I spent a lot of time talking "Rocky Horror" this semester. Here's some finished work...
Ella Clark says she lost her virginity when she was 8 years old.
First-timers at the cult classic film “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” are affectionately referred to as “virgins.” Perhaps this is because seeing the movie live is as much a rite of passage as that first trip beneath the sheets (or in the backseat of your parents’ car – whichever sounds more accurate).
“I was at my mom’s friend’s house,” Ella recalls. “I didn’t get a lot of what was going on. But I loved the music and the costumes.”
Ten years later, Ella stands in the aisle of an empty theater drinking an espresso milkshake.
It’s ten minutes to midnight, and throngs of people begin filing into the empty rows. Some have V’s for “virgin” painted on their foreheads in red lipstick. Their faces hover between anticipation and apprehension.
It’s their first time, and they’re not sure what to expect.
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is combination musical comedy, sci-fi saga and B horror film. It was released in 1975 and, according to the official fan site, is the longest-running theatrical release in film history. Midnight screenings can be found in movie houses across the globe, with audience members screaming out famous vulgarities like “slut” and “asshole” and tossing rice, confetti and toilet paper into the aisles.
At just over 5 feet tall, Ella weighs a waifish 95 pounds. She could drink a dozen espresso milkshakes and still pull off those fishnet tights.
There’s no backstage in the theater, so she ducks beneath the seats on the front row and joins the rest of the cast on the sticky, soda-stained floor, waiting for the show to start.
The clock strikes midnight.
A spotlight hits Ella’s face.
From the wooden platform, she looks 10 feet tall. Behind her, a pair of giant, red lips dances on the movie screen.
Ella says the first time she performed she was “green in the face.”
Now, three years later, you can hardly tell she has any nerves.
Scantily clad in black panties and a bustier, she sways her hips and mouths the lyrics to the opening number.
Ella, 19, has been moonlighting with this production of “Rocky Horror” for three years. She serves as assistant cast director for the acting troupe that calls itself “the Queerios.” They are a “shadow cast” that mocks the movie in front of the screen. Her boyfriend Ethan Wissmann serves at her right hand as cast director. The two perform together in many of the film’s famous duets.
Ethan and Ella have been together since high school. Their first date was to see “Rocky Horror” at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, but they were kicked out for being underage. On a second attempt, the theater took a blind eye and let the 16-year-olds stay for the show. Shortly after, they both decided to join cast.
Today, it’s happy hour at Chuy’s, and Ethan and Ella are sharing unlimited chips and queso as they playfully argue over who will dress up as Princess Leia in an upcoming sci-fi themed show at the Drafthouse.
Ella laughs as she grab’s Ethan’s long, wavy hair and mockingly rolls it into buns. He also performs in a metal band. At over 6 feet tall, he dwarfs his tiny girlfriend.
This is just one of a myriad of “themed” shows the cast performs throughout the year to mix things up and keep the audience interested. It may not be classic “Rocky Horror,” but it draws a crowd every Saturday night - usually a sold-out audience.
“It’s a lot different than when I used to see the movie in the late 70s and early 80s,” says Howard Burke, the manager of the Alamo Drafthouse Village.
The Drafthouse has been hosting the Queerios’ production of “Rocky Horror” for nine years. Drafthouse founder Tim League thinks it’s important to host the event weekly and “give Austin’s ‘Rocky Horror’ fans a place to call home.”
Sara Brenner found a home there.
Sara is a journalism student at the University of Texas. She spent a semester of Saturday nights at “Rocky Horror” writing a story for her long-form feature writing class. She learned the in’s and out’s of the show and the intimate details of the lives of the cast.
“At first they didn’t hang out with me. They thought ‘Oh, she’s just a reporter. She’ll go away eventually,’” Sara says. “And I just kinda stuck around. They took me in at some point.”
Sara decided to write about “Rocky Horror” because of her own personal connection to the show. She describes her first experience seeing the movie with an air of enchantment. It was a milestone in her coming of age story.
“You should roll your skirt up so your underwear shows,” her mom told her.
Sara was only 15. She dressed in a black miniskirt and wig, white corset, and thigh-high fishnet tights. She and her friends piled into a blue truck and drove to the middle of nowhere Dallas. The show was a whirlwind of profanity and nudity.
“I was in a daze the whole time,” Sara says.
All these years later, she remembers that night. It inspired her to want to write the story of “Rocky Horror” in Austin.
After six weeks in the audience, she decided to join the cast.
“It’s almost like an escape,” Sara says. “After being an adult every day all the time, between the hours of 11 and 3 a.m. on Saturday nights, you get license to be silly.”
It’s 2:30 a.m., and the cast are like children who just finished playing dress-up. They dance in the aisles with brooms, cleaning up the last remnants of the performance. The theater is painted with toilet paper. They pack their props and costumes back into bins and roll them out the back door. Ethan picks up a noisemaker. It whistles through the sound of their laughter. He kisses Ella on the cheek and helps her carry her things to the car. They are sleeping in tomorrow.
On Monday, it’s back to their everyday lives.
Ella is a hair stylist. In person, she appears meek and timid, a little mysterious. She calls herself “shy” and “stand-offish” and says she doesn’t want to be an actress.
But after midnight, in that dark theater, she finds her voice.
