16 posts tagged “rocky horror”

I think I'm going to like this Creative Nonfiction class I signed up for.  Our first assignment was to bring to class three photos that represent important periods or moments in our lives, and then write six-word memoirs on each of them.  (In case you're not familiar with six-word memoirs, check this out.)

I can't show you the pictures I chose, since I'm not at my regular computer and probably won't be for another week or so (long and irritating story; don't really feel like going into it), so instead I'll have to describe them.

1) A cast shot from this year's shadow cast.  I chose this year instead of last year because, although both years are highly significant and involve people I hold dear to my heart, there were several things involved with this year's cast and performance that I think have a greater potential for affecting my life long-term.  (Not the least of which involved me realizing that sometimes I have to put my own sanity ahead of other people's enjoyment.  Big step, I think.)

2) A picture of Chris, Dave and Veronica from KDI a few years ago.  I chose them because they are some of the KDI people I feel closest to, and KDI is such a big part of my life that it would be something akin to blasphemy not to include it in my photos.

3) A postcard with a bunch of religious and tolerance symbols in papercut style.  I don't remember at exactly what point in my life I started to really notice the people around me and the situation the world was in, but whenever it was, it made up a huge chunk of my personality today, so I felt like I needed to find something that represented that.

Some possible six-word memoirs for these (I'm not telling you which is which, as most of them should be fairly obvious):

"Show's over.  Goodnight, not goodbye...yet."

"Tonight's work is not yet done."

"Who knows why we all dance?"

"Brothers and sisters - not by blood."

"And then I became aware.  Finally."

"Straight woman, 21, frequents gay clubs."

"Love is indeed all you need."

"As adults, we still play dress-up."

"Yes, we are always this crazy."

"After the candles, before the tears."

Well, okay, not really, since it's nowhere near winter, but if it works for Gaelic Storm then it works for me.

So, okay, wow.

What a way to send out the summer.

The show was amazing, despite Tyler's tendency to go in the complete opposite direction from what you tell him.

Kevin, the theatre manager, left the house lights partway up during the performance so people could see us.

We had a great crowd both nights - no troublemakers, no overenthusiastic virgins.

Nobody fell on their faces, even when my shoe strap broke.

The costumes were amazing.

And the post-show events? Those were enough to keep me from my usual post-Rocky-Horror letdown and to keep me happy for the past two days.  It hasn't worn off yet.

I can't imagine a better way to send out the summer.

And I'll be back for the Halloween showing.  I'm so excited.

Which I would imagine is fairly impossible.

I love doing this RHPS cast, but it's almost - ALMOST - gotten to the point where I'm wondering if it's even worth it.  I'm the only one who takes charge of organizing and hosting rehearsals, as well as informing everyone about the times and days of  said rehearsals and rescheduling them if too many people can't make it.

Here is a (fairly) concise list of the bullshit I've had to deal with this summer.

1) People who never respond to me about whether or not they'll be at rehearsal, or tell me they're coming and then don't show up.  This happens with nearly every practice, not always with the same people, and there's rarely an explanation.  This particularly irks me because I took the trouble of making up a schedule at the beginning of the summer to remind myself of when various people would be out of town and therefore absent; if I'm going to that much trouble, the least people could do is send me a damn text message telling me one way or the other.

2) A certain cast member who, for a period of time, absolutely would not (or could not) come to practice if his girlfriend was not there. This has since been more or less solved, but it was extremely frustrating while it was happening.

3) Half of the cast owes me money because I have bought supplies for them, either out of convenience (as in, I work at the fabric store, so I'm right there, and can get the employee discount to boot) or simply because I know there's no way they will get their shit together and buy them themselves. 

4) There are a select handful of people who show up to practice more or less on time; the rest show up at least half an hour late, or just show up whenever the hell they feel like it.

5) The fight with Janna as to whether or not she had to come to rehearsal while Sara was visiting.  Also, she constantly texts during practice, or will wander off and sit down if she's not actively participating in the scene.

6) Another certain cast member who came to practice drunk, and quite possibly does so frequently.

7) Cast members who have such a need for nicotine that they'll just randomly walk outside to smoke in the middle of practice.

8) It takes fucking forever to get even one scene done, for one or more of the following reasons:

       a) Cast members start a conversation and veer off topic.

       b) Cast members lose track of where they are in the scene.

       c) Cast members do not understand the staging, even though I've shown them every single time since we started this whole process.

       d) One or more characters in the scene is not at rehearsal that day, so the present cast members have to keep track of not only where they are, but where the missing person is as well.

