Dildos and condoms and transvestites, oh my! Attending Rocky Horror Picture Show Live for the first time

Imagine downtown Statesboro, the quaint center of our humble little town. Now imagine one of its main streets filled with women in their underwear and men dressed like women. That is the scene while people wait in line outside of the Averitt Theater to attend the Rocky Horror Picture Show on Tuesday night.

It begins

As you enter the doors to claim your tickets from willcall, you are greeted by scantily dressed cast members who give you a playbill, bag of props and ask you if you are a “virgin.”

Being a “virgin” means you have never attended a Rocky Horror Picture Show Live performance, and if you have not, they mark you with a blood red “V” on your forehead with lipstick right before seating you for the show. This is to single you out for the “sluts” in the audience, those who have seen the show multiple times.

After being seated, the show director announces that the first half of the pre-show will begin. That part of the show is a costume contest for men dressed in drag and/or people who dressed up like characters from the movie. The participants strut on stage for the audience and are narrowed down to finalists by the crowd.

Once there are five finalists, they must introduce themselves to the crowd and spell their own names in the air using only the motion of their butts. This decides the two finalists who must compete for the win by lip syncing and dancing to a song as sexily as possible. The winner then gets a prize.

The sacrifice

After the costume contest, the director asks the “virgins” to stand, give a middle-finger salute and recite a pledge to prepare for Rocky Horror’s second half of the pre-show known as “the virgin sacrifice.”

This “sacrifice” entails a series of several different sexual and illicit games that 10 virgins must play at a time wherein the winner, determined by the crowd, wins a prize for proving his/herself on stage.

The games vary in themes. Some where virgins must recite a random pick-up line to the crowd as seductively as possible, or seeing who can put a condom on a cucumber with their mouth the fastest.

After around four different virgin games, the sacrifice is over and the crowd becomes complete once again, and that is when the show starts.

Experiencing the play

The show itself is an interesting creation where actors dress up like characters from the movie but instead of performing the entire play alone, the actors play out the scenes from the movie while the movie itself plays behind them. This allows the actors to re-enact the movie but make it their own.

For example, some props in the movie are replaced with large rubber penises and certain scenes of embrace are re-created with the actors groping each other, all adding to insane weirdness that is Rocky Horror.

Throughout the show, the audience is encouraged to interact with the cast as they are provided with a bag of props to throw, wave and dance with as they correlate with different scenes in the play/movie.

It never ends

After the show, the director invites the audience to join the cast for an after party at 40 East Grill right across the street, emphasizing that Boro DD will be there to take people home safely.

Even though Rocky Horror is an event that encourages open-mindedness and self-expression, safety is still a priority, which is also why they emphasize the fact that although the cast is half-naked, it is not okay to touch them.

From women in lace and fishnets to men in wigs and heels to giant rubber penises for props to condoms being thrown into the crowd: there really is not anything you won’t see at Rocky Horror Picture Show.

So, women, go and put on some lingerie and men, go put on some dresses and heels and buy your ticket for Rocky Horror Picture Show Live.

Although the Averitt Theater only hosted Rocky Horror for Oct. 25 and 26, students can still catch the show at the Bay Street Theater in Savannah. It runs from Oct. 27 to. Oct. 31 and showings start at 8 p.m with a midnight showing on Oct. 30.