‘Madness takes its toll:’ Crazed Imaginations celebrates 50 years of ‘Rocky Horror’
The Encinitas shadowcast marks the anniversary of the cult classic’s U.S. release — and its celebration of inclusivity — with a performance marked by callbacks, water guns and a special floor show.
Written by Lauren J. Mapp, Edited by Maya Srikrishnan
Author’s Note: This story contains a reference to suicidal ideation. If you are struggling or experiencing a crisis, call 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), (877) 565-8860 (Trans Lifeline) or (866) 488-7386 (Trevor Project Lifeline).
It’s just a jump to the left, a step to the right and decades after “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” became a cult classic, fans in San Diego are celebrating the 50th anniversary of its United States release.
To mark the occasion, local shadowcast Crazed Imaginations will stage a special edition of its bimonthly show Friday night at La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas.
During performances, the cast acts out scenes in front of the screen while audience members shout, sing, throw props and dance the “Time Warp.” The 50th anniversary show will include an extended pre-show performance and a con-style cast with multiple people playing each character throughout the night.
Crazed Imaginations cast members perform the song “Sweet Transvestite” during a show on Aug. 22, 2025. Brittany Cruz-Fejeran/Daylight San Diego
Since the 1980s, Crazed Imaginations and local groups that came before it, like Dream Police and Seduction Production, have kept the tradition alive by performing during screenings of the film, Director Joe Valenzuela said.
“It's a place where outcasts can go,” he said. “It's a safe place anyone can go, no matter who you are — what gender, political, religion, sexuality — what you are, anything. You can show up and you'll be accepted, as long as you're a decent human being.”
While many cast members take turns stepping into different roles, several said the real magic of performing together lies in Crazed Imagination’s inclusivity.
“Virgins” — audiences members who have never seen "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" in a theater — line up to get the butts smacked by cast members on August 22, 2025. Brittany Cruz-Fejeran/Daylight San Diego
One of them, Tomy Dearest, has performed with the troupe for more than a decade. Unlike casts that limit roles to performers who resemble their on-screen counterparts, Dearest said Crazed Imaginations doesn’t “put people in boxes.”
“It didn't matter your gender expression, your body type, anything,” Dearest said. “If you wanted to play Janet, Riff Raff, whatever, as long as you could play that part, you were good to go.”
That acceptance has turned the show into a safe haven, especially as conservative politicians attack LGBTQ+ rights.
First staged as “The Rocky Horror Show” — written by Richard O’Brien, who played Riff Raff in both the musical and movie — the film is an ode to the horror and science fiction B-movies from the 1930s through 1960s. It follows Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) as they travel to share their engagement news with their former professor Dr. Everett V. Scott (Jonathan Adams).
A flat tire leaves them stranded in the woods on a rainy night, driving them to seek help at a nearby castle and meet Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) — a genderfluid, alien scientist from the planet of Transylvania — his butler Riff Raff and his maid Magenta (Patricia Quinn). Inside, Frank unveils his creation — Rocky (Peter Hinwood) — and lures the couple into a rock-and-roll musical journey of seduction and self-discovery.
Although “Rocky Horror” is the longest, continuously running theatrical release — and has a highly devoted fanbase to this day — it didn’t receive a warm welcome when it first premiered. Many critics panned it as plotless and confusing, and it was pulled from theaters soon after its Sept. 26, 1975 U.S. release.
At the time, film critic Roger Ebert wrote that “it invites the kind of laughter and audience participation that makes sense only if the performers are there on the stage, creating mutual karma.”
But when audience participation popped up during midnight showings, the film grew a cult following.
“It wasn't (popular) until people started going and started yelling things,” said Valenzuela, who joined the cast in 2014. “Then random people would get up and just start kind of performing it. It was just its own unique thing that really started that whole phenomenon that it turned into.”
Around the world to this day, shadowcasts like Crazed Imaginations dress up as the characters to reenact scenes on the stage in front of the screen. Audiences hold newspapers over their heads and spritz water guns during “There's a Light (Over at the Frankenstein Place),” snap rubber gloves during the Creation scene and shout callbacks throughout the film, including yelling “Bullwinkle!” in the pause after Frank yells “Rocky!”
