Last night, “early morning”, I had the privilege of again experiencing the midnight showing of the “late night, double feature picture show” that is “Rocky Horror” at the historic Belcourt Theater in Nashville.
Nashville may be a blue dot in a sea of evangelical/fundamentalism, but damn that blueness was a welcome refuge last night, which speaks to the spirit of what makes “Rocky” so special.
An hour before the show opened, people were lined up outside the theater, many in costume, despite the unusually cold fall night.
Prior to the show, the lead actor read a statement from the show’s organizer which essentially laid out what made/makes “Rocky”, in that the midnight shows were always a safe forum for people of all backgrounds: Gay, straight, trans, weirdos, freaks, geeks to be themeselves, without judgement. That sense of belonging and empowerment was, for some, first experienced at those midnight shows. That feeling of community was especially appreciated, at least for me, last night. To hear a theater full of folks cheer when the impromptu call out of “Is Donal Trump a White Supremacist?”...to which “The Expert” replied “That is a fact”, to overwhelming audience laughter....and Dr Frank N Furter was ask “What do you think of President Trump”, it was incredible to hear the roar of the crowd as Tim Curry glibly said “I think we can do better.”
As the show let out at nearly 2am, it felt like the end of a family reunion of long lost family members. Folks were hugging and laughing and cheering as we went back into the reality that is our daily lives. It was an irreligious, offensive, unrepentantly glorious gathering, yet the evening...err “early morning”, was a great inspiration and reminder that , even here in the “Buckle of the Bible Belt”, the home of the Southern Baptist Convention, and...hell, even a gathering of white supremacists that was shut down by protest earlier in the day....even here, the resistance is alive and thriving.
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