With Christmas right around the corner it's easy to forget the excitement of the cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which the Arizona Western College Theater Department brought to the stage for the Halloween weekend. But, for those of us who need to buy a gift for a Rocky Horror (RH) fan, this is a great gift-giving extravaganza.
The Rocky Horror includes elements of sci-fi and horror and plays off of themes including that of Frankenstein. This production engages the audience at a very personal level and devoted fans return year after year. So, what better gift to give a RH fan than a traditional costume that imitates a character in the show? Or, maybe you can give them a basket full of props like toast to throw when the actors have a toast, or a newspaper to cover their heads as Janet does in the rain storm.
You might even include the dance steps for "The Time Warp" so your RH fan can follow along with the movie and the live actors. A few cue cards in the basket will help them remember the "call-outs" -- traditional audience-participation lines that the audience yells out between the actor's lines. Finally, you can put in a few dollars for the donation admission and some snacks.
The AWC Theatre performance this Halloween was performed as if the audience were seated at a drive-in movie. If your devout fan went to see this outstanding performance I'm sure he/she would agree that it was seamless, and all the actors played their parts to perfection. Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a scientist from another place and time, was played by Mathew Alexander, an AWC student and also a second-round contestant in the Yuma Star competition.
Ashley Hernandez and David Lewis played the innocent young couple, Janet and Brad, who are caught out on a stormy night and sought help at Frank-N-Furter's castle. Brian Borgercling and Melissa Pope played the mad doctor's handyman, Riff Raff, and his domestic, Magenta, were also aliens from his home planet. Kiera Start played the narrator, the criminologist who explained the unexplainable.
Director Laura Paige, an AWC Theater Major, has been involved in many productions, but Rocky Horror was her directing debut.
"Rocky Horror is a tradition at the AWC Theater and has been for the last fourteen Halloweens," said Paige. "We were proud to bring it to AWC again." Next Halloween, she adds, everyone should plan on participating in this classic and learning how to do the "Time Warp." Your RH fan would surely love a fun and wonderfully thought out gift of Christmas horrors to bring along next Halloween.
The original 1975 movie was shown on a large screen while a "shadow cast" performed the parts and lip-synched the lines, creating a surreal 3-D effect.
