The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Presented by Colorado's Elusive Ingredient In-Person
As part of our "Queer Horror Cinema" series, enjoy a shadow-casted screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at this special after-hours event starring Colorado's Elusive Ingredient! Rated R. Runtime 1hr 40min. Closed captions provided.
Get ready to join nearly 50 years of Denver Culture with shows by Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient. With a fusion of iconic cult classic cinema and live, immersive theater, Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient creates shows that are unforgettable celebrations of queer community, B films, cult classics and audience participation.
Shadowcasting
Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient follows in the footsteps of the global tradition of shadowcasting. Shadowcasting started in New York at the Waverly theater during their original weekly midnight showings of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Today, each one of the on stage performers will dress up as one of the on screen characters and mirror, or shadow, their movements as exactly as possible– for most of the movie. Rocky Horror created a perfect storm with its odd timing and many pointless, too long scenes, that gives performers space to deviate from perfectly mirroring their on screen counterpoints and instead create comedy bits. Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient encourages personal creativity leading to a different show every time.
- Date:
- Saturday, Oct 12 2024
- Time:
- 7:00pm - 10:00pm
- Location:
- Canyon Theater, Main Library
- Audience:
- Adult Teen
- Categories:
- Cinema Performances & Presentations
History
Rocky in Denver
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has had a long and glorious (and somewhat sordid) history in Denver since the film's debut in 1975. Older locals still speak with hushed tones and wistful, guilty glances of the debauchery at the old Ogden Theater in the 1970s and 1980s. Rocky became a local institution at the Esquire Theater on 6th Avenue through the 1990s.
Denver is known to the Rocky community to be one of only four cities that has never stopped showing the Rocky Horror Picture Show since showsings started at the Ogden theater in 1977. Community sprung up here almost immediately, but shadowcasts didn't form until 95 with the birth of Denver’s Dynamic Tension, the precursor to CEI.
CEI History
Colorado’s Elusive Ingredient opened at the Esquire theater April 15th, 2000, from members of the now retired cast, Denver’s Dynamic Tension, which ran from 95-2000. Performed every Saturday night through February of 2001, when theater management changed and the cast jumped around through a number of theaters before eventually returning to the Esquire in 2009, which has been our weekly, and eventually monthly home theater until it’s predicted close in July of 2024. CEI is currently booking non repeating “one off” shows in a search for our new regular home theater and space where we can rebuild the community that calls the Esquire theater home.
During the 24 years we’ve been around, we’ve performed at some of the biggest, and some of the smallest, venues in Colorado. CEI boasts the world record for most tickets sold to a showing of RHPS, earned at our red rock’s show in 2013 with 8,086 tickets sold. We’ve been at conventions including starfest, Denfur, and the Colorado Festival of Horror. In the last year We’ve sold out the Boulder theater, PACE center, Studio Loft over the Ellie, and Paramount theater with the original Brad Majors, Barry Bostwick.
Impact
It’s undeniable that Rocky has, over the years, had an incredible impact on the queer community. Many of our own cast members have found or been able to embrace their queer identities through being able to perform in a space that exists without gendered expectations. A more subtle, but arguably just as important, impact of Rocky Horror we have observed is it’s place as one of the only spaces where cisgender and heterosexual individuals can also experiment and play with gender presentation. Our cast includes many members of the LGBTQIA+ community, but just as many allies. Rocky is one of those places where you can show up as a man in lingerie, or a woman in Brad’s suit, and that isnt weird, it isnt gay, it’s just what you do, gay or straight.
One of our strict rules for our performers is that they must not be visibility or detrimentally intoxicated at shows, and most of the time, that means they have to be sober. This isn’t abnormal for a Rocky Horror shadowcast, but it isn’t the standard either. We find that this improves the quality of our performances and keeps people safe, but more than anything, it creates an environment that's healthy and welcoming to our sober and in recovery cast and audience members.