Repossessed: Or, Why The Genetic Opera Is THE Place to Be

Every generation has a 'freakshow', some sort of event or happening or cultural phenomenon that calls to the outcasts, the weirdos, the creative, the lost and the broken. It gives them a place to express themselves, characters to idolize, imitate and adore, a soundtrack to their lives for a few hours at a time.

In my mother's generation it was "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"; she used to go with friends every Friday night, armed with toilet paper and toast and a head full of raunchy callback lines. When I was twelve, my mom took me with her to see it when it screened for Halloween at a local theater. I had no clue what I was in for; my mom tried to explain the intricacies of "Slut!", "Antici----pation!" and "The man you're about to see has no fucking neck", but it was hard to wrap my mind around until I actually saw it in person. Hopping around in the aisles doing the Time Warp, laughing at callback lines that had been around for twenty years but were fresh and brand-new to my virgin ears... it was amazing.

Cut to the present day, and the explosion that is "Repo! The Genetic Opera". The film, which began as an underground theatrical production and blossomed eventually into a cult symbol, is being given the 'Rocky Horror' treatment immediately following its release. All across the world, 'shadow casts' have formed; shadow casts are groups of people who dress up in the roles of various characters and act out the film as it plays on a projector screen behind them.

When I found out that there was a shadow cast in Dallas, only two hours from where I live, I decided to head up there to check it out. I timed it perfectly to attend my first production of Amber Does Dallas (the name of this particular cast) while one of my best friends Michael was in town visiting from Australia. Michael is also a big fan of the film and had never seen a live performance, so we drove to Dallas and headed to the Lakewood Theater to see what we could see.

The Lakewood is a beautiful historic theater with high ceilings, a balcony, plush couches in the bathroom lobbies, and an elegant carpeted staircase. It also has a bar, which was selling 'Zydrate shots' for the night; brilliant blue mixed drinks in clear plastic cups. The classy theater was overrun with people in every manner of dress; hair extensions, leather bondage harnesses, chaps, corsets, thigh-high fishnets, fetish boots, paintball helmets, ball gowns, tutus and everything in between. This was the cast of Amber Does Dallas, and we were in their world now.

The preshow, meant to warm up the crowd and get the cast limber and loose, consisted of dancing around to various sounds piped over the intercom as well as a 'pure' audience member going onstage to be injected with Zydrate from the Graverobber's syringe gun. The actual film, which is one of my favorites on its own merits anyway, was only enhanced by the crowd's enthusiastic callback lines. The lines were clever, well-timed and often hilarious; the cast also incorporated very funny original moments, such as during the intense "Night Surgeon" musical scene, one of the players came out in a brilliant screen-accurate replica costume for Pyramid Head of the "Silent Hill" video game franchise to represent Nathan's rage and frenzy while killing his victim.

Michael and I had a blast, and when the next performance rolled around I convinced my mother to come with me since she had never even so much as seen the film. This was not the best show to introduce her to the scene; some of the marks were missed, the callbacks fell flat in several instances, and there was a much smaller crowd with much less energy. She was still impressed and enjoyed herself, but she didn't have the exhilarated love of it that had encouraged Michael and I to chatter nonstop and relive our favorite moments during most of the drive home from our viewing.

On March 19, 2010 however, I convinced my mom to attend again as well as two friends of ours from Dallas, Andy and Dione Rose, who are both fans of the film. This show in particular was going to be special; it was half-celebration and half-protest. A film called "Repo Men", which had the same premise and many of the same elements of "Repo! The Genetic Opera", was opening in theaters and the 'Repo!' army were furious that the writers of 'our' film weren't going to make any money off of the blatant rip-off from the big studio release. Thus, the "Repo vs. Repo" show was born, and the 'Repo!' creators Terrance Zdunich and Darren Smith, as well as director Darren Lynn Bousman, teamed up to provide shadow casts across America a special treat in return for their loyalty and devotion to the film. At screenings across the nation, a short reel would follow the film on March 19 only; the reel would include footage from the original stage production (never before seen unless you yourself were in the audience attending one of those performances almost ten years ago), snips of musical numbers and scenes from the director's cut of the movie, and behind-the-scenes clips. The whole reel was only a few minutes long but it had us screaming and cheering afterward; it was aptly titled 'The Repo! Revolution', and that was exactly what it felt like being in that room that night. A revolution.

One of the messages in 'Repo!' is to combat shallowness because, as Rotti Largo sings, "flesh is weak, and blood is cheap". In a world where you can change your appearance at a whim, what stock would you put into physical flaws? Especially when such flaws are sometimes highlighted purposefully to transform them more into unique calling cards or beauty marks. In the 'Repo!' verse, different is better; hence the cast, which consists of people of all shapes, sizes, races, ages, and ethnicity. While mainstream society would consider some of these people unattractive, 'Repo!' celebrates them for the beautiful people they truly are. Stretch marks, bellies, breasts, ass cheeks, cellulite, all of these are things you can and will see in any given shadow cast. And no one bats a lash; these people are beautiful beyond compare, vibrant and alive and passionate and pouring their energy into something born of love and creativity and freedom of expression. These people are wild and feral, and while they are in that theater, mainstream society can go fuck itself; these people are making their genetics their bitch and just by watching, you can't help falling in love with every single person on that stage a little bit. That kind of love, that kind of fever, is contagious. The world could use a fucking plague of it.


'Repo!' is a production that embraces everything that makes eccentricity appealing. The members of Amber Does Dallas have costumes, for example, that could've been lifted directly from the wardrobe department at Lionsgate Films, painstakingly sewn and the fabric matched as close as possible to the real thing. They install hair extensions, buy specific makes of leather boots, and apply makeup with agonizing accuracy. Propmasters on the cast such as Draco and Beau spend their time installing blue LED lights in a modified helmet to create something that truly looks like a professional film-studio item, while cosplay prodigy Zander Yurami creates screen-accurate Zydrate guns by hand. Artists Halo Seraphim and Josh design handmade holiday cards and flyers to promote the shows and raise money for charity; the show that Michael and I attended was a fundraiser show for lupus awareness.

Hollywood hotshots may steal original ideas to make a quick buck, and flash-in-the-pan action films will come and go, but the love and devotion the fans install into 'Repo!' will live on for decades to come. And with good reason; we're not here because of A-list actors or a soundtrack full of remixes. We are here because the original 'Repo!' creators came up with the project with nothing but love and energy and enthusiasm and passion in their hearts, and we are determined to celebrate that with every ounce of our being because by doing so, we ourselves can feel alive in a world full of surgery-perfected stereotypes.

'Repo!' provides a home for the freaks, and we are merely keeping house for the next generation.