9) This is more of a situational annoyance than anything that's anyone's fault, but I'm gonna put it down anyway - we can't practice in the actual performance space.  While this makes sense, it being a public movie theatre and all, this means that if my dining room is cluttered up, or we're wearing high heels and my parents don't want the floor to get scratched (as will be the case with the dress rehearsal), we have to find a new location, which will probably be Boo Boo's house.  However, the day of dress rehearsal is her dad's birthday, so we may not be able to get in there in time to do more than one run-through, considering how late I expect people to be, how unprepared they will most likely be, and how scatterbrained our regular run-throughs tend to be.

I will say, just to be fair, that there are several people who are, shall we say, my pillars of strength in this matter - people who follow through on their promises, communicate with their director, offer to help make costume pieces, drive long distances to get to practice, etc., etc.  I'm grateful for these people, and wish they weren't the ones who had to put up with my frustration at the other people.

However.

If other people do not step up to the plate, I can say with authority that Alfalfa's Shadows will most likely have seen their last show come next Saturday.

It's really weird, because I had the worst few days last week - unsuccessful rehearsals, interpersonal drama, work issues - and yet right now I am in an amazing mood.  Well, mostly.

I think lately I have been hanging out with people so much that I am addicted to socialization.  When I'm at home and have to entertain myself I almost feel lost; not that I don't know how to entertain myself, but let's face it, after hanging out with a lot of crazy and hilarious people whom I love very much, sitting at the sewing machine anbd watching Family Guy pales in comparison.

I really enjoy hanging out with the Rocky Horror crew, too.  Besides the fact that most of them are people I was good friends with before we formed the cast, even the people who aren't fit right in, and I just feel so free with that crowd, even the people I don't know as well.  It was the same way last summer, like suddenly this common interest was enough to make us all best friends.

I love youth, and I love summer, and I love late-night drives and trips to Denny's and the kind of awesome conversations that make me think that maybe this really is the best time of my life, or maybe just that these are the people who will make any time of my life the best time.

Here's something I've never actually said before, but it is the absolute truth.  To my friends, and you know who you are:  I love you all, individually and collectively, and could not stand losing any of you.

Friday was the Day of Silence.  I felt as if I got off too easy, since I only had one class and didn't leave my room until directly beforehand.  I was, however, extremely annoyed by English-class Bradley, who handed the slip of paper to our prof explaining what the DOS was, but then immediately amended it with, "I'm making a statement today, but I'm not gonna do the whole silence thing.  It's too hard."

Knowing Brad's tendency toward unecessary verbosity in class, I had to admit that this was probably true, but it annoyed me that he would go halfway.  Either make a statement by not speaking, or opt out of the DOS and support those who do choose to take part.

After class, I went to lunch at Eva's with my dad and grandparents.  Their blackberry French toast is not quite as good as the raspberry crepes, but still tasty. 

We all headed out of town at about 3 and arrived in Cape about 9:30.  I started a load of laundry and got my Rocky Horror stuff together; we left the house in slight panic mode at about 10:45, went to Boo Boo's to collect our Gumby doll, and arrived half an hour before the movie, which gave me time to finish my makeup and dress as well as intimidate some prepubescent Hannah Montana fans.

The show was good for a Friday night.  We opted out of going to Denny's, since I was somewhat sleep-deprived as it was, and Janna had to get up early for a church garage sale.

The next morning, I made myself a delicious smoothie for breakfast, watched a Halloween-themed Ace of Cakes and took Jason to lunch at an international buffet.  We then made stops at the fabric store, the music store and the library, then helped my mom with the grocery shopping.

Dinner was salmon, London broil, vegetables, couscous, rolls and Pepperidge Farm cake.  After a while I excused myself due to a sourceless stress, finished my laundry and began to get ready for the second show.

We left early to pick up Sarah, which turned out to be a good thing, since I missed a turn as I always do and we ended up out in the middle of the woods somewhere.  We did see an owl, though, which was cool.

Finally, we got to the theatre.  Mer and Tyler were there, and Cat had improved her "Space Magenta" outfit to the point of kickass, although the spray paint on the wig was enough to cause a contact high.

