Women in lingerie and fishnet tights greeted students at the doors of Pruis Hall on Halloween night. As each student walked inside, the girls asked, “Have you seen ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ before?”
If a student answered “no,” the girls would laugh and mark a giant “V” with red lipstick on one cheek. The “V” meant a person was a “virgin” to the “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” and would later engage in an initiation when the show started.
Students gathered across the Pruis Hall lobby, some with red “V’s” and some without. More than 100 students were turned away since the auditorium was at maximum capacity.
Sporting a red “V” on her right cheek, Nicole Conflenti had no idea what to expect from the show.
“I don’t know anything,” she said. “I don’t even know the plot.”
However, she said her friends told her that all she needed to know was that it was going to be awesome.
“They told me I couldn’t really prepare for it,” Conflenti said with a smile.
Sophomore political science major Sawyer Blevins saw the show last year at Pruis Hall, referring to it as a “mentally unstable joy ride.”
“I really enjoyed the film because it’s a cult hit,” Blevins said.
Before the show started, the virgins clustered on stage and were ordered to twerk for the initiation.
Then the audience yelled “F—k!” at the virgins. This symbolized initiation into the cult classic.
“You’ve been f—ked virgins,” said host Jeanie Reuter. “Welcome to the ‘Rocky Horror Show.’”
Before starting the show, awards were given out for different costumes, such as “The Sexiest Costume Award.”
The actors performed as a shadow cast in front of the movie, which played in the background. The actors lipped the movie lines while portraying what was happening on the screen.
When the cult-hit song “Time Warp” played, students rushed on stage to dance and sing along.
Originally placed as the understudy for the deep-voiced, redhead maid Magenta, sophomore special education major Riley Gray only had two weeks to prepare for the role.
“It was an honor and also the most terrifying thing anyone has asked me to do,” Gray said.
Gray became a fan at age 16, and her love for this classic hasn’t faded since. It has grown through her involvement in the shadow cast.
“What I love most about this show is that these are a bunch of people that are so confident in themselves and free from all of the binds that society puts on us,” she said.
Zachary Ryan Allen, who played Dr. Frank N. Furter, is a graduate who studied English education and theater studies. He came back to supervise, direct and act for the fifth year.
“I had a pretty good grasp of the character, but I feel that it has built and grown over the five years,” he said.
Allen said he encourages students to think of getting in the spotlight themselves and going from the seats to the stage.
“We are a family, but we always love welcoming new people into the family,” he said.
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