Skip to main content
Portland is weird and inclusive and loves a costume party, so our collective love of The Rocky Horror Picture Show shouldn’t really come as a surprise. Venues all over town are getting their fishnets and corsets ready for the movie’s 50th anniversary, honoring the cult classic by encouraging audience participation with shadow casts, parody plays, and a visit by one of the film’s original stars.
The definitive cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a B-movie based on a stage musical in which two innocents, Brad and Janet (Barry Bostwick, Susan Sarandon), end up at a spooky castle on a dark and stormy night. The castle’s denizens come from the planet Transexual in the galaxy of Translyvania. Silly songs and circumstances ensue in a campy celebration of sexuality, gender expression and self-exploration.
According to the Portland creatives keeping its legacy alive, Rocky Horror endures for its ability to give audiences a sense of belonging with the fun. Shadow casts acting along with the movie are now part of the quintessential experience. They lead audiences through various bits, like throwing things and yelling at the screen or truly getting into the Time Warp. The film’s cult following has informed fandoms for similarly niche films, such as The Room and Repo! The Genetic Opera.
The Clinton Street Theater has hosted Rocky Horror screenings since 1978, shortly after New York’s midnight shows proved popular, and kept going through numerous changes in the venue’s owners. The Clinton holds the record for the longest continuous movie run, even showing the movie to a nearly (but not!) empty theater during the pandemic’s lockdown.
Several shadow casts take turns performing Rocky Horror here, but the house cast is the Clinton Street Cabaret. CSC joins Bostwick at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Oct. 27 for a screening of the unedited film. Audience participation is encouraged, with a costume contest and a bag of props to throw at the screen courtesy of the Schnitz (no outside props are allowed, so leave your hot dogs at home).
Bostwick tells WW he is excited for his latest trip to Portland, and that we do weird better than anyone. “It’s such a forward-thinking town,” he says of the Rose City. “Honestly, we were in Washington, D.C., last night, and the audience sort of gets it, but it’s a whole different type of people. They’re just not as relaxed about all we stand for.”
The award-winning actor believes Rocky Horror endures because, despite upending and skewering the era’s sexual politics, it doesn’t have an expressly political message. “It’s about just misbehaving,” he says. “The audience is allowed to misbehave for a couple of hours and not be judged for it.”
Clinton co-owner Aaron Coulter says Rocky Horror brings a boon in October, but he doesn’t show it in the slow season just to keep his theater’s record going. “You’ll see some kid who you can just tell needs a place to come and be who they are,” Coulter says. “Hundreds of screenings later, sometimes you’ll see those people and it means a lot to them so it means a lot to you.”
Joshua Wood is the creator and director of Riff Raff’s Street Rats, the shadow cast performing at the Clinton on Oct. 11. He echoed Coulter’s take on Rocky Horror’s legacy: “Rocky is a place that says yes to those who need it most.”
“Rocky is a very necessary safe space,” says Bobbie McMahon, the Clinton’s stage manager. “The legacy that the Clinton Street Cabaret has is so important to protect.”
Thom Hilton, a filmmaker and former WW contributor who co-hosts Rocky Horror screenings at the Clinton, says the movie offers “a hope for acceptance,” even though Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) ultimately fails in his mission to take over the world. “[Frank-N-Furter] really has hope that there will be this kind of place that he can get to where sexuality and beauty and community and ego and attention can all live,” Hilton says.
The Denton Delinquents have held down their side of the Columbia River for Rocky Horror at the Kiggins Theatre in Vancouver, Wash., for nearly 20 years. The shadow cast’s director, Anna Kotaniemi, has served for 17 of the group’s 19 years together (she first joined playing Janet). “Rocky Horror was one of the first places I made true friends and felt accepted for who I am,” Kotaniemi says. “It’s a reminder that there are always weirdos out there like me, ready to come out and scream obscenities at a movie screen.”
Funhouse Lounge goes back to Rocky Horror’s roots through Oct. 11. Audiences can see The Rocky Horror Show, a live take directed by Sara King. Her favorite segment in the film is from the unedited version screening at the Schnitz. The song “Superheroes” ends the film as Brad and Janet crawl away from the alien-filled sex castle after it blasts off into space, leaving them forever changed by their experiences.
“[They’re] making a comment on the inclusivity and how it’s changed their lives and changed their perspectives,” King says.
Bostwick doesn’t mind the tradition of yelling “Asshole!” at his character, Brad, and he doesn’t even really mind when that happens in real life. “It’s a term of endearment, and it just shows you how they love that character so much that they’re willing to bury him every night,” he says. Bostwick highlighted the performances of co-stars Patricia Quinn and Nell Campbell before praising Curry: “You can’t beat that characterization of Frank-N-Furter, and I’m constantly amazed at his energy and brilliance as a comedian and sort of farceur.”
And for what it’s worth to Kotaniemi, Coulter, Wood, King, et al., Bostwick knows how important the movie is for fans.
“That’s one of the reasons I’ve been doing it for 50 years. I’m an EMT for Rocky Horror,” he says. “It’s the stories of how they first got involved and how it moved them to explore maybe who they really genuinely are in the world. It’s a lot of fun, but it’s also quite meaningful for me to know that something I did theatrically actually has some real meaning in the world.”
SEE IT
The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St., 971-808-3331, cstpdx.com. Numerous showtimes each Saturday in October. $20.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Funhouse Lounge, 2432 SE 11th Ave., 503-841-6734, funhouselounge.com. 6:45 pm Thursday–Saturday, Oct. 9–11 and 16–18. $35–$225.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show at Kiggins Theatre, 1011 Main St., Vancouver, 360-816–0352, kigginstheatre.com. 9 pm Saturday, Oct. 25. $15. 10 pm Friday, Oct. 31. $18.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show with Barry Bostwick and the Clinton Street Cabaret at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, 1037 SW Broadway, 503-248-4335, portland5.com. 7:30 pm Sunday, Oct. 27. $75.30–$200.75.