Before the show, there were a couple of guys who were throwing stuff directly at Cat, which led to a talk with Kevin, the manager.  However, the random throwing continued throughout the movie, despite frequent yelling from different parts of the auditorium and another talk with Kevin.  Not only was this group targeting our group specifically most of the time, they also decided it was appropriate to throw the equivalent of entire bvags of rice when there was no other throwing going on; it was getting distracting enough that we were missing a lot of good lines.  Finally, Rachel left and returned a third time with Kevin, who proceeded to escort out not only these two guys, but a chain of equally pissed-off girls who were either girlfriends or people who needed a ride.  They left kicking and screaming - or, rather, yelling and flipping the bird.

Moral of the story:  You know you are a complete ass when the entire auditorium applauds on your departure.

The good news was, there was a Dr. Scott in the audience who participated in the floor show on both nights, I got to hang out with my friends, there were some great new lines, and nobody got soggy tampons thrown at them.

I had a slight meltdown at Denny's afterward, in the sense that Mer said something funny and I quite literally could not stop laughing for the next couple of minutes.  (Heavy laughter in a girdle and corset is never a good idea; I nearly passed out from lack of oxygen.)

Today was rather uneventful due to spending the entire day in the car with a headache.  However, we did stop at Baskin & Robbins on the way home.

This is a narrative nonfiction I wrote for my English class, and I figured I might aas well do it on something original that I felt pretty strongly about.  My problem was keeping it short; it's already about twice as long as it was supposed to be.

We Are Shadows

“Has anyone seen my gloves?” 

No one had.  For that matter, no one had seen my cast t-shirt, Janet’s fishnets, or Rocky’s wig, either.  Some dress rehearsal this was turning out to be. 

For what seemed like the hundredth time, all of us – nine actors, four techies and a few miscellaneous friends - were crammed into what had to pass for rehearsal space.  We had already been through backyards and living rooms, and were now doing our last run-through in a basement.  Every available place to sit was littered with corsets, eyeliner sticks, high-heeled shoes, wigs, and other miscellaneous Rocky Horror paraphernalia, divided more or less into piles according to who owned them.

In my mad search for my remaining accessories, I had momentarily lost track of where we were in the script, but the opening chords of “Over at the Frankenstein Place” snapped me back to reality.  “Someone get Magenta out here!”  I shouted at anyone who might be listening.  “She’s on in just a couple of minutes!”  I was getting a headache.

“I’m still curling my hair!” I heard Magenta’s voice from the bathroom.  “I’ll be out when I’m done.  Do the Time Warp without me.”

I sighed.   What with everyone running around trying to find all of their various costume pieces, get their makeup and hair done, and shove a last-minute snack down their throats without smearing their lipstick, it was becoming hard to remember why we had even tried to have a rehearsal at that point.  One extra night of preparation wasn’t going to change the fact that we had yet to practice in the actual performance space, but I was near panic and had to believe that this could somehow make a difference.

We called ourselves Alfalfa’s Shadows, and considered ourselves the foremost fans at any given screening of Rocky Horror – or, at least, the only ones who had enough unself-consciousness to get up and dance.  We were also the first group in our town to perform the entire show in front of the screen, and had the distinct feeling that we were not entirely welcome from the manager’s point of view.  But he had given us permission, after all, and we were determined to make an impression.

As the evening wore on, things slowly began to come together.  Magenta finally emerged from the bathroom, hair immaculate, and we started the scene again.  Last-minute adjustments were made as to which techie was in charge of which props.  Gradually, all the cast members managed to find all of their necessary costume pieces and divide the load between those who actually had cars.

At 10:30, we ran our last scene and began to load up.  The show wasn’t until 11:30, but our experience had taught us that only those who arrived early could have their choice of seats, and we wanted the best.  I carried two plastic grocery bags stuffed to the brim with props and costume changes; most of the cast members were similarly encumbered as we staggered outside.

Six people piled into my minivan, laughing uproariously at some weird thing that had happened while I was already outside.  I checked my bag three different times, making sure I hadn’t forgotten any essentials -  which I miraculously hadn’t – and took a deep breath.

We are going to rock this show, I repeated to myself.  However things go tonight, we will have a blast, and we will rock this show.

With that mantra set firmly in my brain, I plugged in my iPod, cranked up the Time Warp as loud as it would go, and turned the key.

We were off.

This is a list of bad and good things that happened with Rocky Horror during the course of this past week.

Bad:

1) Tyler's (Riff Raff's) car broke down and it was questionable whether he'd make it to rehearsals until the night before performance.

2) I had several near-nervous-breakdowns.

