Back by popular demand, Village People impersonator “Christopher,” the popular one-man-act from last year’s show, will highlight the outside acts at this year’s Midnight Madness. The show, dubbed “Extreme Madness,” will be the men’s and women’s first informal basketball practices of the season.

GW Spirit Chair and event planner Nicole Macchione said this year’s event, set for 11 p.m. Friday at the Smith Center, will add more outside groups than the student-focused show last year, but will still focus on school spirit.

“We are sticking to our goal of highlighting the men’s and women’s basketball programs, while highlighting other student performers at GW,” she said.

While much of the school’s spirit is usually focused on the basketball teams, Macchione said this year’s program seeks to emphasize the spirit that other less-known student groups bring to GW as well.

“It doesn’t make a difference what (a student group) does, we want (them) to be proud of it,” she said.

The three student groups that will perform Friday night, chosen based on their performances at tryouts in September, are GW Chamak, a group that promotes South Asian culture through dance, Liquid Arts, a hip hop dance group, and Blazen, an all girl dance group.

The GW cheerleaders, dancers and pep band will provide entertainment, and mascots George, Big George and the Hippo will add to the atmosphere.

The 2002 women’s gymnastics team and men’s baseball team will be recognized for winning the Atlantic 10 championships in their respective seasons.

The show will culminate with men’s basketball head coach Karl Hobbs and women’s basketball head coach Joe McKeown, 2002 A-10 coach of the year, introducing their teams a few minutes before midnight. When the clock strikes midnight, the teams will begin their first informal practices of the season, beginning with drills then scrimmages.

Lindsey Davidson, a senior on the women’s basketball team, said she is excited to kick off the season and that the players have something special planned for the night.

“We’re going to get the fans involved, and that’s all I can say,” she said at the GW volleyball game Tuesday night.

A trio of veteran seniors, Erica Lawrence, Cathy Joens and Davidson, will lead the experienced women’s team, which includes junior A-10 defensive player of the year Ugo Oha and returning junior starter Marsheik Witherspoon.

With no new recruits and only one player lost to graduation, the women’s team is already a close squad.

“We haven’t seen chemistry like this in a while,” Davidson said. “We really bonded when we came back together again.”

For the men, sole senior Chris Monroe, last year’s leading scorer, will lead his young team, which includes the 22nd best recruiting class in the nation of Mike Hall, Omar Williams, “Pops” Mensah-Bonsu, Alexander Kireev, Jaz Cowan and Dokun Akingbade, out on the floor.

Macchione said she expects a full house at the event, part of GW’s “Colonial Weekend,” and students can expect to see a Smith Center packed with more than 5,000 students, parents and other GW supporters Friday.

Prior to Midnight Madness, SAC has sponsored a week of spirit events, including Thursday’s “spirit on Kogan Plaza” from noon to 3 p.m. with mascots, popcorn, cotton candy, tie-dyed T-shirts and a soccer ball handling contest. That night, McKeown and Hobbs will visit Mount Vernon, HOVA, and Thurston, giving freshmen an opportunity to meet the head coaches.