This was not an event for the lighthearted. In fact, it seems this is the place to go to celebrate one’s inner weirdness.
Cross-dressers in mile-high heels, corsets and underwear could be seen within the theater, all paying homage to the cult-favorite “Rocky Horror ?Picture Show.”
Randy White, artistic director of Cardinal Stage Company, said this was their ninth year bringing “Rocky Horror” to Bloomington. This is a perfect way for people to start their Halloween festivities and break in their costumes, he said.
White said one bonus to the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” was that despite its kinky reputation, it was a completely safe event. It was controlled chaos in a way.
“People love ‘Rocky,” he said. “It’s a safe and fun way to kind of let your hair down.”
It’s a way for people to let their “freak flag fly,” he said.
White said there are always “repeat offenders” who come back year to year.
There were two showings, one at 8 p.m. and one at midnight. The midnight showing was a party, Heidi Harmon, the marketing director of Cardinal Stage, said.
In fact, it completely sold out. They stuffed extra people into more makeshift seating near the orchestra pit and in the balcony. With the 560 theater chairs filled, there were an estimated 70 plus people that were brought into the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.
This is a tradition in the community, Harmon said. It’s a “Rocky Horror” party that only happens once a year. Looking back on Saturday’s events, Harmon said the following morning that if there was only one thing she could change, she would have found a way to get more people to attend the 8 p.m. showing.
She said she regretted having to send away 100 people due to space constraints, especially because she said the 8 p.m. showing only filled half the theater. The party should stay the same, she said.
“The 8 o’clock show can be as fun as the midnight show,” she said.
Despite some frustration because of this, Harmon said the event was crazy.
Part of what made the event different than most movie showings was its interactivity. That was made in part by the prop bags that were sold by the hundreds in the main lobby. For $5, people got a paper bag filled with a playing card, latex glove, noise maker, water gun, party hat, rice-filled baggie, toilet paper roll, newspaper, toast and a bell.
The bags did not stay full, or dry, for long. Rice rained onto the audience within the first five minutes of the show as the film opens to its protagonists attending a wedding. The loaded water guns created rain within the Buskirk’s walls during the thunderstorm scenes as giggles and screams echoed from wall to wall.
Groans that the water guns were empty soon ?followed.
Elizabeth Faranda, a graduate assistant with Cardinal Stage and an arts administration master’s student, was the person behind these prop bags.
Standing behind a long table in the lobby feathered with layers of open brown bags, she said they took her seven to eight hours to ?create.
With a teasing smirk, she warned White that people should not eat the toast-halves contained in the bags. Harmon’s mom toasted them, she said, but they were also touched by just about everyone in the Cardinal Stage employee roster.
Faranda’s work on this project started back in August. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes work that went into Saturday night’s showings, she said.
She said all profits from the event went to the Cardinal Stage Community Ticket Initiative, a program designed to help bring in local students to Cardinal shows for a discounted price.
With more than 600 tickets sold in the midnight showing alone, and an estimated $2,250 gained from prop bag sales, Cardinal Stage made many steps in the right direction.
“I want it to be a success,” she said right before the 8 p.m. show took off. “I’m proud of the work we’ve put in.”