3) I lost my cast t-shirt.

4) We had to practice in Lauren's (Janet's) backyard one night.

5) Caleb's (Rocky's) gold underwear started falling apart and getting smaller and smaller...

6) They moved Rocky Horror to a different (and smaller) theatre because Dark Knight was showing in the one we usually were in.

7) We almost ran out of Transylvanians.

8) There was some question as to whether we'd even be able to do the show because of the manager's worry that we would "distract" people.

9) Lauren and Paul (Eddie) never got around to getting that wheelchair, so we had to push Jackson (Dr. Scott) around in a computer chair.

10) Cat (Magenta) got fired and Paul was in the process of being fired. 

11) Boo Boo's (Columbia's) mom lost her aunt's video camera.

12) The people at Denny's will probably hate us forever.

13) Cat stepped on my foot with her high-heeled boot and left a nasty bruise.

14) Lauren got a migraine.

15) Some family apparently didn't like us being in the theatre, because they complained to the manager.

Good: 

1)  Caleb started warming up to people and joking around and generally being less awkward.  Turns out he's a pretty damn cool guy, so I'm glad I got to know him as someone other than a friend of a friend.

2) Tyler actually did make it to rehearsal by Wednesday.

3) I got to witness the hilarious discomfort of the few guys involved when Lauren decided to throw a surprise spa party after rehearsal.

4) My Texas cake turned out perfect.

5) I made a new friend named Serena, and I got to know another girl (Rachel) a lot better than I had before. 

6) Many new quotes were inserted into the Random Book, and Caleb got his first one! 

(In case you're interested -

*Caleb randomly kicks me*

Me: Why'd you kick me?

Caleb:  Because Rocky hates Frank!

Me:  No!  I'm all you have in the world!

Caleb:  But I wanna pitch, too!

Me: ...I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.)

7)  All of our costumes were pretty damn amazing.

8) Everyone loved our performance, except for that family mentioned above.

9) The theatre got a new copy of the movie that didn't skip over any scenes and actually included "Super Heroes".

10) There wasn't any of that post-show adrenaline crash - at least not for me - because I knew we could do it again next year.

11) Everyone in the cast just really clicked well.

12) On that note, I'm still rooting for Cat and Tyler.  They performed good-night elbow sex when Tyler got out of the car, so I have high hopes.

13) Nobody fell or got seriously injured, even with all the rice underfoot.

14) We know a cool waiter at Denny's named Derrick who was nice to us even when nobody else was.

15) I discovered that Denny's French silk pie is actually pretty amazing.  Not as good as Baker's Square, but I take what I can get here.

16) We all had fun during rehearsal even if we were simultaneously stressed out.

Pictures!

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"Here's a ring to prove that I'm no joker..."

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Boo Boo and me jamming to "Sweet Transvestite"

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The birth of Rocky! 

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Paul is fat.  Enough said.  :)

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Pool orgy!

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The servants strike back...

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Full cast including Transylvanians, crowd leader and dancer for "Science Fiction" (Rachel, Sarah and Mer, Paige and Bethany, respectively).

I'm typing up a Rocky Horror master script for the run-through tomorrow, which includes pretty extensive stage directions (although these are negotiable in this situation.)

Right now, I'm at the dinner scene.  I began typing out the stage direction "FRANK stands and begins to cut the meat", but what actually came out was "FRANK stands and begins to cut the man."

Hahahaha.

And no, I'm not including the one listed in the below post, because that would be rather redundant.

1)

I first heard this song at a dance concert last fall and immediately fell in love with it.  If you like slow, soulful songs in general, you will, too.  I can't really say anything about it except that it makes me tear up a little every time I hear it, it is just that pretty.

Notable lyrics: "I'm dancing in the room as if I was in the woods with you / No need for anything but music / Music's the reason that I know time still exists."

2)

This song goes on my lists of songs that I love solely for their intro.  There's nothing that says "awesome driving song"  like a steady repetition of the same recognizable guitar chord.  Coupled with the fact that a) just about everyone recognizes it, and b) it finds a perfect place on the Benny & Joon soundtrack, that pretty much rounds it up for this song. 

That, and it's a love song in which, although the sentiments are simple, you realize that sometimes that simple proclamation is all you need.

Notable lyrics:  "When I'm lonely / Well, I know I'm gonna be / I'm gonna be the man who's lonely without you / And when I'm dreaming / Well, I know I'm gonna dream / I'm gonna dream about the time when I'm with you."

