The longest-running weekly showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show in the world still happens every Saturday night at Clinton Street Theater. 50 years after the campy horror musical’s release—and 47 years after the theater began showing it—Rocky Horror remains more than just a cult classic. It’s a rite of passage, a sanctuary, and a raucous communal release.
50 years on from Rocky Horror’s cinematic debut, Clinton Street isn’t marking the milestone with nostalgia, but with momentum: evolving, adapting, and deepening its care for the queer community
it serves.
A Legacy of Loyalty
When Aaron Colter and five others bought the theater in 2022, the continuation of Rocky Horror was a condition of the sale. The previous owners viewed the weekly screenings as central to Clinton Street’s identity and felt ending them would erase part of Portland’s cultural history.
“It feels like a responsibility, oftentimes, to keep that area what it has been for decades,” Colter said. In a city where queer spaces often vanish or transform, Clinton Street is committed to persisting.
While there’s a screening every Saturday, the hosts change by week. Most common, the Clinton Street Cabaret provides a full shadowcast on the first and third weekend, Sinophelia on the second and Thom Hilton on the fourth offer “scaled back” versions, still with props and callbacks.
Hilton saw Rocky Horror for the first time at age 13 with his grandparents. “They were the first people I came out to,” he said. Many years later, after showing Hilton’s short films at Clinton Street, Colter invited him to bring something new to the space.
The “with Thom Hilton” screenings are a one-man inclusive movie party, he says. He originally created the performance in his former home of Brooklyn, New York during the pandemic, with audience members sitting on his building’s rooftop.
Hilton infuses his Rocky Horror live show with affirming energy, raunchy comedy, and a dash of heart. “The hardest thing anyone could ever say truthfully is ‘I completely and totally accept myself,’” Hilton recalls his grandmother telling him. That message of self-acceptance is central to his show’s tone, and part of why Clinton Street’s screenings remain vital. For queer and questioning youth seeking safe, expressive spaces in a city that is lacking in all-ages options after 10 pm, Rocky Horror weekly showings are a bastion.
Put into words by a recent attendee, Serena, in the lobby after a show: “You have two chances in your life to see Rocky Horror for the first time. One is in your friend’s basement at 16 years old, and the other is at the Clinton.”
The Wild Ritual
Whether you come to the high-theatrics cabaret, the more intimate nights, or Hilton’s solo version—he describes it as “Rocky Horror for virgins”—the experience is both chaotic and caring. Colter recalled welcoming a bachelor party to a show once: “This is really for gay high school theater nerds. Everyone is welcome, but know what you’re getting into.”
Attendees often dress up like their favorite characters from the film or even just versions of themselves that they can’t be every day. Vulgar callback lines fly from both cast and audience. Props also soar through the air, as cult tradition calls for throwing toast, toilet paper, confetti and other items at key moments. Other callbacks incite noisemakers, or inter-audience proposals with candy rings. “Twenty minutes after meeting a room full of strangers [and telling them] you’re allowed to act like this,” Hilton described, “they’re all screaming and being despicable, trashy, and gross.”
Photo by L Parker
Why It Endures
Though Clinton Street doesn’t have plans to go all out on Rocky Horror’s 50th anniversary—they’ll probably have a party in September to celebrate the US release—the milestone is present in spirit and enthusiasm each Saturday. Rather than burn out, the team finds renewal in the ritual. “You see one person having that experience for the first time… It’s almost like a legacy,” Colter observed. Summer shows often sell out, especially during Pride, and the joy remains palpable.
What keeps Rocky Horror alive at Clinton Street isn’t just the film itself; it’s what happens around it: connection, catharsis, and community. “Come and see that you’re not alone,” Colter says to those considering showing up for the first or 50th viewing. Dress up, grab a prop bag, and become part of the legacy.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show plays at Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton,
every Saturday night, cstpdx.com, all ages
