Chicago’s Rocky Horror Convention
Maya Dinerstein ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
When I was a freshman in high school, I was dragged to a 9:30pm showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in Wilmette, Illinois. Honestly, I had no idea what was going on. Five years later, I found myself at none other than the 39th annual Rocky Horror Picture Show convention, this one in Chicago and run by the very same cast I had seen when my Rocky “cherry” was popped, Midnight Madness.
The convention started out on Thursday (though convention organizer Jeff Nurkiewicz had been updating convention attendees through Facebook months ahead of time) at the historical Congress Hotel on Michigan Avenue. Convention check-in was much easier (and more laid back) than any other convention I’ve been to, though it also wasn’t completely organized.
Friday, the convention room’s doors opened to vendors known online in the Rocky community such as Mina from Columbia’s Closet, and Larry Viezel and Shawn Stutler from the RHPS documentary ‘Rocky Horror Saved My Life’. The day featured panels that shared the room with the vendors, and the overall laid-back feeling was maintained. Friday evening, I headed home to put makeup on my own Frank n Furter (played by Zephyr Goza) before we went back downtown, this time to the Music Box Theatre, where we watched the infamous Shock Treatment (the unfortunately official sequel to Rocky Horror) shadowcast by an all-star cast from around the country. This was followed by a mini dance party and then what we had all been waiting for: Rocky Horror Picture Show, also brilliantly shadowcast from all over the US. While every cast does things slightly differently, the performances all meshed together stunningly to create a truly unique evening.
After a late evening, we slept in only a small amount before putting on EVEN MORE MAKEUP and heading back to the convention, to catch the tail end of the ‘Hunger Games’ themed costume contest, wherein teams were given random clothing items, and required to make their best Rocky Horror costumes in a few meager hours. RKO Army’s “Team Butt Stuff” took home first prize, the Golden Turd award.
The real costume contest followed shortly, featuring a Carnivale themed Columbia (matching the theme of the convention itself), a pin-up-dress lab-scene Frank, as well as a very screen accurate Janet (who took home first place), Eddie and Frank. Next were the preshows (ironically occurring after the show itself), both videos that national shadowcasts (like NY’s Home of Happiness) had made ahead of time as well as live preshows, the most notable (in my opinion) being Boston’s own Full Body Cast, who lit up the stage and their costumes with LED lights at the end of theirs.
While a few things were off limits (drinking and the Neo party) to someone under aged, the dance party and the performance itself were an experience unlike any other. It was wonderful meeting people from around the country who share a ridiculous passion for a ridiculous movie.