Rocky Horror returns to Fitton
Hamilton, OH – The Denton Affair – Greater Cincinnati’s best, worst and only Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast - returns to the Fitton Center for late-night shenanigans at 10 p.m. Friday, October 30.
One of the oldest shadow casts in the country, founded in in 1979, the current incarnation has strong Hamilton ties.
Kara Scene - not the name on her birth certificate - is a Hamilton resident. She showed artwork at the Fitton Center as a student at Butler Tech School of the Arts in the 2010s. She’s been part of The Denton Affair since 2022, helping the Cincinnati-based troupe turn the annual Rocky Horror screening into a night of delightful debauchery.
“The Fitton always holds a special place in my heart,” she said. “It’s the first place I performed. I’ll have a lot of friends and family there supporting me.”
Kara played Magenta in her debut Fitton performance. Three years ago, she appeared as Janet Weiss. Last year she stepped into the platform heels and pearl necklace made famous on stage and screen by the late Tim Curry during the 50th anniversary season of the movie. This year, she switches it up again, playing the part of doomed rocker Eddie.
“I want play all of (the roles), but especially there in Hamilton where I started,” Kara said of her chameleon approach, adding Rocky Horror remains the perfect vehicle for gender-bent casting and surprising audiences with audacious antics. “That’s a way for me to bare my self and be the real me. It’s great to see local queer expression in art.”
Kara said her favorite number in the show comes when Eddie escapes the freezer and sings “Hot Patootie, Bless My Soul.”
“It’s fun, it’s high-paced and I love Meatloaf,” she said.
In addition to her role as a performer, Kara also serves as a coordinator for The Denton Affair. Among her responsibilities include wigs and makeup for the cast. But the performance part really revs her engine.
“It’s fun to see people have fun and get out of their comfort zone,” she said. “This is very much out of a lot of people’s comfort zone and that’s OK. Just go with it. Come as you are and have a great time with it. It’s a show. Have fun.”
Now in the 51st year since its release, the cult following of Rocky Horror shows no sign of slowing down. In fact, Kara recently met the movie’s Brad Majors – Barry Bostwick – at a screening in Dayton. If recent history at the Fitton Center is any indication, the crowd will be just a little unhinged. Precisely as it should be.
Guests come in costume, ham it up in a photo booth, enjoy a cash bar, shout at the screen, get up and dance, throw stuff all over the theater and generally give themselves over to absolute pleasure.
Tickets are $12 for Fitton Center members, $15 for non-members, and are available online right here, by phone at 513-863-8873, ext. 110 or in person at the Fitton Center box office. The Denton Affair sells survival kits with all the familiar props needed to trash the joint (as well as other merchandise) in the lobby on show night.
The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.
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