Director's Note

When the Chair of our Theatre Arts Department, Anthony Byrnes, asked me to direct The Rocky Horror Show (Rocky), (thank you, Anthony!), my immediate response was “YES! Of course!” It is post-COVID lock-down, a MUSICAL (my favorite genre of theatre), for our students, and I’m female and gay. So, yes! And my next thoughts were, “wait… Rocky? Why Rocky?” Is it still relevant? What does it mean to do this subversive 1970s musical in 2022?

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When The Rocky Horror Show came to life in the early 1970s, it was one of the first musicals to represent sexual fluidity, particularly in a leading character. It helped influence the sexual liberation and counter-culture movements following the 60s. Our motto from Rocky, “Don’t Dream it. Be it.” was writer Richard O’Brien’s inspiration for the musical. He had seen this caption on a Frederick’s of Hollywood ad illustrating drawings of women in lingerie that he thought looked like men in lingerie. And he wanted to depict a world where this was accepted. He felt that there was something beautiful and sexy about a man who embraces femininity. And he was inspired by the 70s glam rock scene, from which came the androgenous David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust and other gender fluid artists.

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I have discovered in the process of exploring this world and creating with our student theatre artists at CSULB, that Rocky is still quite relevant as an homage to individuals being permitted to vary from what society expects the “norm” to be.  Although the added layers of “mad” scientist and “alien” highlight some of Frank N Furter’s internal demons, being his authentic self is not one of them.  This inner freedom and willingness to allow, and actually encourage others, to live openly helps maintain the character’s iconic status as an example of striving to be everything one wants to be. Frank just happens to be the flawed leader of this world. Like strong leaders of any group of humans, power can corrupt, and Frank becomes more “mad” (like mad scientists from the 30s B Horror Sci-Fi movies on which Rocky is based) as the play progresses. Ultimately, Frank finds love. Brad and Janet, who represent the hyper gendered norms of the 50s, are both awakened by their experiences with Frank and the Transylvanians. Columbia and Rocky die for love. Even Riff Raff and Magenta, who have been harmed by Frank’s “madness,” find a certain liberation. 

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Synchronistically, on September 29 during our first week of rehearsals I got into my car and heard “The Time Warp” on the radio. KNX in Depth (97.1 FM) was doing a segment on the continued popularity of The Rocky Horror Picture Show and how the new generation of fans of the movie are the grandchildren of the first generation of Rocky fans. 

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The universal search for beauty, love, acceptance is at the heart of our version of Rocky. Parallel to the story we tell on stage, many of our student Transylvanians and other characters are gender fluid and/or represent a range of LGBTQ+ identity, helping us to further depict authentic, positive representations of trans, nonbinary, fluid and just “non-labeled” humans!  love. Riff Raff and Magenta, who have been harmed by Frank’s “madness,” find a certain liberation. And every human on the stage has explored their unique version of liberation and self-acceptance / realization. Our student artists (from actors to designers) wanted to do Rocky because they wanted to have fun! They ARE. They wanted to do a show that involved acceptance. It DOES! And they wanted to encourage LGBTQ+ acceptance. They ARE! I hope you find your own version of “Don’t Dream It. Be It.” Whatever your dream for yourself is, go for it. Whatever your vision for your life is, do it. Whatever human you want to be. Be it.

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- Jennifer Richardson