One of the most iconic moments is when Dr. Scott bursts through a wall of Frank’s lab.
“We’re like ‘Great Scott!’ and everyone throws toilet paper,” cast member Phoenix said. “Even if people didn’t buy a prop bag, a roll usually ends up in their lap, so the whole audience gets to join in.”
Over the past five decades, “Rocky Horror” has inspired pop culture in countless ways.
A 2010 episode of “Glee” featured performances from the soundtrack, and Tenacious D covered “Time Warp” ahead of the 2020 presidential election. “Rocky Horror” was remade starring Laverne Cox as Frank in 2016, and last month, Sabrina Carpenter released a music video for her latest single “Tears” that paid a strong homage to the movie.
For Phoenix, who goes by her stage name, it’s the community around the film that has bolstered its long-term appeal.
“It's just a God-awful piece of garbage, but it's beautiful, and we get to make fun of it together,” she said. “The fun isn't the movie. The fun is what you're doing with your friends.”
Performing with Crazed Imaginations for more than 10 years, Phoenix rotates between playing Trixie (who represents the lips in the opening scene), Janet and Columbia (one of Frank’s groupies, played by Nell Campbell). She met several roommates from the shadowcast, and through “Rocky Horror,” she has connected with other performers from casts throughout Southern California.
“I never really had friends growing up, so this is my whole friend group and it's my found family,” Phoenix said.
The film has also become an important piece of media for many people from LGBTQ+ communities. That’s largely due to Frank’s genderfluid identity, and how Brad and Janet’s time in the castle expands their view of love and sexuality.
One long-time cast member, Token DelaBasura — who also uses a stage name — first came to Crazed Imaginations in 2001 when a friend who was part of the cast brought him to a show. That was the year after his mother died in a car accident, a loss that felt especially isolating since many of his high school friends hadn’t experienced the death of a parent.
Within the Crazed Imaginations community, DelaBasura found some of his closest friends, including people with similar life experiences.
“It was the community aspect of ‘Rocky’ that helped me through some of the harder days,” DelaBasura said.
Christine McBrayer draws a “V” with lipstick to mark the “virgins” attending "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" for the first time. Lornie Kuhle (left), 82, asked for a mustache to go along with the “V,” and Isabela Marzio, a friend of Kuhle, asked for a matching one. Brittany Cruz-Fejeran/Daylight San Diego
He joined the cast in 2003 and met his wife five years later when she saw him perform as Riff Raff. While the show has been an integral part of his own life, he said it helped one of his friends survive.
“He was a closeted gay man — he didn't know he could actually come out,” DelaBasura said. “He contemplated suicide a lot, and then one of his friends brought him to ‘Rocky,’ and when they did, he found his people.”
In 14 years with the cast, Christine McBrayer has played almost every character at least once, but the criminologist remains a favorite. McBrayer — who identifies as nonbinary and bisexual — said “Rocky Horror” has been a crucial part of finding their identity.
“It's definitely strengthened that part of who I am,” they said. “I don't know that I necessarily would have figured out some aspects of who I am without being in the shadowcast.”
While audiences used to skew older and include a lot of millennials, Marketing Manager Shy Roseman said, more of her Gen Z peers, including younger teenagers, have been coming to shows.
“It's very much almost rebellious,” she said. “I've seen a lot of 14-year-olds come and they're like, ‘Fuck yeah!’ They seem so powerful now that they're at this crazy, wack-ass show.”
Crazed Imaginations performs alongside screenings of “Rocky Horror” at the La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas on the second and fourth Friday of each month. In months with a fifth Friday, the cast hosts special mashup shows, including ones that incorporate themes like witches, Broadway shows and the BBC series “Doctor Who.”
In addition to Crazed Imaginations’ performance, there will be a screening of “Rocky Horror” during the Lambda Archives fundraiser at Cinema Under the Stars on Oct. 30 at 6 p.m.
