Short skirts, fishnet stockings, fire-engine red lipstick and electric blue wigs took over the University Student Commons Friday night. There was rice flying, newspapers held in the air, choreographed dances, noisemakers going off and audience’s screams.
Rules to know for an ultimate ‘Rocky’ experience
Bring rice
Audience members throw rice when Ralph Hapschatt and Betty Monroe walk out of the church from their wedding.
Bring newspapers
Brad and Janet get caught in a storm. Cover your head with the newspaper, like Janet.
Bring a flashlight
During the song “There’s a Light,” audience member holds the lights over their heads, swaying to the music.
Bring rubber gloves
After the creation speech, Frank snaps his gloves three times. Audience members repeat.
Bring a noisemaker
After the creation speech, audience members respond by making a lot of noise.
Bring toilet paper
(preferably Scotts)
When Brad cries out “Great Scott!” audience members throw toilet paper into the air.
Bring toast (preferably unbuttered): When Frank proposes a toast for dinner, audience members throw toast into the air.
Rules provided by rockyhorror.com
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a cult classic where students of all ages, majors, sexual orientations and backgrounds come together for one night to celebrate openness.
Organized by University Student Commons and Activities, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a time for students to come out, dress up and participate in an interactive film experience. This year the showing was part of VCU’s Fall Fest.
Some members of the audience sat in chairs, some on the cold ground and some were sitting on the stairs. Audience members, whether dressed in scandalous attire or wrapped in scarves, sat outside with only the dark sky and stars serving as their roof.
One second there was silence as all eyes focused on the roll-down screen. The next second everyone was yelling, “Dammit Janet!”
Brittany Shade, a sophomore sculpture major wearing a blue wig and daringly long eyelashes, returned this year for the show after her first experience the previous year.
“It’s just so much fun to dress up like this,” she said. “It’s a tradition to come every year. It’s nice to know that a university is comfortable enough with people dressing like this and coming out like this that they would hold it in their own facility.”
For some students this was their first Rocky Horror experience at VCU. Holly Sullivan, a sophomore fashion design major, has attended other Rocky Horror showings but said VCU’s showing was really something special.
“It’s very nice,” she said. “It’s a lot more interactive than the last one I was at.”
Sullivan said this is a great time to dress up with friends and just relax.
Bennett Childs, a chemistry and biology premed major, wearing a flowing dress of flower print, said his favorite aspect about this program is dressing up. It took him an hour “with the help of several assistants.”
“It’s one of the few excuses I have to wear a dress,” he said, laughing.
Childs described the movie as touching on “the darkness inside of us all,” and said the only way to truly understand it is to experience it.
“I didn’t say it was a bad darkness,” he said, batting his eyelashes. “I just said it was darkness.”
“A sexy darkness,” Sullivan added.
Just then, newspapers were raised high into the air.
“During different parts of the movie you’ll do different things,” Shade explained. “While it’s raining, we all have newspapers over our heads because that’s what they do in the movie.”
The Rocky Horror experience is known for its audience participation. But how does everyone know all the rules?
“You have to watch the movie over, over and over,” said Sullivan. “And there are also some versions of the movie where it tells you exactly what to say and what to do.”
Shade has seen the movie around 30 times, while Sullivan’s viewing time counts in around 50 times.
Larry Bauer, freshman undeclared major, is in the process of learning the rules.
“I don’t know them,” he said of the rules. “It’s very awkward. I had a friend back home that tried to teach me them but it hasn’t been quite successful yet. So a couple more hundred times and I’ll be OK.”
Rocky Horror knowledge can also be passed down, from generation to generation.
“My parents did this 30 years ago,” Childs said. “They’re the ones who taught me what to do for this.”
Wearing the dress, however, was his own decision, he said.
Sarah Nielsen, freshman undeclared major, has been doing this since she was 13 years old. She used to love the “panty run,” where audience members run across the stage in their underwear and get smacked on the butt.
“Then they installed an age limit,” she said. “I had to wait a few years before I could do it again.”
Shade said, however, they tend not to do the panty run at VCU.
Nielsen, a little disappointed at the loss of her panty run, said she still enjoys the experience. Her favorite part is dressing up, she said, showing off her neon pink fishnet top, revealing a bra.
“My mother is a Catholic school teacher,” she said. “And I’m not wearing a shirt.”
Nielsen said although her mother has no idea, it’s quite simply a form of expression.
“It’s an old form of expression that’s been revolutionized,” she said, showing off her shoes she bought at, what she called, “a porn store.”
Brooke Bernard, a freshman, said this experience is something not to miss.
“It’s so much fun and everybody should come,” she said. “It’s just awesome.”