By: Jennifer Ward
The cult classic film "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is coming back to Purchase this upcoming weekend with a shadow cast production this Halloween season.
Oct. 28 on the bottom floor of the Campus Center South building starting at midnight, including a pre-show party at 11 p.m, students will be performing a shadow cast production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." This means that the show will be performed in front of a screening of the movie, with the cast mimicking the movements and scenes.
The plot of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" is very niche and something many find hard to explain. “There’s a couple, Brad and Janet, and they’re very prudish. They go to a castle to use their phone, and they end up discovering transvestite aliens from the planet of Transylvania,” said sophomore theater and performance and anthropology major, Briana Reid. “They basically sexually liberate them. It’s really camp- it's a cult honestly more than anything.”
Co-director and senior theater and performance and journalism major Anna Fofana said, “They open their eyes, their hearts, and their legs and discover an undercover sexuality about themselves that they’ve never felt before.” She continued, “Just think aliens, disco, Richard Nixon not being in office anymore. Basically that.”
The production is attached to the Rocky Horror club on campus, open for any students to join and audition to be in the production. This club is a great opportunity for students to be part of something on campus and perform all in one place.
“It’s a journey about how sexual liberation for some is a freeing thing, and in others it awakenings something they never wanted to confront before,” said co-director and sophomore communications major Vanessa Lewis. “That isn’t always an interpretation people get out of it but it’s how I’ve learned to view the movie.”
Anyone who has attended a shadow cast production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in the past would know that typically the audience is heavily involved in the show when it comes to props. Make sure to check out the Purchase Rocky Horror Instagram account, @purchrockyhorror for information on approved props.
With the show so close, this cast stays positive and excited for what’s to come. Reid, who plays Trixie and a Transylvanian, said, “It just hit me that we’re doing this show a week from tomorrow. Which is crazy. It is very impressive.”
Fofana said, “We’re probably going to open your mind, heart, and legs too.” For those who will be going for the first time, Reid said, “it’s going to be really fun taking your Rocky Horror virginity.”
Lewis, who not only is a co-director but also plays Janet, said, “We put so much work into this show, and it’s well-loved amongst students, I hope that everyone can enjoy this with us.”