As anticipating groups stood in the balcony of Shryock Auditorium dressed in brightly painted costumes Saturday, audience members prepared to be taken away to lands and experiences of the unknown.

The 51st annual Theta Xi Variety Show titled Around the World featured four large and six small groups performing around a centralized theme of cultural diversity. Each large group consisted of a sorority and a fraternity that told stories of its selected county.

Complete with native dress, music and scenes with historical anecdotes, the groups displaced the audience from the seats of Shryock Auditorium to a royal wedding in Germany, a Swedish Viking ship, a Cinco de Mayo festival in Mexico and a restaurant in the heart of Italy.

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Alpha Tau Omega and Delta Zeta, winners of the grand-prize award for overall performance, first brought smiles to the faces of audience members with the portrayal of a young Mexican romance. Taking a tragic twist, the death of the main character brought the audience to tears and the group to victory.

Sigma Kappa and Sigma Pi, winners the first runner-up trophy, took audience members to Sweden where a group of barbaric Vikings rescued young Swedish dames who had been shipwrecked and led to despair.

Second runner-up Theta Xi, Alpha Chi Omega and Delta Sigma Pi portrayed a story of how Oktoberfest originated in celebration of Prince Joseph and Princess Theresa’s wedding.

Alpha Gamma Delta and Pi Kappa Alpha performed the story of a wicked Mafia Donna framed her daughter’s lover for the murder of an inside rival.

Small group performance awards included first-place winner Robyn Obert of Delta Zeta and second-place winner Vivika Vengara of Alpha Gamma Delta .

Members from different groups, who had all been practicing for weeks, took varying positions on their status prior to the show.

Chad Eklund, a member of the grand-prize winning fraternity Alpha Tau Omega, thought highly of his competitors as well as the experience.

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We’ve put so much into this, and all of our competitors seem competent as well, he said. Its been a lot of fun. It is definitely one of the best parts of being in the fraternity because it brought all of us together.

Heather Newby of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority found more joy in the fact that the show would soon be over as she waited beforehand.

I’m just glad its finally tonight, she said. All the dress rehearsals were full of so much tension, and we all wanted to kill each other. My partner keeps threatening that he’s going to drop out.

Chad Soloman, vice president of Sigma Pi fraternity, took pride in the show because it allowed members to exploit hidden talents in an alcohol-free environment.