Just past midnight, in the earliest hour of Oct. 31, Drake Theatre People performed their first-ever shadow cast production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in Sussman Theater.

Admission was free and despite the late hour, it was a full house — 155 of Sussman’s 240 seats were filled.

“If you can get [that many] people in an event, especially at midnight on ‘Halloweekend,’ you know you’re doing something right,” said Jack Harrington, president of the Student Activities Board.

DTP President Fiona Bilkey said they wanted to collaborate with SAB to reach a wider audience.

“We’re working a lot to help the community more,” Harrington said. “[We wanted to] work with another organization that does a lot of great work, but that maybe doesn’t have as good funding as others.”

“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” is a cult classic film celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The film was originally adapted from Richard O’Brien’s 1973 stage play “The Rocky Horror Show.” But performing with a “shadow cast” is part of the “Rocky Horror” tradition. This involves playing the movie on a screen and having performers act along with the scenes.

“Rocky Horror is such a fun, campy show … there are so many things going on,” said Maura Hanley, who played the lead role of Frank-N-Furter. “It’s really outlandish and creative.”

Despite only having 13 hours of rehearsal time, the cast was able to pull together an amazing show, Bilkey said.

Rehearsals were done on students’ own time — most of them running from 10-11 p.m. on week nights, cast members said — on top of classes and other extracurriculars.

“Everyone was so excited to be at rehearsal, even though it was late and you have to give 110% always,” Hanley said.

Prop bags provided by SAB were given to audience members. They included a newspaper, bubbles, a noise maker, cardboard “toast,” a playing card, a latex glove and a party hat. The show directed audience members to pull out the props at different times in the show. Bubbles floated through the air during the wedding scene, and heads were covered with newspaper as the audience watched Janet Weiss sing in the rain.

Along with the props, the goodie bags also included a list of call-outs to shout during different scenes or when certain characters appeared on stage. For example, every time Brad Majors appeared, the crowd erupted in a cacophony of “Asshole!”s. Call-outs are part of the tradition, and half the fun comes from audience engagement, Bilkey said.

As the audience filed into Sussman, people who had never seen the show were marked with a “V” for “virgin” in red lipstick on their hands or faces.

Olivia Sigler, a sophomore who attended the show, had never been to a production of “Rocky Horror” before and said she was “going in blind.”

“It was unexpected, but I loved the audience interaction,” Sigler said. “I was along for the ride.”

Bilkey stressed that DTP was really trying to “pop the theater bubble” with this production, encouraging non-majors to audition. Three members of the cast aren’t theater majors or minors: Hanley, Anna Sturgis — who played Eddie and Dr. Scott — and Ella Hurst —who played a Transylvanian. 

“Everyone’s been so welcoming to me as a non-theater major,” Sturgis said. “It’s been difficult at times … I had to learn how to dance.”

Hanley said she was especially shocked when she heard she’d be playing the lead role, because although she’s a member of D+ Improv, she hasn’t done scripted theater since high school.

“It was just pure shock, but I was really, really excited for things to get started,” Hanley said. “I immediately went home and watched the movie again.”

The show itself featured salacious dance moves, campy outfit reveals and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, at least if the noise level of the audience was anything to go by.

“Our main vision for it was just to have fun, because we have such a small turnaround time and a semi-limited budget,” said Simone Arvetis, who co-directed the show alongside Wren Royer.

DTP is student-run, said Dakota Eiselstein, the show’s stage manager. Bilkey said she seeks guidance from their faculty adviser, Erin Degner; but the production design, choreography and running of the final performance are all in the hands of cast and crew.

The costumes — laden with glitter, lace and latex galore — were all sourced either by the actors themselves or by Emily Devick, the show’s costume director. Devick was able to pull from the theater arts department costume closet, including pieces from their recent production of “Cabaret.”

The only money out of DTP’s budget went to getting the rights to the show — cast and crew volunteered their time, and sponsorships helped provide the prop bags and cases of Red Bull to keep people awake at the late hour.

“Budget hasn’t been an issue this year and won’t be an issue because of how we’ve been spending it,” Eiselstein said. “We keep [shows] smaller so we can put quality over quantity.”

Eiselstein said that his first concern as stage manager was the actors’ comfort and safety. He also mentioned seeing an uptick in the confidence of the performers as rehearsals progressed.

“We had an agreement with the entire cast that what happens in [the rehearsal] room will stay in that room,” Eiselstein said. “[The cast was] allowed to be that super sexy self that they want to be.”

The campy, gender-bending show has historically been very appealing to queer audiences, Bilkey said. She expressed joy over getting to provide this experience in Iowa, where recent legislation has begun limiting the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals.

“Queer spaces are disappearing everywhere,” Bilkey said. “I think the tradition of Rocky Horror and seeing Frank-N-Furter, who is trans, a … queer icon, drag queen, whatever you want to call it … seeing that and being accepted, it’s kind of soothing.”

DTP’s next large event is on Nov. 8 at Pomerantz Stage in Olmsted, where they’ll be hosting their annual “Cabargay” event. It will begin at 6 p.m. with an art gallery and mocktail hour hosted by the Artists’ Advocacy Association. At 7 p.m., the cabaret will begin, featuring a lineup of performers, hosted by drag queen Robin Graves. All proceeds will be donated to OneIowa, an advocacy group that fights anti-LBGTQ+ legislation.