Fort Wayne Civic Theatre may not have a permanent home this season, but the show must go on!

As Arts United Center undergoes renovations, the theater company is kicking off their On the Road season in spectacular fashion with The Rocky Horror Show at Foellinger Theatre.

Due to the nomadic nature of this season, the shows will have shorter runs, especially for the R-rated The Rocky Horror Show, which will have an 8 p.m. show on Friday, Sept. 13, and a midnight show on Saturday, Sept. 14.

Crowd participation

For the opening show of the season, the outdoor amphitheater seems like a perfect spot The Rocky Horror Show — regardless of time.

“Especially at the midnight show, I think people will be very excited, if you will,” first-time director A.J. Lorenzini said. 

That excitement could result in toilet paper and hot dogs, among other things, being tossed toward the stage. Along with physical items being tossed about, there will also be plenty of crowd participation when it comes to dialogue, with the character of Brad Majors (Grant Blauvelt) getting a not-so-nice term thrown his way each time he speaks.

“I’ve started inviting a couple guests every night to come in to yell at the actors, just to get them accustomed to the audience participation element of it,” Lorenzini said.

“It is something you have to get used to, trust me,” said Brock Ireland, who will be playing the lead character Dr. Frank-N-Furter.

Few tweaks

Written by Richard O’Brien, The Rocky Horror Show premiered at Royal Court Theatre in London in 1973. 

It made its way to Broadway in 1975 starring Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, Meat Loaf as Eddie, and O’Brien as Riff Raff. That same year, it was turned into a movie, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, starring the aforementioned Broadway stars, as well as Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as Janet and Brad.

With the film being so iconic, the cast is ready for the audience to be right in step with them — for the most part, anyway.

“You know the big ones: ‘Time Warp’ and ‘Sweet Transvestite,’ those are the ones that people know,” Ireland said of the songs. “But there was stuff when I thought, ‘I didn’t even know he said this.’ 

“I think the stuff that is known puts more pressure on you. Tim Curry was so phenomenal in this role. So, that’s a little added pressure. But I’m just gonna put my spin on it. If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, tell somebody else.”

As a first-time director, Lorenzini is putting his own spin on the show.

“We updated it, because in my mind, this show is 50 years old, and it was very subversive for its time, and in many ways it still is,” he said. “All of that aside, it is a show that came out 50 years ago, so how can we update it to 2024? What does this show mean in 2024? 

“Instead of it being in a castle, they’re in the punk underground night club. It’s taking Brad and Janet, these two cookie-cutter, milquetoast characters, and throwing them into this sort of perverse world, if you would. To me, that seemed like one of the through lines of the story.”

Talent abounds

Along with keeping with the storyline, the show also needed a dynamic actor to play Dr. Frank-N-Furter. 

“We saw a lot of people who came in and sang for this role,” Lorenzini said. “As good as many of them were, there was no question. When Brock came in and sang, then left, we all sat there just kind of like, ‘Yeah, that’s what it is.’ I had known Brock for years, but our music director did not know him, and he just goes, ‘Has he done this before? It seems like he’s meant for it.’”

Ireland knew he was meant for it the moment the show was announced in May.

“I was definitely interested as soon as The Civic introduced their season,” Ireland said. “Then I saw A.J. was directing, and I’m not very shy. So, I walked over to him and said, ‘Hey! How do you feel about where we’re going with this?’ We chit-chatted and he encouraged me to audition.”

And it’s not only Ireland that has Lorenzini excited and confident about his first show. 

“I do feel a lot of pressure. To me, it’s showing what I can do. It’s me proving that I can do it,” Lorenzini said. “Luckily, I’m in the best hands you could possibly want. I have an amazing production team, an amazing music director (Rolin Mains), choreographer (Olivia Rang), assistant director (Brandon Porter), stage managing team (Bobbi Jo Carroll and Brittney Lynn Koza), and an amazing cast. 

“I really do feel lucky. I could be in much worse hands than I am.”

According to Ireland, while Lorenzini trusts his team, they also trust him.

“He made sure he came in with a clear vision,” Ireland said of Lorenzini. “He said, ‘This is what I want, but feel free to play.’ He laid that framework. 

“Now we’re discovering things every day that I feel like we wouldn’t have gotten to if we had taken more of an arduous process. The fact that he trusted us is very important and a very settling thing for an actor.”

As an actor himself, Lorenzini has a fresh perspective.

“The amount of times I sat at rehearsals as an actor thinking, ‘Oh, I’d love to do this or I’d love to try that.’ I know actors are just as creative and have just as many good ideas as the people behind the table,” he said. “That’s why I want to say, ‘Show me what you think would be fun.’ Then, I kind of say, ‘Here’s what I’m thinking. Let’s kind of merge our ideas together.’ Because it’s a collaborative process.”

Along with collaborating with the cast, Lorenzini also has the confidence to take the show in new directions.

“For instance, the narrator is normally played by an older gentleman, but we have a woman, this fantastic actress,” Lorenzini said of Kate Black. “Then Eddie is played by woman (Kayley Alissa), so we kind of changed that character.”

The rest of the cast includes Natalie Dominiak (Janet), Caleb Curtis (Riff Raff), Chloe Price (Magenta), Anya Smead (Columbia), Lincoln Everetts (Rocky), Thom Hofrichter (Dr. Everett Scott), and Olivia Conn (Singer).

“This is, person to person, one of the strongest I’ve been involved with,” Lorenzini said, noting that was not hyperbole.

And the talent extends beyond the speaking parts. Lorenzini gushed when speaking about the ensemble, known as Phantoms.

“They’re a small group, which I wanted because I wanted them to feel like featured characters in the show,” he said. “The more you add, the more anonymous they become. So, we have just seven, sometimes eight, Phantoms (Alissa, Conn, Logan Bloir, Ian Capuyan, Jacob Covey, Sydney Fabregas, Dustin Hornbeak, and Lina Willard). So, they all have their moments when they get to stand out with these great individual costumes (designed by Sarah Moloney).”

Memorable experience

With all the talent on stage and working behind the scenes, it’s hard to think of a better start to The Civic’s 2024-25 season.

“I always love working with The Civic because they always tend to bring the best designers. The production team is fabulous,” Ireland said. “Hearing their visions for the show is always such a good time. You have that quintessential Rocky Horror experience. 

“Everyone has seen the movie. So, everyone kind of expects that. But then you come and A.J. is like, ‘No, we’re not going to be pulling a lot of that. We’re going to go in our own direction.’ Then you see the costumes, you see the production, you hear the music, and you’re like, ‘Oh, OK. The shell is there, but we’re taking our own spin on it, which is always fun.”

For Lorenzini, mixing in some elements you might not expect is part of the fun.

“We’re giving them what they want,” he said of the audience. “My hope is we give them what they want but in a way they don’t expect.”