All through January, you’ll find Samford lovers anxiously dimming their phones and hiding their screens from each other, or roommates asking one another to have the room to themselves just for the hour, that’s all they’ll need.
It’s Step Sing season, which means themes are the most coveted secret a Samford student can hold. Step Sing turns girlfriend against boyfriend and roommate against roommate as they practice and perform their various shows. Knowing a group’s theme is currency, and everyone is fighting to be the richest student alive.
The 1999 Step Sing program describes the original Step Sing performances as “(a) far cry from the Step Sing of today” where “each group sang two numbers, one of which was usually a Christmas song.”
Before the 1970s, themes did not exist. Groups would stand on risers, similar to a show choir performance, and sing a medley of songs to the crowd. Then in 1967, only a year after emcees were introduced, themes were born. The 1998 Step Sing program states that in 1974, “(b)y this time, Step Sing had survived many changes.” But even then, themes weren’t necessarily secret.
Even as recent as the early 2000s, show titles were exactly what they said they would be. Dudes-A-Plenty’s (DAP) “Grandpas” was just that. Sigma Chi’s “Let’s Hear It for the Boys” was a tribute to all things boy band. Chi Omega’s “We Got Annie” was a mashup medley of popular songs from that very musical.
“(It has) been 23 years. And I’ve seen a huge shift in Step Sing because, since I graduated, I’ve been back multiple times to see the shows,” said Callen Martin, a three-time sweepstakes winner, and a directing sweepstakes winner.
Something as small as changing the lyrics to songs to make them fit into a show was unheard of in 2002 when Martin directed her show. But it is a decision as small as this which determines the culture shift of Step Sing as a whole.
“We couldn’t just use a song that we liked and change the words to go with our theme,” said Martin. “So theme selection was really important. I mean, we didn’t change any words. Everything had to stay the same.”
A theme’s creativity also determined how secretive groups were with it. The more creative – like Chi Omega’s sweepstakes-winning 2002 show “Troop Chi-O” – the more concealed. Martin credits this phenomenon to why shows are so secret today.
“ But (our theme) was pretty secretive because the theme was more creative than our other themes had been,” said Martin. “I mean, our shows were more theme-y at the time. Like now, I think the themes are more creative.”
In contrast to today, where it seems every group attempts to outdo their predecessors with funnier, wilder and flashier shows, creative themes used to be looked down upon.
“ Everyone was upset when we picked Girl Scouts because they were like, there’s no way that you’ll win with that,” said Martin.
Additionally, Step Sing used to have an overarching theme for the entire production.
In 2011, the event’s overall theme was “Unveiled,” which points to a campus-wide understanding of something to be revealed. The titles of the shows this year allude to this, as well. Shows like University Ministries’ “In the Potter’s Hands” and Independent Ladies’ “Get Intense” were, respectively, actually a tribute to Harry Potter and a show about camping, which is a fun manipulation of words (“Get Intense” versus “Get in Tents”).
This purposeful deception is more like what is seen today with shows like Phi Mu’s 2023 sweepstakes winner “9 to 5” or this year’s “# (Pound)” by Alpha Tau Omega.
Nothing in the Step Sing bylaws explicitly states that it must be like this – however, they are aware that themes are a closely guarded secret. Only one short section scarcely acknowledges the tradition throughout the entire document.
Section XXVIII.b.vi states,“If a group submits a banner theme that is an actual theme for another group, the respective group will be contacted for approval.”
So, the campus-wide culture of secrecy is entirely student-driven. Somewhere along the way, students found it better to keep their shows’ true themes close to the vest until the house lights go down on opening night.
Arts & Life Editor
