Photograph by Bethany Pruett
A sea of legs in fishnets, bedazzled corsets, wigs galore: Every Friday night, theatergoers are greeted by a projected screen that reads “LDOD” in big, bloody letters at the red-lit LeFont Auditorium at the Plaza Theatre.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show—the 50-year-old satirical horror film based on the 1973 musical that stars Tim Curry as a gender-bending alien—is not only a cult classic, but also a cultural phenomenon. For the past 25 years, Lips Down on Dixie, a nonprofit theater organization, has had a shadow cast acting in tandem with the film every Friday night. During the first kill scene of the movie, the audience sees the shadow cast Frank-N-Furter chase his victim through the aisles, pushing past audience members’ legs with a plastic pickax while lip-synching the exact words Curry says on-screen.
The LDOD cast and crew rehearse before each performance with screen-accuracy coaches to ensure that every wig, prop, and pair of pantyhose resembles the original film. LDOD is the oldest shadow cast in Atlanta and one of the city’s few majority-queer theater casts, with 90 percent of the cast and crew identifying as LGBTQ+.
“It’s a really easy place to make friendships and deep connections,” says LDOD director and shadow cast member Carl Forsthoefel.
When Forsthoefel first moved to Atlanta in 2017, he longed to find people who he could relate to and connect with. He latched onto LDOD about a year later because “we exist as a space by queer people, for queer people,” he says. Although the majority of the audience and the cast is queer, Forsthoefel urges everyone to soak up the friendly and freakish space created by the show.
Cast member Alex Greb joined LDOD 13 years ago. “Rocky Horror is a safe space because it allows for the release of inner vulgarity,” he says. Greb usually hosts and does audience participation, which entails yelling inappropriate chants throughout the film. “With the jokes I do, it’s important for us to show, especially to queer people, that it’s okay to be a little perverted,” Greb says.
Maddy Smith has been a cast member for a little more than a year and thinks LDOD encourages people to be themselves. “The space that we provide is important because queer spaces are not only being attacked, they’re being erased,” Smith says. On Fridays, she often plays Janet, the lead, and leans into the naivete and ridiculousness of Susan Sarandon’s character. She says being able to be “fully as you are, in a really supportive environment” is paramount not only to belonging to LDOD but also to connecting to the LGBTQ+ community in Atlanta.
On October 24, LDOD will partner with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the film and the shadow cast. Original actors Barry Bostwick (Brad Majors) and Patricia Quinn (Magenta) will be special guests. For one night only, the Friday night tradition will move locales and time slots to reach more fans.
The last song of the film, “Don’t Dream It, Be It,” has become a motto for LDOD throughout its past 25 years: Rise to the occasion and be exactly who you are. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show gives me something to look forward to at the end of the week,” Smith says. “No matter what, you’ll know that there’s always Friday night.”
This article appears in our October 2025 issue.
