part of greek organizations and initially thought Scandals wasn't for them, he said.
"Scandals and U-Sing is for everyone, and we have the opportunity to show other people that not only is it for everyone, but you can thrive if you do decide to do it," Burleson said.
Even though the two dance directors and vocal director haven’t been involved in Sooner Scandals or University Sing, they are committed and working hard to make the production the best possible with practices eight hours a week, McCready said.
"I didn't know anything about Scandals until (McCready) talked to me about it," said Dwaine Kenney, computer science and mathematics sophomore and vocal director.
"I've arranged music and things like that for a long time, but I haven't ever had the opportunity to actually direct, like, any sort of show or concert or anything like that. So it has been kinda cool to not just be the person that's singing, but to be the person to tell people what to sing," Kenney said.
Kenney will also be a part of the performing cast, he said.
Most of the songs Class Council is performing are really upbeat to keep the energy of the show exciting, but a slower song is intermingled in the performance to give the cast a little break.
“The mellow song is actually my current favorite in our show. I get emotional almost every time I hear it,” McCready said.
McCready wants to keep the five songs Class Council will perform in Scandals “under wraps” so audience members will be surprised when they come see the main stage show in April, she said.
The full cast of “Sooner Scandals: Life’s a Game” will also include: Pi Kappa Phi with Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Phi Epsilon with Delta Delta Delta, Phi Delta Theta with Kappa Alpha Theta, Beta Theta Pi with Pi Beta Phi, Alpha Tau Omega with Alpha Phi, Beta Upsilon Chi with Kappa Kappa Gamma and Lambda Chi Alpha with Gamma Phi Beta, according to Campus Activities Council’s Twitter page.
All performances for Sooner Scandals will take place April 5-8 in the Reynolds Performing Arts Center on the OU Norman campus. Ticket prices and performance times have yet to be announced, but tickets usually sell out within the first five minutes they go on sale, according to OU CAC.
Correction: This article and its headline were updated at 11:27 a.m. March 2 to reflect that 2017 is the first year a class council has made it past preliminary auditions of Sooner Scandals, not the first year a non-greek organization has passed the preliminary auditions.
