On Saturday, February 18, the China Club and Korean Student Association (KSA) joint banquet, “East Side Story” will take place. The festivities will begin at 8 p.m. at the Edge Caf?e.

The menu includes delicious morsels that could never be found at Frank: Korean bulgogi, Chinese jiao zi and other signature dishes make up the entr?ee portion of the meal, while the more familiar fortune cookies and oranges will fill out the choices for dessert.

The two clubs have a few items of entertainment lined up to amuse the audience. One performance they have planned is to bring in Eliot Chang, a prominent Asian-American comedian. According to his website, www.echang.com, the comic “tackles real issues that other comics fear and slams stereotypes with no apologies. [He is] shocking to some, hilarious to all.”

In addition, China Club and KSA have worked together to write, direct and star in a skit from which their banquet takes its name, “East Side Story.” As can be inferred from the title, the skit follows the basic plot line of the famous musical and ’60s film “West Side Story,” but with some significant changes. In this updated version, a Chinese girl from Colgate falls in love with a tough Korean gangster/dancer. “It is a love story extravaganza,” sophomore president of KSA Jason Park commented.

This is the first time KSA and China Club have worked together on a banquet. “[With two clubs] we can create a more vibrant banquet,” sophomore vice president of China Club Jeremy Randall said. “We hope everyone appreciates the effort China Club and KSA put into this.”

The two groups have been planning the event since October of last year. “One of the best parts was the ability for us all to come together as a group and create something from scratch,” Park added.

Providing good food and entertainment is not the only goal of this event. “Some people don’t even know there’s a China Club or KSA at Colgate, so we just want to let them know we’re here,” sophomore president of China Club David Jiang said. When asked what he was most looking forward to about the event, Park declared that he was hoping for “the delightful sounds of laughter and the understanding hush of a receptive audience.”

Tickets went on sale last week and were sold out by Tuesday. “We want everyone to come and have fun with us, in our style,” Jiang said.