February 20, 2025
For this edition of Backstage at the Egyptian, Marketing Intern, Lia Martinez interviewed Elliot Lubicz, co-director of the Irrational Masters to talk about changes and similarities in their performances and stage crew over the years, Elliot’s preferences of acts within the show and how the Egyptian Theatre’s atmosphere influences the events.
Lia: Since you have performed multiple times here at the Egyptian, have you seen familiar faces in your audience throughout the years? Do you think you’ll see some familiar faces in your upcoming show?
Elliot: Familiar faces are a staple at our shows, and we look forward to seeing them! I definitely anticipate seeing some of our “regular” audience members at the upcoming show. It’s really cool to see different folks from our community constantly coming out to the shows to support us after all these years of us performing at the Egyptian! While we welcome everybody to our shows, we do have a big community of LGBTQ people who find a safe and exciting place to be themselves and have fun with our cast and in this theatre, which is incredibly important to all of us on cast. Especially now, queer existence and joy is an act of resistance, and we are really grateful to be a place of comfort and solidarity for everybody.
L: What have been consistent changes within the Rocky Horror Picture Show in recent performances?
E: Since we perform Rocky multiple times a year, and the movie of course never changes, we try our best to have a bit of variety where we can in our performance. We rotate roles every show, so we have different cast members playing different characters each time. We also try to change up our costumes, props, and our pre-show a bit to fit in with the show theme. For example, for our June show, we try to incorporate a Pride theme throughout the performance!
Another change I find is that some callbacks yelled throughout the show change with time. We do hear some updated callbacks that are created out of current events, and it’s so wild to think that this movie that has been around for 50 years can be refreshed and stand the test of time through shadowcast performances and audiences that keep coming back.
L: Are there certain aspects of the show you enjoy performing more than others? What about it makes it enjoyable? Does the audience’s reaction play a role?
E: Personally, I really like doing Time Warp no matter what character I’m playing. It’s awesome to see the entire audience dancing with us, the whole room is just filled with such a fun energy during that song. It’s also exciting because it’s the lead up to Frank’s entrance! No matter what scene we’re doing though, what makes it enjoyable IS the audience reaction. The call backs, the laughs, the yelling: it fuels our cast when the audience interacts with us in those ways. Honestly, the audience really is another role during a shadowcast performance, and it wouldn’t feel the same without them screaming at us!
L: How would you describe the energy within the atmosphere of your audience and the performers? Does the show being at a historic site such as the Egyptian Theatre contribute to it?
E: The energy is thrilling and exciting! It also feels very supportive and encouraging. I think because of the content of the movie, and the fan base that the movie has built out of those of us who are strange, outcasts, alternative, queer, etc., there is an air of acceptance and camaraderie during our show. Our cast of performers have found a place to be themselves, be around their community, and spend their time doing something they love and care about. We try to translate that into our shows as much as possible, so we also provide a place where people can be themselves.
More than ever, we think it is so important to be around your community and to do the things you love to do. We hope that those who come to our shows can have a few hours to escape from anxiety and stress, and that we can provide some comfort and joy. We are incredibly lucky to have the beautiful Egyptian as our home theatre, and to have the incredible staff here to collaborate with along the way. I think it definitely contributes to the wonderful energy at our shows to have such an amazing theatre and a caring, hardworking team to help us!
