By Taylor Jensen/entertainment editor
The new production on NE Campus intends to make audience members shiver with anticipation, stay the distance and, of course, do the time warp again and again.
NE drama instructor Robert Neblett directs the stage production of the cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He’s been a Rocky Horror fan since he was 14 and said he has waited a long time to produce a product that chills, thrills and fulfills.
“It’s a dirty show,” he said. “But it encourages us to be ourselves and not what society wants us to be — to realize what our own boundaries are.”
However, no matter how unsanitary, Neblett said, the show is fundamentally about two people who have to rediscover their love after overcoming rather … interesting obstacles.
“As rock ’n’ roll as it is, as dirty as it is, it still has an innocent heart,” he said.
NE student Emily Abdo, who plays multiple parts as Betty Monroe and one of Frank-N-Furter’s girls, said Rocky Horror’s attractiveness relies on its devotion to the oddities of the world.
“I think Frank is my favorite because he has weird quirks about him,” she said.
Abdo said audience interaction also completes the unconventional experience and wants those who attend to have a blast.
“I hope everyone who comes, enjoys,” she said.
NE student Cameron Allsup said he and his character Riff Raff are vastly different, but he relishes the chance to take his acting to another level.
“I’m very eccentric, but I don’t know if we really have anything in common,” he said. “But I don’t have to hold back.”
Allsup said even though it might require audience members to step out of their comfort zone, that step to the right is more than worth it.
“To be honest, it’s completely different than anything that has ever been made,” he said. “It’s a pure, non-sensory fun that grabs people by the waist and goes for it.”
The Rocky Horror Picture Show runs April 24-27. Performances are 7 p.m. with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee in NFAB 1205. Tickets are $6 for general admission, $3 for non-TCC students and seniors and free for TCC students, faculty and staff. For tickets and more information, call the NE box office at 817-515-6687.
