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‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ at the Backdoor Playhouse

The Backdoor Playhouse will kick off the fall with a production of “The Rocky Horror Show” opening Oct. 31 at 8 p.m. Performances of the show are highly anticipated because of the element of audience participation.

In the show, a man and his fiancée get lost in the woods only to stumble upon the castle of the mysterious Dr. Frank N Furter. What follows will take the audience on a wild ride.

 “It’s such a fun show,” said director Mark Creter. “In the past we’ve shown the film with actors performing in front of it and it completely sold out. We had to turn people away.”

Creter explained that “Rocky Horror” has a strong student cast, unlike past productions. Last year’s production of “Cabaret” included members of the community as the cast, but this year’s cast is predominantly students.

“The nicest thing is to have 45 people come out and audition so we can have a good choice of talent,” said Creter. “That is a pretty good turnout for a musical production.”

In addition to the 20 cast members, students of the music department will lend their talent while half a dozen other students and members of the community have volunteered to work as crew. Creter’s wife has also joined the crew as choreographer.

 “I grew up with the production and love the movie,” said senior Angela Anderson, who plays Trixie, the Belasco Popcorn Girl. “I’m a musical theater geek.”

Anderson sings the iconic “Science Fiction/Double Feature” that begins and ends the musical.

 “Rocky Horror” originally started as a stage show in England and eventually moved to New York City, with the film premiering shortly thereafter.

The film started as a colossal failure and was pushed to the midnight showing. It quickly gained popularity as a midnight movie and earned a cult following. Soon, audience members began dressing up as the characters and acting out the movie as it played.

There will be nine performances of “The Rocky Horror Show” including a midnight performance on Saturday, Nov. 2.

Located at the back entrance of the Jere Whitson building, Backdoor Playhouse puts on three productions a year: fall, spring and winter. Every other year the winter production is “The Vagina Monologues” and is always well-received. The spring production is set to be “She Kills Monsters.”

More information about “Rocky Horror” show times and the Backdoor Playhouse can be found at www.tntech.edu/bdph/home/