A co-worker was supposed to meet her in the Pit one Saturday night, but when he never showed she ran into other friends who were going to Rocky.

She returned the next Friday and Saturday—this was back when Harvard Square showed Rocky Horror twice a week—and she came back the Friday and Saturday after that.

The next week, she joined the crew.

She became a die-hard fan and, within the Rocky circle, her claim to fame is that she made up a new AP line—squeaking as Janet and Brad drive through the rain with their windshield wipers swishing back and forth.

After a year working on props and costumes, she joined the cast. She was a big Susan Sarandon fan and for the next six years she was the Friday night Janet—until she “retired” a year ago.

“This made part of my dream come true,” she says. “But I want to be on the screen next time.”

Over the years she made so many friends with employees at the theater that she decided to start working there herself, in the box office and as a ticket-taker. The crowd on the street thins out and, with daylight savings time taking effect, it’s now approaching 4:00 a.m. Brennan will have to be back at the theater in her usual uniform in eight hours.

Traveling to Rocky Horror conventions, she has made friends across the country. She’s been to six conventions total, including the 25th anniversary bash in Las Vegas, and she plans to attend the next gathering in Wichita this summer.

In February, she took a trip to Chicago to see her Rocky friends act in the cast there.

She owns Rocky Horror on video and DVD and has watched it more times than she can count.

“It helped me a lot,” she says. “I used to be the shiest person in the world. At Rocky Horror, you’re with people who are just as shy as you are. It’s really therapeutic.”

—Zoe K. Epstein contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer A. Scott Holbrook can be reached at holbr@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer D. Justine Lamas can be reached at lamas@fas.harvard.edu.