By Carl Hoover

Tribune-Herald entertainment editor

Midnight movies were never the same after April 1, 1976, when a New York theater screened The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Thus began a cult phenomenon that continues today thanks to screenings known for their raucous, often bawdy audience participation. More than 30 years later, Rocky Horror — a campy sci-fi musical with sex, rock ‘n’ roll and a seemingly drug-induced loopiness — continues to play midnight shows across America.

Waco Rocky Horror fans who remember those rowdy midnight screenings at the Ivy Twin Cinemas can relive the thrill of shouting vulgarities in the dark, as the Waco Hippodrome Theatre hosts a screening of the film at 10 tonight. Leading the in-house action are the Queerios, members of a shadow cast that’s been performing with the movie for more than 20 years in Austin, most recently at the Alamo Drafthouse Village.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Performance: 10 tonight at the Waco Hippodrome Theatre, 724 Austin Ave.

Tickets: $12.

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Austin's Queerios troupe performs at the Alamo Drafthouse as a Rocky Horror Picture Show scene featuring Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry) plays on the screen behind them. (Queerios photo/Shawn McHorse)

The film and stage musical’s plot is B-movie bizarro: squeaky-clean couple Brad Majors and Janet Weiss stumble into a castle where transsexual mad doctor Frank N. Furter is creating a handsome hunk of artificial life, Rocky Horror. There’s also a motorcycle-riding delivery boy, nephew of rival scientist Dr. Everett Von Scott; gender-bending hanky-panky; a floor show; and aliens from Transsexual, Transylvania.

All of that pales, however, to the audience joys of shouting out an often-vulgar counter dialogue to what’s on the screen; flinging props at the appropriate cues; and dancing the Time Warp in the aisles.

The Queerios’ Shawn McHorse survived his first viewing of Rocky Horror as a 16-year-old sophomore at Texas A&M University 17 years ago. “It was just a bunch of drunken Aggies with Super-Soakers, toilet paper and bird seed,” he recalled. “Pure chaos.”

The Austin computer programmer, 33, later dropped out of A&M, but his connection to Rocky Horror only grew stronger over the years. He’s been a key player in the Queerios’ weekly midnight performances of the movie for 14 years; met his first and second wives at Rocky Horror performances; has seen the stage musical about 15 times; and, when he travels to other cities, often checks out local screenings of the film.

McHorse doesn’t act much these days, but serves as company treasurer, Web master, photographer and special shows director. It’s that latter job that brings him and about 20 of the Queerios to Waco tonight. The Austin shadow cast, so called because they follow the action on the screen, has about 10 people mirroring characters, another five playing Transylvanians and five or six more as tech crew members.

For those expecting tonight’s Rocky Horror to mirror what they experienced back in the ’80s, McHorse says time has changed some things. Updated pop culture references and creative improvisation by members of the shadow cast mean the live action in front of the screen doesn’t blindly mimic what’s on the screen.

Scott Baker, executive director of the Waco Performing Arts Company, says tonight’s crowd may top 400 people, which would be twice as large an audience as McHorse and his Queerios see at their Austin performances.

choover@wacotrib.com

757-5749

PROPS 

Object: Rubber gloves

Cue: Put on when Frank N. Furter dons his before his “creation” speech. Snap them loudly.

Object: Toilet paper, preferably Scott brand

Cue: Toss when Dr. Everett Von Scott appears and Brad shouts, “Great Scott!”

Object: Newspaper

Cue: Hold over head as Brad and Janet do in a rainstorm.

Object: A slice of plain toast

Cue: Toss at the dinner scene when Frank proposes, “A toast!”

Object: Glow stick

Cue: Snap them and wave over the head when “There’s a Light” is sung. Note: This substitutes for one of the No-Nos (see below).

Object: Playing cards

Cue: Flick into audience when Frank sings “Cards for sorrow, cards for pain” in the song “I’m Going Home.”

Object: Party hats

Cue: Put on when Frank wears his at the dinner table.

Object: Noisemaker

Cue: Blow when Transylvanians cheer Frank N. Furter’s creation speech.

Don’t have a set of props for tonight? No problem. You can buy properly equipped prop bags for $3 each, or two for $5, at the theater.

NO-NOS 

Regular Rocky Horror props not allowed tonight at the Hippodrome:

Rice (tossed at the wedding Brad and Janet attend)

Water pistol or Super-Soaker (squirted during the rainstorm)

Lighters (clicked and waved over head during “There’s a Light”; use the glow stick instead)

SAY IT! SAY IT! 

Part of the participatory fun of Rocky Horror is shouting lines, insults and quips in between the script’s dialogue. Here’s a sample of how it goes:

FRANK N. FURTER: So . . .

AUDIENCE: DO, RE, MI, FA!

FRANK: Come up to the lab and see what’s on the slab. I see you shiver with an-ti-ci . . .

AUDIENCE: SAY IT! SAY IT! SAY IT!

FRANK: . . . pation. But maybe the rain

AUDIENCE: IS IN BRAD’S HAIR

FRANK: is really to blame.

AUDIENCE: OR MAYBE NOT.

FRANK: So I’ll remove

AUDIENCE: YOUR CLOTHES!

FRANK: the cause

AUDIENCE: WHAT ABOUT THE SYMPTOM?

FRANK: But not the symptom.

AUDIENCE: (Expletive)!