Knoxville520.com

I’m talking, of course, about Rocky Horror. The Roane State Playmakers opened The Rocky Horror Show on Friday the thirteenth of October, and ran it for two weekends at the Roane State Community College Theatre. You would have thought the world was coming to an end, the way people talked. Michael Golebiewski, the show’s director, became increasingly haggard in appearance as the production schedule wore on, and not because of his new twin babies or the rehearsals that dragged into the wee hours of the morning. He spent more time fielding questions from angry parents, nervous faculty, and concerned upstanding citizens than he did actually directing. Two student actors in the show were forced to quit when their mammas found out what their hapless children had gotten themselves into. Mysterious, important-looking people snuck in to watch rehearsals from the back row. There were rumors of protests, of waivers the actors would have to sign in case the audience got out of control with rage. One student whose theatre homework included watching the show and writing a paper on it showed up sheepishly at Michael’s office one day and said, “Sir…um…I just have to say that I don’t think my morals will allow for me to watch your Rocky Mountain Picture Show.”

All this over a bunch of fishnets.

Harriman has had its collective panties in a wad ever since getting wind of the show sometime in early September, and they’re more than glad to send this show packing to that radical left-wing establishment called Knoxville. That’s right, Knoxville. The Rocky Top Mountain Horror Picture Show is coming to The Fairbanks this Halloween weekend to finish off its East Tennessee Tour of Offending Cracker Barrel Grandmas. No really, the Rocky Horror Show will be performed in its full splendor this Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday at that hip, swank Fairbanks establishment over on Homberg Drive.

Don’t confuse this production with that Picture Show nonsense. This is the live, song-and-dance version with actual three-dimensional humans. And what humans they are! Jodie Manross as Janet, Sara Schwabe as Magenta, Phil Pollard as Eddie, with the incomparable Geol Greenlee leading the band – it’s like a who’s who of the local music scene. And I’m in it, dammit! And don’t forget the ensemble of sexy, nubile Harriman co-eds! (For you guys from knoxblab, this is closest you’re ever going to get to watching your lesbian cheerleader fantasy unfold live before you. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.)

Maybe the Harriman Mammas were right to be concerned. I play a certain delicious cross-dresser in this production, and I received a very interesting message on Myspace a couple of days ago. It came from someone who just saw our production: An eighteen year-old jock and recent Harriman high school graduate, who, by the looks of his profile, has a career as an Abercombie model in his immediate future. After raving about the show, he timidly began to write of a deeper connection to what he saw: “I wished it was for real and I could’ve been in the castle. I fell in love with your character in the straightest way possible. I definitely doubted my sexuality. Not like in a serious manner, but yeah.”

Apparently we stirred the loins of Harriman. What can we do for you?

What: The Rocky Horror Show
When: October 28, 29, 30, 31, at 8pm, and October 31 at Midnight
Where: The Fairbanks
How: $20, payable at knoxtix.com or at the door
Why: Because you want to do the Time Warp in your corset