Several members of the former Davis cast Further Indignities (and Under Sedation, which used to perform at UC Davis) will be performing the Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Colonial Theater in Sacramento on Saturday October 12th, 2013. More information on Facebook, or get tickets here!
Rocky Horror Picture Show is the story of a newly engaged couple, Brad and Janet, whose car gets a flat on the way home from a wedding. The plot devolves early when the innocent couple decide to find a phone to call for help; the series of events that follows comprises the rest of the story. Released in 1975, the film was based on the musical. It stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick.
The Cult
Rocky Horror Picture Show would be nothing if not for its devoted fanbase. A series of random events and dumb decisions such as the ones present in the movie was just begging for comments from the peanut gallery, and a cult-like following arose. The comments at the screen developed into sometimes ritualized and ever evolving callbacks, a traditional and essential part of the Rocky Horror experience. A Shadowcast is when a group of people act out the film for the audience while the film plays. Many casts perform regularly every month, much like a period.
Davis' Shadowcast
Present
Sensual Daydreams is the Shadowcast performing at UC Davis. Started in 2011, this merry band strives for a balance between screen accuracy, nerdity, and outright hilarity. At each show, the film is preceded by a few minute preshow to get the audience into the mood. The first was a Shadowcast production of the Smurfs cartoon "The Magic Stick." Subsequent preshows are original material written and performed by the cast, themed around Doctor Who and Harry Potter. This cast began as an offshoot of the Entertainment Council but is now its own club.
Previous
Campus Cinema and Further Indignities were active in the early 2000s, and Under Sedation performed on campus in the 1990s (including an epic fail involving a cast member wearing a full body cow suit being unintentionally locked out of the building and hauling butt around to the front to the amusement of many people).
JabberWokky performed one of the very first legal gay wedding ceremonies in California (possibly the first ever in Davis) during a performance of Rocky Horror. He also met his future spouse there, as she was the projectionist (and later head of Campus Cinema). A long standing joke was that he loved Rocky enough to sleep with people to ensure a venue.