Rocky Horror Picture Show—Athens, Ohio 2010

13 November, 2010 at 11:43 am
By: Laura Ornella in Blog

Being a Theater Performance major in my Junior year of college, I’ve had quite a few performance experiences; however, nothing compares to the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

This Fall, I was cast as Janet Weiss—who plays opposite of Brad Majors in the show. Initially, I was very nervous. While Janet is a very conservative character in the beginning, she has some very sexual scenes eventually and by the end of the show is the complete opposite of what she came in as.

That first side of Janet was easy for me to tackle because I have many of those qualities. I’m not overly sexual, and I dress like an average, conservative American for the most part. I was also able to turn myself in to this very stereotypical, dependent woman; but the other side was not so easy.

It took the majority of the rehearsal process for me to feel comfortable in the more sexual scenes. A lot of times I would become embarrassed and begin to blush because this was something I had never been asked to do. However, the end result was totally worth all of the previous struggles.

When it came time to present the show, every night was packed and everything we had been rehearsing paid off, but not without some mishaps however. The first night was our first night ever practicing with microphones, and we had some major sound issues. The second night our projector ended up overheating and we performed with just the sound, but the crowd still stayed! True fans of the Rocky Horror Picture Show!

Honestly, that show ended up being our best because of how supportive and enthusiastic the crowd was. The great thing about this show is how involved everyone becomes. There are not many shows that allow the audience to be such a vital part to the performance process. With people decked out in Rocky Horror attire, and participating in ‘virgin games’ really makes for a festive atmosphere that gets everyone fired up to see the performance.

No, the Rocky Horror Picture Show is not a traditional performance. This is not something I would ever ask my parents to see me in, let alone put on a resume. Yes, we performed in a bar jam packed full of people shouting obscene callbacks throughout the movie. Yes, I learned a lot about myself as an actor and a person. And no, I don’t regret in the least.

If you are interested in giving yourself over to absolute pleasure for 2011, keep your eyes peeled for fliers next year around the week of Halloween. The Rocky Horror Picture Show always goes up at the Union and cost usually fluctuates around 5.00 to get in. They also usually throw in a Rocky Horror Dance or Die one of the nights, so be sure to get in on that too!