If you’ve ever found yourself taking a stroll by the Student Union Ballroom, chances are some event is being held by some organization on any given night of the week. Last Thursday, Phi Sigma Pi, one of the few co-ed fraternities at UMass, held its biggest, most publicized event in years.

The young fraternity chose to have a showcase as its big event versus a talent show as they felt it would be less stressful on both the performers and the audience.

“We decided on more of a coffeehouse type of setting so it’s more social and more relaxed. We wanted to get rid of that connotation [of talent show prizes], so that’s why we used the showcase title,” said Barry Epstein, one of the fundraising co-chairs of the fraternity.

Creating a relaxed atmosphere is exactly what the fraternity did Thursday night, offering a table full of coffee, bagels and other refreshments toward the back of the ballroom. The fraternity’s obstacle, however, was generating enough buzz for students to show up.

“We had over three months to advertise and I don’t think we did a very good job, to be honest,” said one brother of Phi Sigma Pi.

Epstein disagrees, however.

“We don’t have as much pull as the rest of Greek Life on campus. I feel like we need to reach a certain threshold before we can really draw the crowds,” he said. “Once we get to that point, it will be much easier.”

Perhaps the time planning the event was all spent on finding suitable performers for the showcase.

Whether it was Saturday Night Live style comedy, hip-hop, unicycling acrobatics or Japanese martial arts, the showcase had it. The event boasted well-established performers like Sketch-22, Ilite Entertainment, The UMass Fencing Team and Good Ole Tom and the Gold Diggers. For those who weren’t there, it certainly was a missed opportunity for students to enjoy a talented group of performers.

Crowd favorites of the night were comedy troupe Sketch-22, variety performer Joe Lapaire and Lenz, a local hip-hop artist. Lapaire even called on a volunteer from the audience to participate in one of his acrobatic performances.

There’s no question as to why the performers came out. These types of events are “great publicity for us,” said Danielle Soto, of Sketch-22.

“It’s kind of hard to turn down a show, really. Why the hell not [show up]?” added Pete Storey, also of Sketch-22.

Fellow performer Joe Lapaire, former member of the UMass juggling club said, “I work as a variety performer, and all through the winter I didn’t do much of anything. I thought this would be a nice practice gig to get me back into show mode.”

The fairly new fraternity may not have had much success in bringing in the crowds, but the nine RSOs and other groups that did perform each put on a great performance.

“Our turnout wasn’t perfect, but now we know how to modify it for next year,” said Epstein. “I saw the event as a great way to put us right up there with the rest of Greek Life on Campus.”

The fraternity’s next big event will be a 5K Charity Race for Teach for America on April 6.

Frank Godinho can be reached at [email protected].