By Brandi Wylie ’24
Wofford College’s pulp theatre Interim course will perform the college’s first musical in more than seven years when it takes the stage for “The Rocky Horror Show” this Thursday through Saturday.
Hailie Gold ’23, a theatre and English double major from Greenville, South Carolina, is directing the production. She says the cast and crew have put in ample work to make the production something to be proud of.
“We get here (for rehearsal) at 10 a.m. and don’t leave until 6 p.m.,” Gold says. “Sometimes we will come in after hours to hang curtains, paint floors, repaint floors, do anything we can to get the show ready.”
Tickets are free for the Wofford and Spartanburg community on a first-come, first-served basis. The show will be performed each night at 8 p.m. The box office will open at 7 p.m. Performances will take place in the Sallenger Sisters Black Box Theater in the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts.
Initially, Gold was hesitant to bring a musical to the stage because she had not been involved with musical theatre since high school and knew it would be a different, harder kind of work, especially for a production that had to be complete in three weeks.
Despite this, she says Rachel Johnson ’24, a theatre major from Spartanburg, South Carolina, encouraged the idea and is currently serving as the music director.
Audience members can expect this show to bring the classic story of Frank-N-Furter, the sweet cross-dresser played by Ryan Poole ’24, but with a couple of minor twists. Poole is an English major from Charleston, South Carolina.
Kimi Crouch ’26, a biology and theatre double major from Clemmons, North Carolina, will play Janet Weiss, and says this show differs from shows in the past because it is entirely student led.
“This show and this process has been extra special because the students themselves have built it from scratch into a beautiful show that I am excited for,” Crouch says.
The 29 students in the course comprise the largest cast and crew that Wofford has seen in recent history.
The audience can expect an interactive version of the show, complete with unique seating and prop bags.“The prop bags are the audience’s way of participating as if this were a midnight showing of the movie,” Gold says. “They’re full of surprises.”
Prop bags will be available for $2 at the door.
All proceeds of the bags will be donated to Alpha Psi Omega, Wofford’s theatre fraternity.