Every Halloween season, Plattsburgh State College Theatre Association presents the “Rocky Horror Show” by Richard O’Brien.
This year, the show returned to campus and was held in Giltz Auditorium last Saturday night.
In this classic show, sweethearts Brad and Janet are stuck with a flat tire during a storm and then discover the eerie mansion of Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a transvestite scientist.
“The show as a whole went very well last night,” senior theatre and English literature major and director of the show ,Shannon Formas, said. “You could tell while watching that the cast was having a blast, which is what gave the show its incredible energy.”
She said the energy was high during the performance. Formas also said the vocals and choreography were the best part of the show. She was satisfied with the participation of the audience. The whole attention was put to the group of students on the center stage. The audience was energetic and cheered for the cast from the beginning to the end of the show.
In her first semester at PSUC, Formas was cast in the annual production of “Rocky Horror.” She said that was where she made many of her friends and found a place on campus where she could feel comfortable and have fun.
“When I was given the opportunity last spring to direct the show, I was terrified to take on such a massive production,” Formas said. “But I knew I would regret it if I said no.”
Aside from putting on a great show, she said her goal was also to make sure everyone had fun and to put on a show they were proud to call their own.
“I have been preparing for this show since July,” Formas said. “With the help of a couple friends, I re-vamped a lot of the choreography, organized a rehearsal schedule, got a vocal director, and prepared for auditions.”
When it came to casting, Formas said she needed to keep her mind open because she wanted to cast this show purely based on talent while also gave people a chance to be involved.
“We had two nights of auditions where I had everyone learn a dance and song,” Formas said. “Then, I had a day of callbacks, where everyone sang for specific parts and read from scenes.”
After the semester began and the cast was chosen, Formas said they had worked hard to prepare for the show. They rehearsed almost every night for almost two months.
Not only did they have to work hard during the rehearsal but also outside the show as well, according to freshman broadcast journalism major Alex Hoffman, who played Dr. Frank-N-Furter. “Being a freshman, I was unaware of how huge this event is,” he said. “I was informed that it was a Plattsburgh tradition that had been carried on for a few years now, and it was an honor to be a part of it.”
Hoffman said they also had a good time because the show had cutting edge dialogue, revealing costumes and a lot of audience participation.
Since he’s been acting all his life, Hoffman decided to become a part of the CTA.
“What I didn’t know was how close I would get with so many cast members,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start my collegiate career.”
Senior English writing arts major Casey Koziatek, who played Rocky believes there was a great amount of camaraderie among the cast and crew which created great chemistry between everyone.
“We supported each other which led to a high level of trust and respect which created infectious energy,” he said. “We brought that energy into the show which allowed us all to perform at our very best.”
Koziatek had the callback to read for the role of Eddie and Brad. At first, he thought he was not going to get casted after seeing how good everyone was. When he first got the email asking if he would accept the role of Rocky, he even thought Formas had sent e-mail to the wrong person.
“I was beyond excited when I found out I got the part,” Koziatek said.
Before the show, Koziatek had never sung in front of a group of people before.
Therefore he said he had to spend a lot of time with their vocal director, Patricia Coupal to work on his vocals and practice them on his free time.
Additionally, the reason why Koziatek decided to join the cast was because he saw the show for the past two years and loved how much fun and energetic it was.
“Being that this is my last year at Plattsburgh I wanted to do something challenging that pushed me outside of my comfort zone and thought there was no better way to do that than to audition for Rocky Horror,” he said.
Koziatek said he would give credit to the phantoms because they needed to know almost every dance and song and had been to nearly every rehearsal since they started at the beginning of September.
Koziatek also believes there is a sense of mystery around Rocky Horror.
“Students hear about how fun, interactive and over the top the show is from other students and eventually give in to their curiosity and check it out,” he said. “Once they’ve seen it, they usually come back the next year with a few people who haven’t, and the cycle continues.”
Email Hilly Nguyen at cp@cardinalpointsonline.com
