With only two months into the semester, life has already settled into a monotonous routine. For those adventure seekers who want to break the cycle, do the “Time Warp” and travel back to 1975 with one of three local “Rocky Horror Picture Show” shadow casts.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a film adapted from the Richard O’Brien musical “The Rocky Horror Show.”
With the help of Jim Sharman, O’Brien wrote the screenplay to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Starring Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick, the film tells us of a newly engaged couple (Bostwick and Sarandon) that have an unforgettable night in the castle of mad scientist Dr. Fank-N-Furter (Curry). The musical comedy film satirizes science fiction and horror films in fishnets, high heels and corsets.
The film is considered a cult classic and is the longest running theatrical release in film history with 33 years under its garter. Some may be wondering why Moviefone and Fandango do not list “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on their websites. This is because “Rocky Horror” is a midnight movie. This started in 1976 when random audience members would jump up and imitate a scene that was happening on the screen.
Sue Smith, Emcee and Audio Expert of the “Wild and Untamed Things” cast of West Hills explains that it is much more advanced now.
“Your general run-of-the-mill ‘Rocky Horror’ cast will go up on stage in the correct costuming and follow the movie to a T as much as possible,” said Smith. “That is what we in the ‘Rocky’ community refer to as ‘screen accurate.'”
Audience participation is the second aspect to the midnight showings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” While the cast is performing in front of the screen, the seasoned audience members yell call-back lines, most too inappropriate to publish.
Patrons also come to “Rocky Horror” armed with prop kits that contain items to be thrown or used at a particular time in the movie. A basic prop kit has a newspaper, water, a flashlight, noisemakers, and a roll of toilet paper.
Dr. Shocker, the cast leader of the “TooMuchCoffeeCast” of Ventura believes that audience participation is essential to the pandemonium that is “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“When you go to a midnight showing, it’s like controlled chaos,” said Shocker. “The audience, the screen and stuff, throwing stuff at each other, having a great time, the cast mimicking the screen as best they can. Everybody’s having a great time in the middle of the night doing stuff you would never get to do in a theater.”
There are hundreds of “Rocky Horror Picture Show” shadow casts across the nation, but there are three local casts that students from Moorpark, Oxnard and Ventura Colleges can create chaos with.
Shocker’s “TooMuchCoffeeCast” (so named because everyone on cast either worked at or hung out in a coffee shop) performs at the Regency Buenaventura 6 whenever they feel like it, with their next show coming up on Friday, Feb. 27.
“We pride ourselves in being the worst cast in Southern California,” declared Shocker. “We perform ‘Rocky Horror’ more like the traditional shows of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Our costumes are not screen accurate. Our cast sometimes has no idea what they’re doing, but we’re up there having fun. We go with the flow.”
Smith’s “Wild and Untamed Things” haunts the Laemmle Fallbrook 7 the first Friday of every month, but Smith warns that her cast is not for those new to “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”
“It’s kind of an acquired taste for some people because we definitely have had some theme nights where there’s people in the audience that came not knowing what to expect, but expecting straight ‘Rocky Horror’ and we don’t give it to them,” explained Smith. “It might rub them the wrong way. I would say that our cast is more for those types of people who have seen ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ many times.”
Lizabeth Stockton, co-cast leader and Primary Janet of the “Sins O’ The Flesh” cast encourages “Rocky Horror Picture Show” lovers to make the trek to the Nuart Theater in Santa Monica every Saturday night.
“Sins O’ The Flesh” is the most screen accurate cast, perfect for a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” virgin.
“The difference with our cast is that we try to stay faithful to the movie in that we really are like the movie,” said Stockton. “A lot of other casts will add a whole bunch of random stuff on top of it that doesn’t have anything to do with ‘Rocky,’ but we really try to do as close to ‘Rocky Horror’ as possible while still making it entertaining every week.”
While the term “virgin” is associated with one who has never engaged in sexual relations in the normal world, in the world of “Rocky Horror,” it refers to someone who has never experienced the show in a theater with a live cast. There is a “de-virginization” hazing ceremony that every cast does, but it is nothing harmful and it is a memory that everyone treasures. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is considered to many as an American rite of passage that one can never experience anywhere else.
The most important factor about “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is that you do not have to worry about the material things in life. It is a safe, fun place to go to forget about life.
Stockton, a veteran “Rocky Horror Picture Show” performer of over 15 years, uses “Rocky” as a stress reliever.
“The point of going is to get your aggravations out. To me, when I was going, that was my main thing,” said Stockton. “You can shout obscenities, shout whatever you want, and you can get out all the aggression from your work week or school week out without being harmful, like getting drunk or whatever. You don’t have to do that, you can just scream and throw things. It’s allowed and everybody does it.”
For more information about the “TooMuchCoffeeCast” in Ventura, the “Wild and Untamed Things” cast in West Hills or the “Sins O’ The Flesh” cast in Santa Monica, visit their websites at http://tmcc.rhps.org/castle.htm, www.wutspace.com, and www.sinsotheflesh.org, respectively. Dates and ticket prices vary for each cast.
