Jerry Schutz, president of Sirius Entertainment, began hosting The Rocky Horror Picture Show Experience in 2002.
“This is probably our eighth or ninth excursion,” Schutz said. “My involvement has been recruiting, loving. This is one of those shows that, well let’s face it, it is not a wonderful movie by any stretch of the imagination.”
Each show held at the Kenworthy differs throughout the night. The 7 p.m. show starts out small and mild, the 9:30 p.m. show is a little more risqué, and once midnight rolls around, the cast goes all out.
Schutz said what makes the movie fun is the audience participation. Rocky Horror gives Sirius Entertainment, a non-profit organization, a chance to not only raise money for themselves but they also donate money made to other non-profit organizations.
Last March, Sirius Entertainment was able to give $500 back to Moscow Mardi Gras, a youth oriented program that provides scholarships for young people.
Schutz’s favorite part about the experience this year was the new crop of Rocky Horror virgins, and his helpers.
“Truly this is a labor of love — none of us make any money — we all do this as volunteer,” he said. “If you really think about it, theatrical production — you do one play a night. These guys turn around and do three shows a night, two nights in a row.”
In the past, Sirius Entertainment was able to do the show with an entire shadow cast. But since Schutz had a heart attack, he has not been able to put a cast back together. Because he works full-time and is a student at the University of Idaho, he hired Jessica Wessel to be president of the Rocky Horror Picture Show Society of the Palouse.
“I want to get us back to having a live cast, a shadow cast,” Schutz said. “But in order to do that you need to school enough individuals to learn the show so that they can get up and actually do the parts.”
The Rocky Horror society is working on building a new crew for the show. Currently, there are only five cast members who know the shouts outs that go with the movie.
“I actually volunteered for the (last) Mardi Gras showing, and that is when I got put in to the position of president or vice president, that hasn’t really been decided yet, of the Rocky Horror Picture Show Society of the Palouse,” Wessel said.
Wessel has been in charge of everything from running the Facebook page, putting prop bags together and messing with the Rocky Horror virgins. This year, seeing an increase in numbers has been the best part for her.
“It’s a lot of fun to see people come in — even if it’s their first show — ready to have fun. I’m also really impressed with the number of people who dressed up this year which all makes for a better, much more fun show,” she said.
In March 2013, the Rocky Horror society and Moscow Mardi Gras will team up again. The money raised Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 will be donated to the Moose Lodge where they will use the proceeds to improve the stage used for monthly drag shows.
To sign up for casting with Sirius Entertainment go to siriusentertainment.org or on the Rocky Horror Picture Show Society of the Palouse Facebook page.
Molly Spencer can be reached at [email protected]