Kimmy Woodworth

When I was 11 years old, my mom went to Wal-Mart one day and saw the special edition Rocky Horror VHS in the sale bin. She remembered how exciting Rocky was when she used to go, and brought the tape home for me to watch. I remember how much I immediately loved 'The Time Warp'. I would play it over and over until I learned every single step. I put the tape away after a while and didn't pick it back up until I was 15 years old. I then started watching it and completely fell in love with the film. I would watch it every day for months. The musical arrangements in 'Whatever Happened to Fay Wray' gave me chills. I didn't realize there was a whole AP experience until I started buying Rocky books off eBay. I realized how much I loved Tim's performance and started looking through the house for any movies I could find. I already owned quite a lot of them! One of the first things I ever bought was 'The Best of Tim Curry' CD. My mom is a nurse and specially ordered a green surgical gown so I could be Frank for Halloween. Around the same time, we found an article in the Plain Dealer about a 'Shocktoberfest' film festival at Tower City in Cleveland. Rocky was playing and I had to go.

I went with my mom to Tower City October 20, 2001 for Simply His Servants' 10pm show dressed as Frank. As mom and I were walking from the parking lot to the cinema, I received comments like 'oooh, big booty' and 'don't kill me'. The cast made me feel very welcome and I was on cloud nine after the show. The first thing I did afterwards was look at the playbill. I saw that the cast needed more people and was determined to audition for anything I could get. I was ill for a while and started seeing shows again at their home theatre, the Cedar Lee, in February. By April, I was auditioning as Crim. Soon after I played Frank for a few shows, the first with two hours notice, and ended up playing Janet for two years. I was overweight at the time, and having to play to an audience in a bra and slip gave me the motivation to exercise and take care of my body. I now direct the cast with Kev J.B. and have played Frank full-time for the last three years now. I've also played Brad, Riff-Raff, Magenta and Trixie-- I never dreamed any of this would happen.

I also never dreamed I would get to live at Oakley Court for a day, visit the Royal Court Theatre, see Meat Loaf in concert a few times and see one of my favourite actors of all time in Spamalot. When I saw Tim Curry perform in person: it didn't matter how many television shows, interviews and movies I watched, it didn't matter how many LPs, CDs, and audio-books I've listened to, it didn't matter how many photos I've swooned over-- there is no experience that equals seeing him perform on stage. I couldn't fall asleep the night I saw him in Chicago-- I was in Curry Heaven from the moment I saw him gallop onto the stage, grinning with his astoundingly radioactive smile.

Kevin got me really excited at the thought of going to conventions and I went with him, his wife Tace, and one of our other cast members, to the Anti-Con in Merrillville, IN. Even though it was insane, I *loved* it. I met many of my friends in the Rocky community there for the first time. Bruce Cutter's Rocky merchandise was awesome. I was amazed by the Shock Treatment floorshow. I cried when El Conquistador destroyed Rocky merchandise to make everyone's collection 'just a little bit rarer' as I owned nothing he destroyed. I won the costume contest with a good costume, which ruined PI's plan to give winners money for better costumes. Mwahah... wait. Money... damn. I thought Rocky Kung Fu show was one of the most hilarious things I'd seen. I've gone to six more conventions since: Philly '02, Transies Take Manhattan '04, CDR '05, Denton Affair '06, CHRAP con '06, and WAR '07. There was something fantastic about each one. My highlights from the conventions are: Mick Rock trying to use my stage cigarette as a pen. Stephen Calcutt walking up to me to chat. Kimi Wong mauling everyone including 13 (18!) year olds. Sadie Corre being adorable! Drinking/flirting with Pat Quinn and watching her perform the Time Warp with Kimi, Perry, Stephen and Annabel. Yasmin Pettigrew-- I love her. RockyCon toons. Seeing awesome casts/preshows from around the world. Performing in floorshows with my friends as Frank, Janet Majors and Beef (Phantom of the Paradise). *Meeting my fantaberrific friends and my boyfriend in the Rocky community. As Sadie would say, you're all 'looooovely'.*

Rocky made me a much stronger and wiser person than I ever thought I could be. Rocky led me to the best friends I've ever had and the love of my life. Rocky also led me to acting, which I couldn't live without. I've loved the theatre since I was a little girl and Rocky made me want to participate in it. My favorite roles I've worked on so far have to be Gollum in The Hobbit, a witch in Macbeth, Agnes in A Dream Play, and Dame Ellen Terry in The Actor's Nightmare. A Dream Play completely changed the way I see the struggles/beauty in life and death. I'm in my last year as a theatre major at the University of Akron and hope to continue doing/seeing theatre and Rocky throughout my lifetime.

I really can't thank Richard O'Brien and everyone who's worked on productions or the film enough for creating what turned into such powerful and lasting experience. I'm also really thankful for those I've met and will meet in the Rocky community. I'm not sure if I could ever word how much you all mean to me.