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BELLINGHAM, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A counter-culture staple is turning half a century old this year, and Bellingham’s production of the cult classic with the trademark shadow cast is taking the stage once more this Halloween. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an expression of horror, science fiction, sexuality and outright weirdness intended to delight and bring forward your spooky and expressive alter egos.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been a part of the nightlife culture at theatres throughout U.S. cities and beyond since the mid-1970s, with screenings commonly held at midnight in old theatres that have stages below the screen. That stage will often be used by a shadow cast, who reenact the movie in real time as the film is shown above their heads. Other cult classic movies will sometimes use shadow casts during screenings such as Clue, The Princess Bride, Beetlejuice and The Room among others, but Rocky Horror is one of the most well-known.
At the helm of The Mount Baker Theatre’s shadow cast is Megan Sutton and Paul Henderson, who have been co-directors at the theatre for several years now. Sutton first saw Rocky Horror when they were freshly out of high school roughly 15 years ago at the Mount Baker Theatre. A lifelong stage actor, she became involved with the shadow cast after the director at the time John Phillips approached Sutton when they were working on a separate local theatre production.
“Originally it was definitely like, ‘Oh, this is fun. It’s campy,'” Sutton said. “It’s really entertaining to just see people perform in front of a movie, because it was such a novel idea for me, and I just really enjoyed the vibe of it.”
Sutton was a cast member among other roles for several years before they and Henderson took over from Phillips when he retired. Though Rocky Horror is not a full theatre production and no one is paid for their time in the show, Sutton and Henderson along with the ensemble cast put plenty of effort into making sure the show is as entertaining as it can be. The cast will often do themes each year, including dressing up as different superheroes.
“When Paul and I started directing, I printed out the whole script, because, again, I’m a theater kid. I’m gonna do the directing, the directing way,” she said. “I printed out the whole script, and I was like, ‘Okay, I don’t want to just follow along with the movie. I want to do this right.’ And I want to give any theater friends who come and do it, I want to give them a similar experience to what they’re used to, even if they don’t have script in hand.”
Sutton a couple years ago donned the trademark corset and fishnets of Dr. Frank-N-Furter to play the lead when the actor was out sick. Previously cast as side characters Columbia, Eddie and Magenta, Sutton stepped in as an effort to bring the feminine energy the cast was used to.
“It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun. It was silly, and you know, that was something that I wasn’t necessarily expecting to do, but it worked,” they said. “I’ve done a lot of live action role play, so it’s pretty easy for me to just step into a character and just [be] like, ‘All right, I’m gonna embody this character.’ And a lot of it for me, for Frank specifically, was like, ‘All right, I’m just gonna be sassy, and I’m gonna use all of my theater knowledge and be the biggest I can [be].”
A Deming native, Sutton has been a face in Whatcom County’s local theatre since they were a young kid, appearing in productions at Lynden’s Clair Theatre among other venues as well as receiving a BA in Theatre at Western Washington University this last winter.
Shadow casting is considered less intensive compared to other theatre productions by people active in theatre, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t entertaining. Rocky Horror allows cast members to explore their sexuality and how they want to express themselves in a loose and often fun setting. Sutton mentions that their work with the program helped her explore their own identity.
Because the play debuted in 1973 before becoming a film in 1975, some of the terminology used in the film is not considered politically correct and even derogatory by some audiences. Specifically, one of the most famous songs from the production is “Sweet Transvestite” that uses terms referring to transgenderism and cross-dressing by words that many today would not use. As co-director, Sutton has had to defend putting on the production to people that may be offended by the outdated language.
“I’m not going to discount the fact that they are using [outdated] terminology, but like, it was fine for the time, it was just taboo, and it wasn’t that someone was saying they weren’t using a slur. They were using the correct terminology for the time, right? I guess is the big thing and [people] just didn’t want to hear it because the world at the time was a little more socially conservative,” Sutton said.
The crux of what draws a lot of people to Rocky Horror, both as viewer and participant, is its expansiveness in pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable and celebrated in a theatrical space.
“When we do casting–because we don’t do casting traditionally (we don’t do auditions), we’re just like, ‘Hey, fill out this form. Can’t guarantee that you’re going to get the role that you want. But fill out the form and we’ll do our best.’ We don’t look at people’s pictures. We’re just like, ‘Okay, you know this person has done this show with us a lot. We know who this person is, and you know, they’re being kind, and they’re being considerate to others, and they’re super inclusive, yeah, let’s give them that opportunity.'”
A major aspect of attending a live shadow cast performance of Rocky Horror is the audience participation. First-timers to theatre screenings are labeled as “virgins” and often branded with red “V”s painted on their faces. What kicks off most Rocky Horror nights are what Sutton calls “virgin games,” where those with the branding are invited to participate in games as a form of initiation.
Some games played throughout Rocky Horror’s storied history could be considered hazing, such as spanking and asking “virgins” to demonstrate what they believe a character would sound like upon orgasm. As time has gone on, the Mount Baker Theatre show has done away with raunchy games or those with dated references. Now, audience members pass pool noodles to each other without using their hands among other things.
“We do Rocky Says, and it’s just Simon Says with the silliest things that we can manage. So that’s what we have transferred to because it’s more financially feasible to only have to buy the occasional pool noodle and it’s more open for multigenerational viewing, especially since, you know, 50 years is a lot,” Sutton said. “You’re gonna have a lot of people [who] saw it when it first came out in the theaters coming because [this] was formative for [them].”
Other things audiences will do is heckle the movie/shadow cast with both specific words and phrases often referred to as “callbacks.” Sutton said they will explain to the audience a couple of the words and when to say them ahead of the screening this Halloween. A goodie bag of props will also be handed out to audience members to be used throughout the event.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s special screening has been cut down following the COVID-19 lockdown to a single show the evening of Halloween. It is a part of the Bellingham Halloween festivities, carrying on a tradition that Sutton hopes to continue to be a part of.
To learn more about the upcoming Halloween screening of Rocky Horror at the Mount Baker Theatre, visit their website.
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