In the basement of Hobart’s Art Theater, there’s a brightly painted green room filled with wigs, fishnets and plenty of sequinned corsets. With racks of costumes, makeup bags strewn beside mirrors, and plenty of six inch heels - these items are adorned for a lost couple, a manufactured man, a groupie, a couple of aliens, and for that sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania.
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Every Saturday night after the regular movie-goers leave the Art Theater from their evening show the cast and crew of Help Me Mommy start filling in for their kind of show - a “shadow cast” presentation of the 1975 cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The spotlights go up, the screen turns on to show that infamous red lipstick painted mouth, and the show starts.
There wouldn’t be Rocky Horror without the people of Help Me Mommy. Help Me Mommy is one of many groups across the world who put their passions towards performing every week for the film’s worshiping fans. The trend of showing the film with copycat live performances in front of the screen got started in New York City a couple years after the film’s first release 40 years ago, and has continued to be performed at midnight ever since. Northwest Indiana’s only showing of Rocky Horror is in Hobart, where it has been located for the past seven years. Before then it was showed at the Crossroads Theater in Merrillville until it was shut down. Cast Officer John Davey was one of the first people to implement the show in the region and has been cultivating it since the start.
“We originally came here looking for places to host a shadow casting of Rocky and got turned away. A few years passed, the Art Theater gained a new owner, and now we’ve been here for seven years,” said Davey
When Saturday night at 10 pm comes around Davey and his crew quickly enhance the theater with dozens of spotlights and set pieces while the cast files down below to put on their costumes and draw on their makeup. On the night of February 28th, it was lined up to be another regular night for the cast, except for one thing - it was Leah Streetman’s first night on stage.
That night Streetman was lined up to play (dammit) Janet, the film’s tubular character played by Susan Sarandon. As she dressed up in Janet’s matching violet skirt and blazer, she said that she was nothing but thrilled.
“I have been preparing and rehearsing since November to get out there. I was so excited about this I invited 14 people to come and watch,” says Streetman. “I’m seriously ready for this moment, I’ve even been counting down the days.”
She has been coming to Help Me Mommy’s shows since she was sixteen, and still holds a remnant of her first show in her wallet.
“When I came to my first show three years ago they had me play ‘Suck and Blow’ - which is a game where you attach a card to your lips and pass it onto the next person - and I still have that same little Pokemon card we used in my wallet,” Streetman explained. “It still has the red lipstick on it from everyone who played that night. I love telling everyone about how much fun that night and it’s stuck with me. I’ve kept coming back ever since then. This isn't for everyone, but I love it. It’s hard to explain but I just connected with it, and once I got it I really got it.”
Everyone who is involved with the show, including Leah, wouldn’t be involved if they didn’t love the film. Whenever asked about their devotion to Rocky Horror they’re quick to tell you why they love it, and why it’s so important to their lives. “Captain” Ron Tate, who was involved with Rocky shows for over twenty years in Nashville, Tennessee and has been a part of Help Me Mommy for four and a half, is one of those who isn’t afraid to tell you what the film means to them.
“I connected with it immediately when I was a kid. I went to my first show with a friend and my gay brother and the acceptance that he felt and the experience I got there was something I had never been a part of before. It immediately gripped me and it’s never let go.” Tate explained. “The movie is so carefree, so fun to watch and it’s even as fun to be a part of the audience watching it all as it is to be on stage. I’ve been a part of this for a long time and it’s great to see these young people experience the same thing I did so long ago.”
Allie Banks, who has been with the group for the past five years, had similar feelings. “This movie speaks to me, I immediately fell in love. I don’t ever see myself leaving, but you never know what life’s going to throw at you.” Banks stated. “We’re all here because we love it. All of us are the misfits of the misfits. All of my friends are from here and I live with another cast member. It’s really nice to be a part of something that other people are just as crazy about.”
Even if the cast has the spotlight on them, the show is all about the audience. The night begins with a call up of “virgins” (audience members who have never experienced Rocky Horror), and has them willingly participate in a series of acts that are not appropriate to describe on this website. From then it’s an all out free-for-all. The arm the audience with things to throw, and counterpoint dialog, which is said verbatim at show’s across the country, is shouted out throughout the night.
For some productions, unpredictability is something that strikes fear into the performers. With Rocky Horror they don’t fear instability - they strive on it. That’s the ingredient that makes the show as fun as it is. The cast members change up their roles, and the audience derives the uniqueness of it all. Every night is a new night, with a new audience, and with a new set of chances for everything to go wrong. If there wasn’t those chances it would take the life of the show right out from under their feet.
Denise Towner, a teacher from Gary and who plays Frank, said that alone makes it different from everything else.
“You never know what’s going to change each night. It’s always new and fresh. I’ve been doing this for three years and that’s something I always tell people - you never know what to expect and it’s always a good time,” says Towner.
From beginning to end, through audience and the cast, the late Saturday night spent at the Art Theater watching Rocky Horror is a fantastic time. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, or where you’re from, the show is a place for a good time and great experience. There’s no other film like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and there’s certainly no other night out than spending it with the people of Help Me Mommy.
If you feel like you want to experience Help Me Mommy’s Rocky Horror Picture Show the tickets are only $8 dollars at the door and their survival kits go for a measly $2. Help Me Mommy is also currently recruiting, so if you have ever had the dream of playing Dr. Frank N.Furter or Magenta, they’re hoping you live out that fantasy with them.