Rocky Horror Picture Show weeks 2 and 3
My second and third weeks of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the Nuart theater with the Sins O’ The Flesh cast have gone swimmingly. And now for some awesome things I have learned:
There is a video of the Nuart Theater from a 1976 episode of Starsky and Hutch. This video details what hte exterior and interior of the theater looked like before two renovations. The seats were wooden and the curtains were gold. It was a grindhouse theater back then that played whatever they could as frequently as possible. It looks almost nothing like the theater today.
The Nuart was remodeled most recently in 2006 and now seats only about half of its original capacity. The incarnation of the Nuart previous to its contemporary state sat about 450 people, down from around 600, and now it only seats about 300 people. The rows are so spacious now that you can stand in front of a seat, or sit in front of a seat facing hte person in that seat and have a conversation without being completely on top of one another. The distance between one person and the people around them is tremendously large, and in the case of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, that is not always a good thing.
The first on air broadcast of The Rocky Horror Picture Show was by FOX in 1993 with audience participation edited in. It is really interesting to note this because it is an acknowledgment by FOX that the film is incomplete without the audience. What FOX might not have understood is that this audience experience pales in comparison to a live audience because of the interactive nature of calling back lines with fellow participants and the constantly evolving lines to match the contemporary social and political world.
There was no way to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the United States on home video, with the exception of having a pirated international copy, until 1990. This shaped the RHPS experience because in order to see the film, a cult and subcultural rite of passage, it had to be in a theater, because there weren’t any other options. A running theme in my research on this film and the habits of watching seem to come down to not having a lot of other options. People stood up and walked around at the Nuart in the 1980s because the seats were uncomfortable and squeaky, and so not sitting in them was the alternative. This culture has remained, although appears to be shrinking, because of the increasing comfort of the seats. The option to sit down has become appealing, perhaps. to those who have not experienced Rocky where sitting down was the less appealing choice.
Similarly, because of the nature of the audience participation in the 1980s and the lack of home video, there were few ways to see the film in any detailed, accurate capacity. Often times the 35mm print was old, and projected onto a white sheet rather than the actual screen (this was because people threw food, and sometimes at the screen, so it was a protective measure). There is so much going on in the theater and a significant amount of light pollution as lighting systems for shadowcasts got more sophisticated, and therefor even if the print was good, it might still be challenging to see the colors that the film originally captured. Being able to create an accurate costume as a member of the shadowcast required a keen eye, rather than a copy of the film on home video.
Sins O’ The Flesh has needed to find a home out of the Nuart on a couple of occasions, most recently of which, was during the renovation. Previous to that was during the theatrical release of The Blair Witch Project. Midnight showings of that film were outperforming box office revenues at the Nuart, so in a financial move (which theaters like that often have to do, because it is harder to compete as a single screen in the world of multiplexes) Sins O’ The Flesh found a temporary new home while the Blair Witch zeitgeist provided much needed revenue.
I would like to conclude this post with a nod to everyone who has made me feel so welcome at the Nuart in my return. Going to this experience on my own, rather than in a group has been enlightening. I have had three great nights of speaking with beautiful people about something they are passionate about. Although, like any social circle, there are bumps, by and large, this is one of the more accepting and open spaces I have seen, and it is no wonder that the Nuart, and the vibrant community that goes there every week, is a home away from home.
