Despite what some Varieties performers thought, the first Saturday of the second cut competition didn’t cause a rash of sudden stage fright.

Although last week’s performers may have been a bit nervous, an air of calm drifted into the Great Hall as each performer took the stage.

“The show went really, really, really well,” Varieties Director Laurine Gilbert said. “When New Beginnings performed, the crowd went absolutely wild. I think we are starting to draw different crowds.”

Gilbert hopes this Saturday is as successful, and so do the performers — especially those who either don’t have the music memorized or even know what they will be performing.

“We don’t know what we’ll be performing,” member of Gospel Soul Innovators, Edwin Grider, said. “But we’re not worried or nervous about it.”

The sheer lack of concern about what music the choir (representing the Body of Christ Christian Worship Center) will perform may amaze some Varieties performers but, for good reason, Grider is very calm.

“We were asked by Laurine Gilbert to perform [in Varieties] this year,” Grider, a junior in elementary education and political science, said. “Someone had referred us to her and when she approached us she said we wouldn’t have to be judged.

“Our focus is on the ministry of people as opposed to competition,” Grider added.

A bit more concerned about its performance is Cha-Cha De Amour. Members Lauren Berdofe and Zak Kimble are trying to find the time to finish learning the words to their songs.

For the past few weeks, the duo has been practicing “Satin Dolls” and “Whatever Lola Wants,” two pieces of lounge music.

“The songs are kinda like swing,” Berdofe, a sophomore in interior design, said. “When we decided to do this I said, ‘guess what we’re singing.’ We looked through a book of lounge music. These are a couple of my personal favorites.”

Like Gospel Soul Innovators, Cha-Cha De Amour isn’t too concerned about performing.

“I just hope we have a good time and hopefully not make a fool out of myself,” Berdofe said.

The two other vignettes that will be playing are True Colors (Stephanie Beane, Shannon Gosha, Erika Pint, Gina Primavera and Kristin Stoa) and soloist Laura Stoucie.

Saturday night’s two skits include the teams of Delta Delta Delta and Delta Tau Delta performing “Night at the Safire” and the Farm House and Delta Zeta performing “It’s Story Time.”

“Night at the Safire,” written by Andy Ohman and Wes Muller, “is about a Midwesterny family that goes to a casino for vacation,” Ohman, one of the skit’s directors, said. “There is a daughter who is 16 and a boy who’s five. The daughter is in charge of taking care of the boy, but she loses him. It’s all about his adventures.”

Besides being a director, Ohman is playing the role of the five-year-old boy.

“It’s been interesting trying to remember what it was like to be a kid,” Ohman said. “It’s kinda like having A.D.D. I have to be constantly making facial expressions and contorting my body while trying to be rambunctious and witty.”

The skit, “It’s Story Time,” also follows the adventures of the young as the audience will get to watch a little girl find her imagination through a book.

“I got the idea from a dream and the characters just evolved from there,” director Laura Cripple said.

Excited about the performance, the cast of approximately 35 members has been rehearsing night after night for several months and maintaining its energy for the performance, a very difficult task.

In between the small stage adventures and the music, several members of Grandma MoJo’s Moonshine Revival will be entertaining the audience the only way it knows how — with satire.

“We will be doing skits that have already been done at the shows,” Ben Godak, sophomore in sociology said. “We tried to pick the better ones and had to pick some clean ones. We usually do mostly boob and fart jokes, so we had to adjust some of the material for the audience.

“Don’t forget to mention we’re funny,” Godak added.

This group of Varieties participants will be performing Saturday night at 7 and 9 p.m. in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. Tickets are $5 at the door and at all TicketMaster locations.