At the late night double feature (Rocky Horror) Picture Show…

Last night marked CMTS’ fourth annual shadowcast production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Senior Staffer Betsy Ladyzhets was in attendance, and writes about the show in conjunction with details of its process that she learned in an interview with its director and producer.

Last night at 8pm, the Diana Event Oval was packed. The room was full of students, many decked out in dazzling costumes, and all chattering excitedly as they waited for the show to begin. Members of the cast and crew darted back and forth, thanking their friends for coming and promoting the Participation Packets sold on the side of the room. To an outsider, this event may have looked like a gathering of some kind of strange, Halloween-related cult. That wouldn’t be far from the truth – it was, in fact, CMTS’ production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a 1975 musical comedy/horror film based on a musical of the same name that focuses on Brad and Janet, a young, naive couple who become trapped in the mansion of Dr. Frank-n-Furter, an alien transvestite mad scientist. The movie gained popularity in the late seventies as a “midnight movie”; audience members returned to theaters for many midnight showings of Rocky Horror, often dressing up as the characters and calling out at the screen. Soon, performance groups were formed that put on “shadowcast productions”, with actors mimicking the actions and lip-syncing the lines of the characters. CMTS brought this tradition to Columbia three years ago, and its annual performances have only been getting more popular since.

On Tuesday, I spoke to Izzy Hellman, CC ‘19 and Nick Hermesman, CC ‘19, the director and producer of this year’s production, respectively. I asked them what the process of putting on a shadowcast production looks like. How is it different from rehearsing a traditional show? How did they cast the main actors?

“Mostly, my job is translating what is on screen in a way that makes sense and looks good on stage, which can be difficult because they change settings so often and we’re using minimal props and costumes,” Izzy said. She discussed how she had to adapt the wide variety of settings in the movie into the limited space of the Diana Event Oval; in the production, this was often accomplished by using the ensemble as living props. For example, two of the “Transylvanians” served as windshield wipers while Brad and Janet drove through the rain. And the same two black boxes were used as car seats, a slab, a coffin, and several other pieces of setting. All of these choices were minimalist, but very helpful in conveying the action of the screen on stage.

The film itself was a huge part of the rehearsal process: the actors rehearsed with it every rehearsal, and the full cast watched it all the way through at their first rehearsal. “And I hope they watch it a lot on their own time,” Izzy said. She explained that acting in a Rocky Horror shadowcast is more about “replicating” what happens on screen than “creating your own story for the character.”

“But I still think there’s a lot of work that the actors do to relate to the characters themselves, to create their own unique version of the character,” she said.

When I asked if there were any actors who stood out as very successful in their shadowcast portrayals, Izzy spoke about David Sierra, CC ‘18. “I think David has really embodied Frank-N-Furter,” she said. “They’ve really taken on the character. I don’t know how they do all that they do in super high heels, but it’s really impressive.” This comment should have prepared me for David’s incredible performance on stage, but I was still blown away by their confidence, their dance moves, and the strong sense of self they brought to the role – all while wearing the highest of sparkly gold platform heels.

That’s not to say that no other actors are deserving of praise. During the casting process, Izzy and Nick told me that they were mostly looking for people with “good physicality and strong presence on stage”, and people who were “comfortable on stage and willing to take risks.” These qualities were evident in all of the performers, from the Lips (Brittany Berke, BC ‘18, Chloe Worthington, BC ‘18, and Carina Gobelbecker, BC ‘18), performing a raunchy, overexaggerated strip tease during the first musical number, to Dr. Scott (Madeline Ducharme, BC ‘19) rolling herself around in a Diana swivel chair while kicking up fishnet-clad legs. Brad’s (Desmond Hanan, CC ‘19) and Janet’s (Dylon Browning, CC ‘19) descent into debauchery was also incredibly fun to watch. All of the actors truly seemed to be having the time of their lives on stage.

Audience participation was a highlight of last night’s show as well. I heard many of the traditional call-outs I was familiar with from other Rocky Horror productions (calling Brad an asshole and Janet a slut, questioning the whereabouts of the Criminologist’s neck, yelling at Riff Raff to watch out for the quicksand, etc.), as well as a couple of Columbia-specific additions. Two of my favorites were:

Audience member: Where do cunts go to school?
Frank-N-Furter: Columbia!

Frank-N-Furter: It’s no crime, giving yourself over to absolute pleasure.
Audience member: Except at Columbia!

In our interview Nick said that he loves the call-outs because they invite the audience to be “as ridiculous and loud and aggressive as you want.” There definitely aren’t many places at Columbia where students have that freedom.

When I asked how this year’s production differs from those of previous years, Izzy said that every year, the tradition grows bigger. This year, they rehearsed more and had a slightly bigger budget than last year. And the show has been growing in popularity on campus, as well. At last night’s performance, there were so many virgins (people who had never seen a live production of Rocky Horror before) in the audience, they couldn’t all fit on stage at once to “have their cherries popped.” More and more people on campus are becoming a part of a tradition that has spanned generations.

“My mom went to showings when she was younger, and now she’s coming to my production,” Izzy said.

While the meaning of Rocky Horror (the movie) may be forever “lost in time, lost in space”, the spirit of Rocky Horror (the shadowcast performance) is alive and thriving at Columbia. This show “creates a safe space where traditional social codes are separated, language is reclaimed,” as Izzy put it in our interview. Audience members and cast members alike loved last night’s production of Rocky Horror – not only as a fun Halloween tradition, but also as a place where being yourself was celebrated, no matter how strange that self might be.

Lips via the Rocky Horror Facebook page