Varieties, a universitywide talent show, traditionally has been dominated by members of the greek community. This year, however, a lone residence house has thrown its hat into the ring in hopes of garnering the trophy.

Barker House in Lyon Hall is only the second non-greek entry to participate in Varieties in the past two years, said Laura Cripple, assistant producer of Varieties and senior in sociology.

Allan Dudding, one of the lead roles in Barker House’s skit “The Adviser,” said more than a dozen members of the floor worked on the skit, although many members of the floor pitched in and helped out.

Dudding, sophomore in geology, said the residence hall house being selected as one of the acts surprised him.

“When we tried out, there were nine [groups], and we were the 10th, so we were actually pretty surprised,” he said.

Dudding called the Barker House’s participation in Varieties “a huge team effort.”

“Everyone on the floor helped one way or another,” he said.

He said about six or seven Barker House residents banded together to write the script for “The Adviser,” which is about a college student who keeps flunking out of his majors.

Dudding said Barker House has a community atmosphere which helps when it tackles projects like Varieties.

“Everybody’s friends with just about everybody else, it seems,” he said.

However, Dudding said the preparation for Varieties has been strenuous.

“It’s pretty hectic, just non-stop, and it hasn’t let up since we started [practicing], and it probably won’t stop until Saturday night,” he said.

Edie Wishman, costume designer for “The Adviser” and senior in history, said the costumes consist of casual student dress, but there also are six “human tree” costumes.

Wishman said each tree costume took about five-and-a-half hours to create.

She made the majority of the costumes, although she did have an assistant helping her during winter break.

Wishman said participating in Varieties has been a “very good experience” for the residents of Barker House.

“At first, we only had a few people, but more and more people started to get interested in it,” she said.

Wishman, whose previous costuming experience was working on a community college production, said designing and creating the costumes wasn’t too difficult.

“I’m a little Miss Martha Stewart,” she joked.

Wishman said all the hard work has been worth it.

“We’ve been working on these costumes for a long time, and they look really cool from the stage — kind of abstract,” she said.

Wishman called Barker House’s participation in this year’s show “excellent,” and she said she hopes they will encourage other floors and organizations in the residence halls to join next year’s production.

“For coming into it completely blind, it’s phenomenal what they put together,” she said.

Casey Powers, producer of Varieties and senior in metallurgical engineering, said he is pleased about Barker House’s participation in this year’s program.

“We need to reach out to all students, it’s an all universitywide talent show,” he said. “I’m tickled to death that they’re participating.”

Powers said the house’s skit is “quite good, especially considering their resources. They have a limited area to practice and limited money.” He said the majority of groups participating in Varieties get funding for their performances from companies and private donations.

Powers said he hopes Barker House will inspire more residence halls to get involved with the program.

“The more competition, the better the show it’s going to be,” he said.

Barker House will be performing its skit Saturday at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Tickets are $5 are can be purchased at the Memorial Union.