There are feature films. There are cult classics. And then there’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show. If you’ve never attended a live screening of the 1975 sci-fi musical extravaganza — during which costumed audience members throw props, shouting in unison at the screen and dancing the “Time Warp” in the aisles — you can experience it all for the first time this weekend.
For nearly 50 years, Rocky Horror has been a worldwide cultural phenomenon that celebrates sexual liberation, gender ambiguity and LGBTQ identity. Initially released to terrible reviews and abysmal box office sales, the movie, which was intended as a send-up of Hollywood’s schlocky sci-fi B movies, quickly gained a cult following through midnight showings on college campuses and in art house theaters. It’s now considered the longest-running film release in cinema history.
In the years since the movie came out, so-called “shadow casts” have emerged, whereby live performers arrive dressed as specific characters and mimic the onscreen action through singing, dance numbers and irreverent audience participation. On Saturday, November 2, Ones From the Vaults, a 13-member professional shadow-cast troupe based in Brattleboro, will bring its bawdy version to the Bellows Falls Opera House for a Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) show.
As is often the case with Rocky Horror shadow casts, the name Ones From the Vaults was taken from a line in the movie — in this case, the scene after cross-dressing scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) kills Eddie (Meat Loaf) and refers to him as “one from the vaults.”
“We are the ones from the vaults, which means we’re the bad kids who get put in the corner,” said Stephanie Abrams, the Brattleboro company’s producer, director and emcee. She described Rocky Horror as “a place for the misfits and the dark side … the epitome of counterculture and nonconformity.”
A Los Angeles transplant and longtime circus artist, Abrams founded Ones From the Vaults in April with fellow circus artists and students from the Brattleboro area. They’ve been doing sold-out performances at Brattleboro’s Latchis Theatre ever since. The pre-show in Bellows Falls, which includes comedy, vaudeville and burlesque acts (though no circus-like stunts) will include a primer on Rocky Horror audience participation beginning at 10 p.m., followed by the screening and shadow-cast performance at 11.
Though audience involvement is strictly voluntary, it’s actively encouraged and includes many of the traditional “callbacks” that have evolved over the years, such as shouting “Asshole!” and “Slut!” whenever characters Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) appear onscreen, respectively. The Brattleboro troupe maintains a master list of callbacks, Abrams said, though some are tailored to Vermont and New Hampshire audiences. Audience ad libs and creativity are always welcome, too.
Ones From the Vaults also sells prop kits — containing newspapers, party hats, rubber gloves, bubbles and the like — for role-playing specific scenes. (As Abrams explained, their troupe uses bubbles rather than the traditional rice because the latter makes a huge mess for theaters to clean up.)
Rocky Horror newbies shouldn’t feel intimidated; Abrams said she’s never attended a screening where there weren’t first-timers in the audience. In fact, the 10 p.m. pre-show will include a voluntary “Rocky virgin sacrifice game,” where first-time attendees who are 18 and older will get the, um, lay of the land.
“We want people to be transported when they come into the theater,” Abrams added, “and realize, Oh, my gosh! This is a whole different world that I didn’t know existed.”
The original print version of this article was headlined “‘Rocky Horror’ Shadow Cast Time Warps Into Bellows Falls”
This article appears in Oct 30 – Nov 5, 2024.
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