It Was Great When It All Began...

So how did I even fall in with this crowd...?

In October 2008, after performing a show of “Little Shop of Horrors” at (the now-defunct) Garbeau’s Dinner Theatre, I stayed around for the opening of the concurrent production: a little piece called “The Rocky Horror Show.” I knew almost nothing about the show (except the Time Warp), and was basically there only to support my friends and our neighboring cast. It helped that each cast got carte blanche on attending the other show for free!

The show began, and then appeared the entirely foreign concept of audience members shouting pre-meditated lines for all to hear. This new, mysterious phenomenon quickly turned hilarious during the Narrator’s first speech - my first crack-up came when the actress's line “heavy, black and pendulous” was preceded by the audience line “Describe your boobs.”

The rest of the show was similarly entertaining, and in between fits of laughter, the audience’s participation left me with but one thought: “This is amazing. I want to do this.”

And so [“a needle pulling thread!”], I asked the director to e-mail me his copy of the “Audience Participation” script, and I started absorbing the classic lines immediately. By the next weekend’s shows, I’d become competent enough to “fit in” (if ever that phrase could apply to “Rocky”) with the other experienced Rocky-goers. Within two weeks, I introduced my first unique shout-out: preceding Frank’s line “I think we can do better than that” with “What do you think of John McCain?” (It was 2008, after all.)

Since that first experience, I’ve seen numerous Rocky productions across over a dozen cities, ranging from San Diego to Portland, SF to Tahoe, from Equity-level to the modest community venue to even a high school, from basic emulations of the movie to the most outlandish themes possible. And to date, I have seen gender-bent casting for Riff Raff, Frank N. Furter, Rocky, Eddie, Dr. Scott, and Narrator – not to mention a then-recently-transitioned Brad Majors.

And that, kids, is how I met your Furter.