The Science Fiction Forum held a sci-fi and horror themed masquerade ball Thursday night. Students ate, mingled, danced and viewed a shadow cast performance of a scene from “The Lion King” and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”.
The shadow cast silently reenacted the two scenes as they played on a screen in the background.
From the “Lion King” the shadow cast, made up of members of the forum, performed the “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” scene. After a short intermission, the cast came out again to perform “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” musical number “Time Warp.” The audience enjoyed both performances as each resulted in a standing ovation.
“They were very nicely done,” Daniel Cartner, a computer science major, freshman transfer student and new member of the forum, said. “I was actually able to see the cast during their first couple of rehearsals and they definitely improved a lot.”
Members of the shadow cast said that hard work and some nostalgia were behind the performance they put on. “I have loved the Lion King since I was little,” Emily Castner, 21, sociology major, the actress who played Simba, said. “It’s my dream to play Simba on the Broadway show.”
As with any form of live performance, things did not go without a fluke. Castner had to miss a lot of the rehearsals because of conflicts with her schedule. “We started rehearsing a week and a half ago,” Castner said. “But I had to learn most of this on Monday because I wasn’t able to make a lot of the practices.”
Mark Mancini, 22, religious studies major and the actor who played Zazu from the Lion King and Crim from Rocky Horror, had even less time to learn the routines. According to Castner, he only practiced for about 10 minutes before show time, as he had to fill in for a cast member who couldn’t make it.
“I am naturally bird like and I love outrageous British accents,” Mancini said, referring to how he was able to perform with so little time to rehearse. “Those two things came in handy.”
These obstacles didn’t matter though as the audience couldn’t even tell. “His performance was great,” Brian Maddock, a transfer student and engineering science major, said in regard to Mancini’s performance.
The president of the forum, Matthew Kuruvilla, a senior, did not hold back how proud of his actors and E-board he was. “They’re amazing, incredible actors,” he said. “Not only that though, every member of the E-board has some amazing talent.”
As the oldest club on campus, according to Kuruvilla, the Science Fiction Forum is preparing to celebrate its 45th anniversary. “Look out, we are getting ready to do something special,” he said.
