My Life in Fishnets: A Personal Rocky Horror Story

We had rehearsals from time to time, but in general the life of a “Tranny” is an easy one. The characters only appear in about half of the film at most, so the rest of the time we would hang out in the audience or in “Mouse City,” the area behind the screen which had dressing tables and mirrors installed. That’s where we would apply our makeup and get tuned up for the night’s festivities. The costume was simple: black Spandex tights, a tux shirt (the more tasteless the better), a tux coat, and outrageous makeup.

Photo by Alli Merritt

Every weekend was a night of pure fun with friends. We would get together for barbecues and other events during the week, but it was Saturday night where we really cut loose. I got to meet and hang out with people with lives that were different from mine, and my horizons were opened in new and exciting ways. Even away from the theater, Rocky Horror was on my mind. My friend Mark and I took a trip to London and I made sure to look in the paper to find out where the show was playing. It was disappointing, though, as we had chosen a 50-seat hole in the wall without a cast, but we at least managed to get some people on their feet to dance the Time Warp.

Becky was also close with another Rocky cast in Belmont CA, 45 minutes away, and one Friday night we drove down to see them play. It was a much smaller theater than the UC, but the cast, Another Dimension, were just as devoted to entertaining the audience. I started dating their Columbia, and since I was spending a lot of my Fridays in Belmont, they asked me to join as their backup Frank, since Gene, the regular Frank, was interested in having some Friday nights off. I was a little leery of taking on such a demanding role, but I couldn’t deny my desire to play the seductive transvestite scientist. Gene helped me a great deal, lending me a bootleg video of the movie to practice to. Rocky Horror had not been released on video at the time, and such a tape was worth its weight in gold. He also let me use his costume when I played, which was the biggest help, as Frank’s costumes are the most difficult to acquire or make. I didn’t feel ready for my first show, but I have a feeling that’s a pretty common complaint.

As I stood behind our elevator door prop, fear shot through me, though, as I could not remember the character’s first line. My mind was a total blank as I felt the seconds until my cue tick by. Without warning, the spotlight lit me up and the opening chords to “Sweet Transvestite” rang through the theater. Without a second thought, I launched into the song and my first show as Frank was too soon behind me. I soon realized that I wouldn’t have been as happy with any other part, as the outrageous Frank N. Furter allowed me to express a side of my character that I tended to keep hidden. I began dressing more creatively off-stage, experimenting with makeup and styles that my newfound confidence helped support.

Gene took longer and longer time off, and eventually I was the regular Frank in Belmont, while still appearing as a Transylvanian on Saturday nights in Berkeley. Needless to say, my weekends were always busy. As happened in Belmont, the Frank in Berkeley also started to long for some weekends off, and I made myself available to play Frank on Saturday nights as well. Though I never stopped playing in Belmont, as the cast there was very much a family to me, I really felt I had hit the “big time” by playing Frank in Berkeley. At the time Indecent Exposure was the longest-running cast in the country, and drew a huge crowd each week, so I was performing in front of hundreds of people, including classmates from the university. It made for interesting campus conversations at times, and I was asked to teach the entire Cal Marching Band how to do the Time Warp for a halftime show.

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