38: Act on Passions: It seemed a fairly ordinary night

I got started in Rocky Horror a year and a half ago after only seeing the movie twice beforehand. I started as a props person, which was a great place to start. I had to learn every part of the movie and the order it went in, so I could have the props set out and ready for the face characters to use. It’s a lot like being a behind the scenes, tech person for theater. I started with a large group of people on Halloween weekend and I was the only one to stick around for the next month.

After earning my wings as a props person, I moved up to being a transie, a party goer and member of the planet Transexual, where Riff Raff, Magenta, and Frank are from (post 37 has the whole plot written out if you’re confused). Transies still set up props for the majority of the show, but also get the fun of dancing the Time Warp, which is the one song everyone seems to know from Rocky Horror Picture Show.

By February, I was more comfortable with the show. I knew every scene in order and the props it needed. I told the manager that I wanted to start playing Columbia, so I spent a month making my own costume. I hand sewed a ton of sequins to a tank top and a corset, and ribbons to pair of shorts. I collected the perfect socks, fishnets, pajamas and shoes. I was ready!

I was ready. I knew my lines. But I was so nervous! I would be on stage in my underwear. With a whole audience watching me, with a screen behind me. I couldn’t watch it while I was performing, so I had to know everything that was going on on the screen by what was said. The first show, I was really nervous. After the second show, I was getting better. I improved every show, watching it several times before the show every month and practicing in my house.

The strangest part was that I started to get past the whole, being in my underwear, thing. I’m not sure what changed exactly. Maybe I got more confident in that I was screen accurate. Maybe I just stopped caring what the audience thought about my body.

I think that this is probably the best thing I have learned from doing Rocky Horror Picture Show. I became more confident in myself. I could be in front of an audience. And not even just that, I could be in a corset and thigh highs in front of an audience! I didn’t care what they thought about my body or my acting or me in general. They could all be sitting there thinking “What a walrus of a human being that is” and I wouldn’t care!

This has translated to me being more confident in my day to day life. My fashion choices grew. I cut off all my hair, because I look damn good with short hair. If I meet someone and they don’t like me, that doesn’t bother me. They can go away. I have confidence in my job too. If my makeup is a bit off one day, who the hell cares? I can talk to just about anyone I meet.