| Volume VII, Issue 0 |
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January 17, 1998
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Greetings and Welcome once again, to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Tonight, we celebrate the 10th Birthday of your home cast, "Midnight Insanity". Yes, it's true, we've been performing together, as a cast, since January 1988. Ten years is a LONG time for any Rocky cast ... in fact, it's practically unheard of. Midnight Insanity, over the years, has grown to become one of the most prominent casts around the country. We have been televised multiple times, held two National Rocky Horror Conventions, and even had a sister cast who named themselves after us, "Friday Insanity", based in Sydney Australia. Tonight, we celebrate 10 Years of Midnight Insanity, and we're glad you showed up to join us. Let the celebrating begin. Balboa Theatre Midnight Insanity originally began performing at the famed Balboa Theatre, in Newport Beach. If you pick up the 15th Anniversary RHPS videotape, you will see the Balboa marquee go flying by in the opening promo, which was filmed by one of our cast members. Rocky Horror was a long-time tradition of the Balboa Fun Zone. Rocky itself had been playing there since the late 1970s. Midnight Insanity began, I'm told, with the first night all the parts were actually covered. Midnight Insanity grew to become a thriving cast with a truly impressive set of costumes, props and, of course, the stage show. Midnight Insanity happily performed at the Balboa Theatre until November 1991, when Newport Beach finally managed to kick us out. |
Midnight Insanity had encountered the worst ... we were homeless. Few Rocky casts survive a theatre move, and things didn't necessarily look so good for Midnight Insanity. Fortunately for us, we found ourselves a new home at the Art Theatre in Long Beach. Six weeks later, we had our Grand Opening here, on January 11, 1992. Moves are never easy on casts, though we should count ourselves lucky. The theatre worked with us and allowed us to build a stage up front, as well as fly in one of our most impressive props, the "Starship Honeycomb". Being the only cast known to have such a prop, we would have really hated to lose it. Midnight Insanity continued to grow, and a few years later, we opened a Friday night show, in a new theatre. Topanga Theatre In October 1995, Midnight Insanity embarked upon a new journey. Some people simply can't get enough of a "Rocky Fix" on Saturday Nights alone. For these people, Midnight Insanity brought forth a Friday night show, at the Topanga Theatre in Woodland Hills. It's a pretty serious drive, but the show has quite an amazing charm. Designed as Friday-night fare, the show features fewer props and perhaps a bit less experience, but draws upon improvisation, the core of Rocky Horror. Truly dedicated Long Beach audience members even hopped on busses to go see the Friday night show, and the Topanga Theatre drew in a significant audience base from that area. Today, the Friday night theatre continues to play every Friday night. |
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During the past 10 years, Midnight Insanity has taken part in just about every major Rocky Horror event. Beginning with the 15th Anniversary in October 1990, Midnight Insanity may have only been a couple of years old, but our costumes and performance level led us to be chosen to perform on stage!!! The majority of us were Transylvanians, but still, it was quite something to be in the spotlight at a major convention. In attendance was Tim Curry, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell, Meatloaf, and Barry Bostwick. It was here that Sal Piro met the majority of Midnight Insanity for the first time. Age of Consent After the 15th Anniversary, Midnight Insanity attended the 16th Anniversary in Las Vegas, and almost attended the 17th Anniversary in England. In August 1993, Midnight Insanity put on our own National Convention, the "Age of Consent". Casts from around the country came in to see us, perform special performances, and to celebrate the Rocky Horror Picture Show. 20th Anniversary The next big event, of course, would be the 20th Anniversary, in October 1995. The Friday night event was held at the Roxy Theatre, where Tim Curry himself once performed The Rocky Horror Show, and the Saturday night performance of the movie took place at the Pantages Theatre. Midnight Insanity performed "The Time Warp Zone" at the Roxy, and performed various parts of the show at the Pantages. A week later marked the end of "Indecent Exposure", a cast that had performed in Berkeley, CA, for 15 years. |
Midnight Insanity attended another Las Vegas Convention, the 21st, in 1996. We had such a good time there, that we decided to throw another National Convention. In June of 1997, Midnight Insanity held "The Light In the Darkness", Rocky Horror's 22nd Anniversary. Several casts showed up to do special performances with us, including a full performance of "Shock Treatment", the Unofficial Sequel to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. There are now no less than FOUR upcoming conventions planned in the next two years, including New York; Tuscon, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; and San Jose, California ... this is not counting the 25th Anniversary (hopefully) to be thrown by 20th Century Fox, in the year 2000. Out and About In addition to appearances at Numerous conventions, Midnight Insanity has also performed special shows at various Universities, and a special Halloween show in San Diego. We have appeared on MTV, VH-1, ABC, Fox, CNN and UPN. We appeared in the first, nationally televised screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show on Fox, and more recently on the Drew Carey Show on ABC, complete with drag queens. :-) Closing Comments Midnight Insanity would like to thank the Art and Topanga Theatre Management and crew, for allowing us to perform *every fucking week*; Denny's and Shorehouse Caf‚, for giving us a place to crash after the show; the hundreds of Midnight Insanity cast members who helped build the show over the years; and of course, the tens of thousands of wonderful audience members who have come to see us and helped make the past 10 years completely worth it!!! |