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 Rocky Horror Frank-N-Furter Brad Majors Riff Raff Dr. Scott Rocky Horror Repo! The Genetic Opera Luigi Largo Amber's Valet Dr. Horrible Moving Man Mayor Fake Thomas Jefferson Buffy Giles Serenity Book Dr. Mathias Firefly: Out of Gas Book Firefly: Jaynestown Book Shock Treatment Farley Flavors Duelling Farley Devil's Carnival John Tech Props Lights Camera A/V Social Media Director |
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I'll say two things of all this. With so many changes and chapters between then and now, I think the only thing that remains the same is the spirit. Second, RKO Army is the linear cast dating back thru all the various names. My association with Rocky Horror was listening to the Rocky Horror album in 1979 of my best (and only) friend Bob who was going to the Cinerama on Hope Street in Providence. Having graduated college, I finally went there on Memorial Day w/e in 1980. That lasted a year and didn't go or end well, but ... lessons learned. I soon joined a cast in Newport's Jane Pickens Theatre and eventually became de-facto cast leader. That show ended in 1982. After a run with another cast in Groton in 82-83, Bob and I pulled together the best of the casts of Newport/Providence/Groton and came back and performed the last show (and last movie) ever played at the now cast-less Cinerama in March of 1983. It was a sell out. That final night was the end of the beginning. From there, we ran shows every Friday and Saturday night every week at the Avon (1983), Cable Car (1983), Fairlawn (1983-4), Warwick Mall (1984-5), Cumberland Twin (1985-7), Meadowbrook (1987-1993), and back again to the Jane Pickens (1993-4). We had various names, for years the Rhode Island RHPS Cast, then Creatures of the Night, Wild & Untamed Things, and eventually the Absolute Pleasure Players. In 1994, we went from being a twice a week every week cast with 1400 shows under our belts to became a barnstorming cast, performing in theaters, clubs, colleges, and streets performing anything from regular shows to audio shows to slides shows to parades. Meanwhile, after 12 different cast versions from 1993 to 1996 at the departed Meadowbrook, a very young and disciplined group called the RKO Players had formed. We ran parallel in 1996, but we found great mutual respect and friendship with them and by 1997 we began attending and performing in each other's productions. Thru complimentary osmosis, we merged our forces, with the younger "RKO" using it's energy to focus on the (now) weekly show and the older "APP" using it's experience and physical resources to focus on everything else outside that, with no delineation on membership within a year. The Meadowbrook run ended in 2000. From there, we went to the Park Cinema (2000-1), the Limelight (2001, same building as the Meadowbrook), and the Castle (2001-3). Plus a monthly run at the Pastime (2002-3). It was during 2003 that we renamed everything "RKO Army". A new era began in 2003 with the turning to monthly rather than weekly shows and doing the shows at multiple sites. We had runs at the Holiday/Island 10 (2003-2010), Triboro (2004-5), South Kingstown (2007-2010), and East Bridgewater (2005-2011). We still have runs at the Foxboro Orpheum (2007-) and Lincoln CinemaWorld (2010-) and a fledging run at the Flagship in West Wareham (2011-). Of course, we still road shows, parades, club shows, and anything else under the sun. At the 4711 Con in 2011, we were asked to host the 2013 national Rocky Horror Con, a calling we were humbled by and honored to accept. |