Transvestites in Tansill Theater – The Rocky Horror Show

The arboretum gates had long since shut as I approached them one cold Thursday night as, back on campus proper, I could practically smell the first Natural Ices of the night being cracked and the foam being sucked back. At the gates I took a right to meander down the snow bank gutter of Williams Street as SUVs plummeted by me, most veering into the other lane and doubtlessly cursing the lack of sidewalks as much as I was.

I took my first left, per the ominous instructions I’d received earlier that evening, down a road with no clear signage and, even more ominously, no streetlights: the appropriately-titled Gallows Lane.

The second building on the right, past a somewhat normal looking house, was a paneled, windowless building that could easily have been the headquarters of some diabolical Russian terrorist group were it in the heart of a major city, as opposed to across the street from the Connecticut College Arboretum.

Formerly DNA Epicenter Inc., the shadowy building was a facility that provided science education programs for school age kids, after school programs and adult education. Closed last October due to lack of funding, the building still bears its former name on the inside and has the smell and feel of an old folk’s home from the late seventies. The college now owns the building, and if Physical Plant has altered it in the slightest since its last inhabitant, it most certainly doesn’t show.

Indeed, the Theater Department has been shunned off into this little corner of the un-campus for there is no other rehearsal space deemed available to them (Palmer Auditorium is already booked with various dance and traveling theater productions, while the Harkness Dining Hall is set aside to quarantine H1N1 victims). It was my assignment on this chilly February evening to attend a rehearsal for Conn’s upcoming production of The Rocky Horror Show, to be performed March 4 – March 7.

When I first arrived a small fraction of the cast was learning the last song to learn, “Once In A While,” from Musical Director Bill Thomas.

I inquired about the approach to rehearsals when both music and stage work needed learning. Director Peter Deffet informed me that he taught music first and the run-through of scenes second without exception.

Between takes of the song, the two directors bantered about reinterpretations of songs in order to make the musical their own. The only available score had been of the movie version, different from the stage version, and didn’t include harmonies written out.

So what did Bill Thomas do? He sat down and listened to a bootlegged recording of a stage production and wrote out the harmonies by ear. The man is astounding. We’d never formally met and I already wished we were best friends. We could just sit around and jam together; he’d bring up fascinating queries about musical theories and I’d nod with barely a rudimentary understanding of the concept.

Bill took the reinterpretation of songs very seriously, pointing out that when the play was first written, “they thought it was inventive to put a country song in – but why would we do that today?” Relevancy is key to a musical that could so easily be written off as stupid camp. It’s certainly camp, but it’s self-aware camp, goddamnit!

The full cast began to arrive about a half hour into my stay and by God were they a gaggle of chatty Cathys. In a fun, loud and silly musical like The Rocky Horror Show, this is the precise type of cast one hopes for: focused when they need to be, but not afraid to schmooze with their fellow castmates. Peter fit right in with them, fun and engaging but equipped with a very clear mindset at what needed to be done.

I pulled cast member Mikey Harris, playing the role of Dr. Everett Scott, aside for an interview before they got fully started. He described his character as one of the “normal people” in the play, an outsider in the “craziness” of the characters that inhabit the bizarre transvestite castle at the centerpiece of the play.

“It’s kind of like everyone’s susceptible to the craziness,” he remarked. “There’s all this sexual expression that’s kind of contagious.”

Mikey was also in last year’s production of Hair, but if you thought Hair was weird, Rocky Horror… takes things into a whole new dimension. The two plays are similar, Mikey said, in that there are “people rebelling and lots of free sexuality” buts its far less ensemble than Hair and more a product of 50s sci-fi parody than 60s flower power.

I spoke next with the Stage Manager Alexandra Wolf, who, equipped with a fat binder full of scripts, music and important looking papers, seemed perched squarely on top of the ball.

The cast had attended a screening of the movie version the week before that also featured live performances and audience participation. “The movie is a crash course in the cult,” she explained. “You really need to see it.”

The play is certainly different from traditional theatre, particularly with the audience participation aspect the play and movie are famous for, meaning the approach to rehearsals and logistical preparation for the play is quite a new adventure for the Theater Department. The decision was made to not allow people to bring their own props in the interest of controlling what gets thrown around in Tansill, but instead there will be props bags for sale at the door for audience’s enjoyment.

I spoke at length with Director Peter Deffet the next day about the adventure of producing the original live version of a widely known cult film.

“Our production is definitely riding the line between the stage and movie versions,” Peter said, “It’s definitely informed by 50s and 60s sci-fi, but instead of the mod approach we’re going more down the goth road.”

Peter said he would encourage audiences and Rocky fans to bring their A-Games when they attend, expecting it to be somewhat raucous, but discouraged destructive behavior that can closely follow the audiences being allowed to act out during a live performance.

When I asked him how he thought the show would reflect on the LGBTQ community at Conn, he confessed that he had little to no involvement with the group; understandable coming from an outside director. I informed him that it was indeed Genderfuck February.

“I hope that students, faculty and staff will enjoy it for what it is: gender bending, otherness,” he answered, with the anticipation that it would spawn discussion.

His hope is that a drag queen from the area will host the talkbacks, in keeping with the gender-bending theme.

“First and foremost,” he stated, “musicals must be entertaining,” and I agreed.

The Rocky Horror Show isn’t designed to be a statement on the world of equality; it is a world unto itself. It is a place apart. You have to leave the Connecticut College campus, take a few turns you’ve never taken before, and creep into a dimly lit building you’re sure is full of sick mysteries you’ve never imagined.

The Rocky Horror Show – March 4, 5 and 6 at 8 PM and March 6 and 7 at 2 PM in Tansill Theater.