“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is considered by many a cult classic, found in the realm of theater, music and LGBTQ culture.
Northwestern State University of Louisiana’s Student Theater Organization and Dear School of Creative and Performing Arts Department of Theater and Dance have put on a yearly performance of the cult classic nearly every year, until this year.
For some, Rocky Horror was the first time they had seen a production done at NSU. It’s something even people outside of the theater can enjoy.
“Not doing Rocky Horror this year is definitely a bummer,” Angelina Wood, a senior theater major, said. “Fall without Rocky just doesn’t feel right.”
Wood played the part of Eddie in her freshman year and worked as a dresser for last year’s production, which had a full budget capable of “going all out.”
“The tradition has always been that STO did a lip-sync’d version of the show as a fundraising event. We decided last year as a department to put on a full mainstage production with actual musical performers. STO made the decision not to continue the production and do their own production,” said assistant theater professor Sean Bartley.
According to Bartley, the organization desires to create new traditions and also establish itself outside of just doing Rocky Horror every year.
“They’re thinking as an actor, having more diverse credits, rather than saying ‘I played Frank N. Furter three times,” Bartley said.
Student Theater Organization President and senior musical theater major Abigail Aldridge explained that 2019 was the last year their organization had done the production due to COVID-19 and how the last production last fall was actually done by the department as a mainstage production.
“This year, when I became president last fall, I wanted to do different things and productions. STO had never done an actual show,” Aldridge said. “Rocky is different in the sense it isn’t a true script. I wanted an opportunity for people to put real productions on their resume.”
Rocky Horror also did not make the cut this year because the department set a precedent of the show being done as a mainstage production.
“Now that it was put on by the department, there will always be a higher version of the show that people can compare it to. They have the funding that we don’t and by doing this grand show, we appear less than,” Aldridge said.
Regardless of the reasoning, the decision stands, and now an old tradition falls away to make room for new ideas. The new fall production presented by the executive board of STO will be “Showcase: Songs of the Rainbow.”