The 1975 cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, is a Halloween hallmark. During the spooky season every year, aficionados look forward to local theaters doing reruns or live musical versions of Rocky Horror.  

A new tradition has started in Columbia, however, and that is The Rocky Horror Drag Show.  

This year was particularly significant because it is The Rocky Horror Picture Show’s 50th anniversary.  

Columbia locals, part of the drag community and otherwise gathered at The New Brookland Tavern for five showings from Oct. 8 through Oct. 22.  

The rendition was put on by a Columbia Kings N’ Things, founded by drag king Han D. Mann, who starred as Rocky. Kings N’ Things is an organization of “drag kings, things, and hyper-queens.” They put on events to gather the drag community and encourage budding drag artists to take the stage.

Mann – who like most of the performers, prefers not to reveal his real name – moved to Columbia in seek of a drag king community and low and behold there was one – with only two kings and one “thing,” unjudgmental slang for an androgynous person.

He connected with one of the kings, and they became close friends. They founded Columbia Kings N’ Things in early 2022, after Mann moved to Columbia from Summerville.  

Since then, “the whole thing has exploded,” Mann said. 

To understand the distinction of drag kings and drag queens, Mann said drag king art often leans toward conceptual storytelling and reflects the female gaze, rooted in the sapphic and lesbian communities.  

“We are all part of the same drag community- it stems from the same art style, but drag king culture is different from drag queen culture,” Mann said. “When you watch a drag queen most of the time you feel like it’s love letter to the gay male community. I love to think that drag king art is a love letter to the sapphic community and the trans community, too.” 

A critical aspect of both king and queen art is the satire of heteronormativity, and the satire of gender roles, Mann said.  

“It takes heteronormative concepts and turns it into something absurd and funny and wonderful,” Mann said.  

The show’s Janet was played by king Jean-Luc Dicard who typically dresses in a more masculine style. The criminologist was played by king Brayden Challah.  

They both describe themselves as “Hannah Montanas.” 

“We both are highly degreed and have like very professional jobs and then we cross-dress at night,” Dicard said.  

Challah was 21 when they got into drag in Columbia and are now 29. Dicard began at age 38.  

Challah’s introduction started when a friend needed to fill a roster for an amateur drag show. 

“I knew nothing about it,” Challah said. “I literally had to Google, ‘What is a drag king?’” 

They ended up falling in love with it.  

“It was just so much fun,” Challah said. “I had a blast.” 

Now, drag holds a place in their hearts and a form of self-expression.  

“What we do and why we do it has evolved in the wake of everything happening,” Challah said. “I was talking to a friend the other day and they asked, ‘What is your form of protest?’ For me, I think drag is part of it.”

The original Rocky Horror celebrates queerness in an over-the-top way with wild musical numbers. There are aspects that are unacceptable now, like the nomenclature used to describe someone who cross-dresses.  

“If someone called me a ‘transvestite,’ now I would be like, ‘Excuse me?’” Challah said.  

“In some ways it’s a relic of its time, both in the language it uses and what it meant when it came out,” Challah said. “A lot of stuff it has broke ground for is more common nowadays.” 

“At the time, you didn’t see things like that in popular (media),” Dicard said. “You didn’t see bisexuality or weird things like that. So Rocky Horror is very beautiful personally to a lot of queer people.” 

Challah and Dicard are both involved in Kings N’ Things, which Dicard said is, “a beautiful collective of people.”  

Audience member Ozzy Osborne (yes, that’s his real name) thinks that no matter where you go, there will be a gay community – regardless of how small. 

“Like minds tend to find each other,” Osborne said. “Even if you don’t know what you are yourself.”