Engineering Student Council performs ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ despite SGB funding problems

The Engineering Student Council’s shadow performance of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” celebrated the movie’s 50th anniversary this weekend despite a lack of funding from SGB.

ESC’s performance of “Rocky Horror,” which played on Nov. 14 and 15 in the Frick Fine Arts auditorium, has become a tradition for Pitt students to celebrate queer culture and sexuality. This year, the performance went on without allocations from SGB, a move that is “not sustainable” for future years, according to show director and bioengineering student Charlie Greco.

Greco said the show’s routine funding application was denied this year by the Student Government Board, a statement he provided for the audience before the start of the performance.

“[Pitt’s] favorite LGBTQ tradition was denied in full by SGB because, as quoted, ‘Rocky Horror did not specifically advance DEI outcomes,’” Greco said.

Greco’s statement was met by boos and uproar from the audience, who were encouraged to take action by sharing their love for the show with SGB on an email displayed on a projector. Greco made it explicitly clear that students should not hound SGB members.

“By no means should you harass anybody on SGB — they’re students, just like us, and they’re doing their best. But, if it sounds disagreeable to you that we might not be able to do Rocky things next year, send an email to sgb@pitt.edu,” Greco said to the audience. 

In a statement, SGB recognized the importance of queer communities and culture at Pitt, alongside sharing their “unwavering support” for ESC’s performance of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show.” SGB and the Judicial Committee have reached out to ESC to offer further support. 

“A denial of funding from SGB is not a denial of an event occurring or of its mission. Additionally, their grant denial does not reflect ESC’s future standings in the allocation process, and we encourage them to reapply to our grant or through alternative funding routes within SGB,” SGB said.

This is not the first time the ESC clashed with SGB over “Rocky Horror” budget issues — in 2018, there was a near cancellation of the production over denied funding for non-reusable items.

Greco said in an interview that the lack of funding this year forced the engineering student council to depend on its private funds, something he said was “not sustainable.”

“We can’t go out of pocket for this every year. And while we would like to keep putting this [show] on every year, we aren’t going to be able to keep doing it in the future unless SGB gives us the allocations that we need,” Greco said. 

According to Greco, the cast signed a letter to SGB that was “very thought provoking, very thoughtful [and] polite,” yet they received no response as of Friday night. He said the issue was out of his control and was unsure about next steps. 

“’It’s unfortunate we have to ask SGB to fund this, but it’s such a beloved thing across campus. To push this out for something as silly as funding, I don’t understand it,” Greco said.

ESC’s performance of “Rocky Horror” has a legacy at Pitt for some veteran audience members, including Kennedy Snook, who will be graduating in December with a master’s in biomedical engineering. 

“I came to both showings last year, actually, so both Friday and Saturday, because I loved it so much,” Snook said. 

Daniel Giganti Dima, a senior materials science and engineering student who played Brad Majors in Friday’s show, noted the artistic opportunity “Rocky Horror” offered through the engineering student council, something he said many engineers don’t often encounter.

“We have our own projects that we get to do, but in terms of opportunities to be in something like theater, or participate in arts, I think that’s something that’s really unique,” Dima said. 

Friday’s performance opened with a segment called the “Virgin Games” hosted by “MC Buzz” and “Gyatsune Freaku,” who played Rocky Horror and Dr. Frank-N-Furter, respectively. “Virgins,” or audience members who hadn’t seen a shadow performance before, were selected and invited onto the stage to perform various tasks that determined a winning “virgin.”

After the games, the movie was projected above the stage with the shadow cast acting out the scenes in real time. Audience members shouted “sl–” or “a——” every time the names Janet and Brad were mentioned alongside other callouts that only the more experienced “Rocky” viewers may know. A brown bag with two playing cards, a bubble-stick, a latex glove and a glow stick alongside a newspaper was put on seats for audience members to use as props during the movie. 

Members of the audience noted the show’s significance in queer culture, including Abby Vendura, a Chatham graduate from Bloomfield, who reflected on Rocky Horror’s 50-year legacy. 

“I think that it’s more important than ever to show something that has such a rich history, and that we haven’t gone anywhere, and we’re not going anywhere,” Vendura said. 

Snook added a perspective on the importance of traditions in the queer culture and legacies the community carries on. 

“Especially with queer culture, just keeping in touch with our roots and honoring the people who were courageous to show out in this way back when this first started,” Snook said.