Co-creating can only lead to chaos

And I'm here for it! 
We've amassing a pretty solid TWS crew of the years. Sure, not everyone sticks around. Folks move, their lives get busier, they have kids and cannot commit to missing every Friday, Saturday and Sunday with the family...but there's a core of the TWS people that's emerging and this year we're a co-creation crew. More heads are better than one, right? Bring on the chaos! Let's see what we come up with when we're throwing ideas at the wall and seeing one sticks. 
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**A quick aside...when I was about 11 years old I invited a friend over for dinner. My dad had made a tomato dish that wasn't his best creation and weeks early he has made the mistake of showing me how to throw pasta at a wall to see if it was done...so I showed my friend this excellent trick. We launched charred and seasoned tomato slices up onto the ceiling and low and behold, some of them stuck. We were living in a renovated barn with 18 foot tall ceilings, so that tomatoes that did no come down became a part of the house. It probably up there until my dad cut down and dragged in a 18 foot tall pine tree that tickled the ceiling a year later. **

I went to SXSW this spring and got my dose of chaos, art, immersive entertainment and most of all, Rocky Horror. The most impactful part of the experience revolved around seeing the film premier of Strange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror. The movie is about the iconic cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, created by Richard O'Brien (Riff-Raff in the movie). His son, Linus, directed a documentary about the influence this show has had on many generations and specifically on the queer community. He interview Trixie Mattel, Jack Black, former cast members from the play and the film, members of the original shadow cast, and audience members at some of the first shows. I count myself among the millions of people who were moved by RSHP and discovered something about themself by seeing the movie. So after the premier, the house lights came up and Linus stepped into the audience at the Paramount Theatre in Austin Texas and I introduced myself. He invited me to the after party at Oilcan Harrys (my favorite gay bar in ATX) and I schmoozed with the crew while the O'Brien Orchestra (Austin's RHPS shadow cast) sang the song from the opening credits, "Science Fiction, Double Feature...doctor X (sex sex sex) will build a creature...see androids fighting (and biting and sucking on) Brad and Janet..." I'm sure the know the rest...
This is all to say, Rocky Horror made me fall in love with interactive immersive art. Rocky Horror was my first introduction to a show that is more than just the experience of watching. The first live midnight show I ever attended was the best night of my life and every show that I've been to since then has been memorable. I try to bring new people every time because I want everyone who needs this show to experience it. In ways, The Wedding Show is modeled after Rocky Horror. I want people to feel like they can be themselves, unguarded, fabulous, weird, wild and vulnerable. I want TWS to be a space where people don't have to hide themselves and in fact they can flaunt whatever they dare to flaunt. The first two years of the show we tried to create opportunities for people to get on stage, stand up in front of a crowd and do something silly, or at minimum dress up, feel beautiful and have a grand old time. But I want the show to be more and do more for people. I want this to really feel like a safe and brave space for the queer community. And I want it to be a show that sets an example of the world we want to cultivate. 

This summer, rather than just doing The Wedding Show with the subtle changes that come from a different audience and performers, we're going to create something that we can't repeat. I'm going to use my 20 years of teambuilding work to design an experience that brings people together and only happens one time. That's what makes it special. We'll never have this moment together again, it's sacred and perfect and fleeting. We're taking the wedding show cannon that's evolved over the last two years and adding on to it with a story that will hopefully just keep growing. 

So this year, we start off with an afterparty. The wedding happened. It's done. They done got hitched. And then you show up! You're crashing the wedding after party because you got a tip from a friend that this was the place to be...where will it be? I'm happy to asked that... It's April 2025, the show should start in June and I haven't finalized venues. Because I want the cast to pick their favorite venues and we'll travel around with the show this summer, inviting more people to be a part of it. Right now I'm looking at K-House in Ithaca NY, Aspire Brewery in Middletown NY, House of Yes in Brooklyn NY, Fairport Brewing Company in Rochester NY and maybe a night at our favorite little event space in Ithaca, The Cherry Arts.  
We're open to suggestions! All we're looking for a is a place that has a bar and a sound system. Email us your favorite feasible venues! [email protected]