On Halloween night, Grams and Grandad were looking for an escape from our neighborhood block party and trick-or-treaters. We don't want to buy candy, because if we buy it, we eat it ... and neither of us need candy in our diets.
Grams had seen on 40 Things To Do in Corpus Christi's Facebook Page that Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Show was playing live at the Aurora Arts Theater. We've been big fans of The Rocky Horror Picture Show for many years. I didn't even realize that it was a play, I thought it was just a movie. Silly me!
Turns out they had been doing three performances every weekend since the end of September. Halloween weekend they had two performances each night at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. We were able to get tickets for the 7 o'clock performance on Halloween. There are no reserved seats in the small theater. It's first come, first seated in this 100 seat theater.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that the Aurora Arts Theater believes in a "complete" live performance. No canned music at the Aurora; live music is an important part of the production. Admission was only $14 each and "prop bags" were $5 each.
This was a great way to spend Halloween night. It was so much fun. The actors were well cast and "the chorus" added a lot of fun to the experience. The small size of the theater makes this an intimate theater experience. The entire playhouse becomes part of the staging. It's truly an interactive theater experience, especially during The Rocky Horror Show. For example, every time someone says "Brad" the audience shouts "Asshole" and every time some says "Janet" the crowd shouts "Slut." There are many other opportunities for crowd interaction and a few words that I won't put into print here. I was surprised to see a number of audience members who seemed significantly older than Grams and Grandad. We're in our mid-fifties. I was a little bit concerned that the gentleman seated next to me was somewhat older and I thought he might be offended, but it didn't seem to bother him in the least.
It's a lot of fun to soak the cast with water from a water pistol during the "rain" scenes. And I loved waving my light to the tune of "Over At The Frankenstein Place." For me the highlight of the night was when the cast invited the entire audience to dance the "Time Warp" at the end of the performance. It was so much fun, even if Grandad and the old guy next to me just stood there instead of dancing.
Photos are not allowed inside the theater, but the cast graciously posed in the lobby for quite some time after the show. And, as is tradition, many of the audience members were also in costume. I regret that I did not get a photo of either Raymond Guttierrez who played Frank-N-Furter or Aaron Cooper who was the narrator. They were both delightful in the play, but somehow I just missed them when I was taking pictures.
It's clear that everyone involved at the Aurora Arts Theater is there for the love of theater and performance. We will definitely be attending more productions at this intimate little theater.
Next up on their schedule is Grace and Glorie by Tom Zeigler. They've just recently announced their 2011 season. I can't wait!
