The Midnight Madness Theatre Troupe has been organizing a shadow performance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show for 30 years out of the 42 since the movie has been released. The Troupe shows the movie on a huge projector using 35mm film, which is the same film the show was first shown with, as the audience and crew members participate.

I walked up to the line outside of the historic Music Box Theater at 11:10 AM, worried that we were too early, and that the line was already too long to get tickets. Luckily, this was not the case. The line was around the block when we were let into the theater at 11:30 in the morning. Our tickets included the “Virgin Prop Packs,” which were completed with toilet paper, balloons, and confetti poppers. These items were meant to be thrown and popped up at different times during the film.

We were let into the theatre, and, thankfully, got front row seats. The troupe started off with a dance party at the front for about 20 minutes. It ended with the YMCA, and we finally got to sit down. We listened to the (quite vulgar) rules, the costume contest winners, and the virgin ceremony. I was worried about the little kids I saw in line.

Most of the prelude of the show was not “school-newspaper” appropriate. Within the first few minutes, we were very close to seeing a woman get entirely nude. The entire cast, with the exception of Frankenfurter and Dr. Scott, were played by women, which made for a good deal of confusion.

I’ve seen a shadow performance show before for Little Shop of Horrors, so I thought had an idea of what to expect for the show. I was completely wrong, and the show was nothing like what I thought it would be. Some of the actors, especially the woman who played Janet, seemed to have little-to-no energy. If you get to act out Rocky Horror for a living, you should always have a good deal of energy. Frankenfurter and Columbia were the most energetic, and they were the best part of the show by far.

Shouting from the audience was encouraged. To the virgins who had never seen the movie before, the audio was difficult to hear, and the ‘plot’ was difficult to follow. The props being thrown up into the air and on the ground made the theatre borderline filthy. The entire cast was wearing high heels and pumps by the end, and a few fell or tripped over the toilet paper and paper plates.

At the end of the show, as people were leaving, the cast set up their merch booth. All of the proceeds for the night went to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. This charity was chosen after one of the cast members lost their parent to suicide.

That next morning, I wasn’t the slightest bit tired, despite my early wake-up. The show is regularly done once a month, so I highly recommend showing up in costume and catching one of the special Halloween performances next month. The Halloween showings will be held at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago on Fri., Oct. 27, Sat., Oct. 28 and Tues., Oct. 31 at 11:30 p.m. However, if you don’t enjoy loud yelling and aren’t a fan of audience participation this may not be the place for you.