I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey. It seemed a fairly ordinary night in 1987 when Kent Puterbaugh and his girlfriend Joy - two young, ordinary goth/punk kids - left their homes one late January evening to take their friend Jon to THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW... cult phenomenon and general kick in the pants. No, there were no dark storm clouds (heavy, black and pendulous) toward which they were driving, and yes, all the tires were fine. Nothing would spoil Jon's experience for that evening. On a night out. It was a night out... It was a night out that Jon was going to remember for a very long time!!!!

I had no idea what to expect. I'd never really heard much about Rocky Horror except that I 'had to see it.' When Kent and Julie picked me up, I did notice that Joy was wearing a french maid outfit, but I'd seen her in stranger things, so I didn't think much about it. When we reached the theater, I started to see that several people were also dressed in maid outfits! There were people (male and female) in various forms of lingerie all over!

And I thought Rocky Horror was just a movie! Boy was I wrong! Before long, someone started a sing along, and most of the crowd broke into a string of rather funny, dirty little ditties. Obviously most of these people had been here before. I soon started spotting the other "virgins" at the theater, the ten or so people looking around nervously, wondering if they'd walked right into the twilight zone.

When we got into the theater, a rubber beach ball was being "surfed" around the room, and people milled about and danced in the aisles. This was not going to be an ordinary movie. Suddenly, a balding gentlemen in his early forties made his way in front of the screen. As he lifted his hands, he said "Hello all." and the crowd called back in unison, "Hey there Paul!" and everyone cheered and clapped. Our host, Paul Smith, welcomed us to the movie and began the cheer: sex, drugs, rock-n-roll, rocky horror picture show, SEX, DRUGS, ROCK-N-ROLL ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW! The crowd joined in, getting louder and louder until the theater went dark and in a somber voice, Paul called out, "A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, God said, 'Let there be lips!' And there were, and they were good!" As the words were spoken, above Paul's head a giant, bright red pair of lips appeared in the darkness, and I was enthralled.

For and hour and a half, I watched as a rag-tag cast of performers mimicked and mocked the action and dialogue on the screen. Half imitation, half caricature, and pretty damned funny. The best part was that the audience was in on it too, armed with squirtguns for the rain scene, rice for the wedding and calling back lines with the cast! Everyone who cared to participate was part of the show. Dress up, get crazy, it's all part of the movie!

Before the show was over, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I came back the next weekend having bought the soundtrack and memorized the songs, and to my joy and astonishment, Paul mentioned that they needed someone to play Dr. Scott. Before I could stop myself, I'd raised my hand. I had a blast! I had no idea what I was doing, but it didn't seem to matter! I kept looking up at the screen and laughing at the whole thing. Paul said I was fine, especially for having only seen the movie once, and he asked my to come back. And I did. Again, and again and again.

(in drag)

I played Dr. Scott (and on occasion, Riff) every weekend for about 3 months. Then it happened. We were short a Frank. So guess what? I bought my first pair of fishnets and the rest is history. I continued to play Frank from then on. I was fortunate to perform with several casts all over Colorado including THE CREATURES OF THE NIGHT, VELVET DARKNESS, ABSOLUTE PLEASURE and several others. As luck would have it, I had the great pleasure of playing Frank on my exact ten year anniversary! It's a show I'll never forget.

This page is dedicated to the many casts, players and weirdos I've had the joy and privilege of playing with!

To Absent friends…