3)

Simultaneously mellow and bouncy, this song is deceptively buoyant while the lyrics are actually part love song and part lament.  (I can't quite figure out what she's lamenting, but her choice of words makes it obvious that she is indeed lamenting.)  It's a good song for a spring or summer morning, along with a bit of Belle and Sebastian.  There should definitely be sunshine involved when you listen to this...or maybe not, as it might cause you to go into a diabetic coma from all the sugary snuggliness of the whole experience.

Notable lyrics: "Suppose I never ever met you / Suppose we never fell in love / Suppose I never ever let you / Kiss me so sweet and so soft."

4)

Okay, yeah, this song has been played to death by every DJ in history, except maybe for the indie and hip-hop types.  But there's a reason for it, and that reason is that people like it.  The lyrics might be vague and not immediately applicable to most audience members, but there's something about the chords that come in right before the chorus that just energizes the way that very few other songs can. 

...Plus, everyone knows the words, even if they don't think they do.

Notable lyrics: "Don't stop believin', hold onto that feelin' / Streetlights, people, oh oh oh..."

5)

MIKA has a wide variety of musical styles on his one studio album, but I like this one the best (even more than the bouncy "Lollipop" that first introduced me to him) for reasons I can't explain.

Notable lyrics: "I can be wholesome, I can be loathsome / Guess I'm a little bit shy / Why don't you like me, why don't you like me / Without making me try?"

6)

I realize that most of the songs I've put on here so far have this same sort of bouncy, sunny, fluffy component to them, and I'm not entirely sure why that is.  That's certainly not my personality, and I certainly enjoy a lot of music that doesn't have this component.  I guess that, since this list is mainly songs that always cheer me up, they would have to be like this.

Anyway, yeah.

Notable lyrics: "Well, you are the one / the one who lies close to me / Whispers 'Hello, / I've missed you quite terribly' / I fell in love, / In love with you suddenly / Now there's nowhere else I could be but here in your arms."

7)

Look!  Something not-bouncy!

So, I've recently gotten into swing (and by recently, I mean like in the past three years or so), and this is basically the most badass swing song I've found.  It may not be bouncy, but it still works as a mood elevator, since I tend to jump up and dance around like an idiot whenever it comes on shuffle. 

And then, of course, there's the added bonus of sharing lyrics with one of David Bowie's songs from Labyrinth.

Notable lyrics:  "Oh, hocus pocus, alakazam / Save us from that evil man / With buggy eyes and a bulgy neck / Save us from the man with the hex.

8)

How can I make myself more clear on this?

IT'S THE FREAKING TIME WARP.

Plus, this version includes an extra dance sequence along with snippets of dialogue from the movie.  And it's longer, which means

Notable dialogue: "With a bit of a mind flip / You're into the time slip / And nothing can ever be the same / You're space out on sensation / Like you're under sedation / Let's do the Time Warp again!"

9)

It's true that every song from Rent has a place on my list of favorite songs, but this one, along with "What You Own" (which I didn't put here because imeem doesn't have the movie version for some reason) is my favorite of the moment.  It's perfect for both dancing like a maniac and cranking up the volume with the windows down, and it's got that element of impatience that everyone's felt at some time or another.  Sometimes you just want to go out.

Notable lyrics:  "In the evening, I've got ot roam / Can't sleep in this city of neon and chrome / Feels too damn much like home / When the Spanish babies cry / So let's find a bar / So dark we forget who we are / And all the scars from the 'nevers' and 'maybes' die."

10)

If you've heard this song before, you probably heard it through the highly amusing music video that circulated for a while.  I have seen this video, but the first time I heard this song was when three friends of mine did a dance to it a few years ago at KDI, with scarves and saris.  Consequently, when I play this song, not only do I enjoy an energetic Bollywood dance hit, I also flash back to the dance they performed.

If you have not seen the music video yet, I recommend you go do so immediately.

Notable lyrics:  Since I do not understand the language, I cannot tell you what any of the lyrics are, other than phonetic guesses at random phrases.

This is the article that my hometown's "college paper" did on the recent Rocky Horror showing (complete with typos):

"Horror" on screen and in the audience

Jacqueline Hays

Southeast students get ready for the show in full costume. Left to right, Carly Trautwein as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Lauren Bishop as Columbia, Travis Randolph as Eddie, Sam Dereign as Rocky and Janny Trautewein as Janet. Arrow photo by Jacqueline Hays.