Liz Keating, 23, remembers when her mom discovered her corset, fishnet stockings and black high heels.

“[My mom] found my ‘Rocky Horror’ costume one year. She was helping me move out of my dorm. She was like ‘What’s this?!’” said Keating.

“I was like ‘I can explain mom! It was a show! You probably shouldn’t have seen it because I was wearing that in front of a lot of people…’”

This weekend, in celebration of Halloween, UMass Dartmouth’s student-run theater group, 20 Cent Fiction, put on a production of ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ As per tradition, the show was performed through a “shadow cast,” where the entire film is acting out through pantomime as the film is screened in the background.

“20 Cent Fiction was established in the early ‘90s because they wanted to do ‘Rocky Horror,’” said Keating. “They became the second theater company for UMass Dartmouth. They started doing way-off Broadway shows.”

She added, “There’s a saying: ‘Gores, gays and good times.’ That’s a good summary of what we like to do.”

The film follows the exploits of Dr. Frank N. Furter, a licentious mad scientist from another planet. Ultimately, Furter’s hedonistic tendencies lead to his demise. The story unfolds through a campy rock opera format.

“If you’re familiar with the movie, you know it’s pretty bad and has no plot. That is made significantly better by people screaming and throwing things at the screen,” said Megan Sullivan, 22, president of 20 Cent Fiction.

Sullivan has played Riff Raff and Dr. Frank N. Furter in years past. This past weekend, she played Janet Weiss. While the audience was encouraged to participate by shouting at the actors, the final Sunday-night performance was a special, particularly raucous showing referred to as “prank night.”

“Basically, everyone’s going out there and trying to make the other actors break character. It’s a ton of fun,” said Sullivan. “Tonight is basically us letting off all of the steam that’s been building up this entire weekend. It’s been a long process to get here, and this is like the last hurrah for the cast.”

The cast included eight main characters and 16 “Transylvanians” – extras who ran through the aisles of the theater screaming obscenities at the cast and encouraging the audience to dance during the “Time Warp.”

Throughout the entire show, the audience shouted snarky call backs at the cast. This, too, is a long-standing tradition with the show as a means of lampooning the cartoonish plot.

Martin Jimenez, 22, is biology major who donned golden short-shorts to perform as the eponymous Rocky. He said that watching the film helped prepare him for the role, but it was the outfit that sealed the deal.

“Putting on the costume and the makeup helps with getting into character. And I had my hair my hair dyed blonde. Now I feel like I Rocky,” said Jimenez.

“This is my first time ever being in theater. My friends were the ones who got me into it,” he said. “It’s a good stress release. You can be a completely different person on stage.”

While the musical was first performed in 1973, the film that became a cult hit was released two years after that. Now 40 years old, the film still attracts young audiences willing to jump to the left.

“I think, in a sense, ‘Rocky’ creates a sense of community for the people that go it regularly,” said Sullivan. “There’s a strong sense of bonding that goes on in the audience and in the casts. It was also a progressive and liberating movie, especially for the time period. I think that’s why it resonates today.”

When the Transylvanians assemble their costumes for the performance, they were instructed to be themselves, which Keating said is a major theme of the movie.

“Be true to yourself,” said Keating. “Just be who you are and that should be enough.”