Tickets now on sale to Risk Theatre Initiative’s production of Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5

by Shawn Parikh

Risk Theatre Initiative is showing their risk-taking abilities with their next production, Slaughterhouse 5. The show runs from February 7 - March 2, and tickets are now on sale online or by calling 214-823-RISK.

Through special arrangement with the Vonnegut estate, the company will present an adaptation of the 1969 novel about Billy Pilgrim who has become "unstuck in time”. He experiences the events of his life in a seemingly random order, with no idea which part of life he will "visit" next. It is a visual and emotional spectacle exploring fate, free will, and the illogical nature of humans.

Seeking to rework the original script (which was produced at Chicago's reknowned Steppenwolf Theatre in 1996) to allow for smaller companies to be able to produce the epic, Academy Award winner and Tony Award nominee Eric Simonson began collaborating with Risk and Director Marianne Galloway in the summer of 2007. Staged readings popped up in September 2007, during which Simonson joined the cast, design team, and an open audience of the general public at Risk's home space on Ross Avenue in Dallas, has led to the new adaptation, which receives its premiere in the Risk Mainstage on February 7th.

Slaughterhouse 5 features the largest cast for a Risk production: T.A. Taylor channels Kurt Vonnegut himself as "The Man". The fictitious, time-traveling entity of Billy Pilgrim is played at various ages by Chad Gowen Spear, Brad Davidson, and young newcomer Taubert Nadalini. Other cast members include Scott Milligan, Betty Milligan, Diane Worman, Jim Kuenzer, Beau Trujillo, Scott Barber, Jonathan Taylor, David Fluitt, Brian Witkowitz, Danielle Pickard, Andrew Phifer, and John Calvin Aylor.

As far as technical aspects go, they have some of the finest in the metroplex: Clare Floyd Devries on set, Heath Gage on sound, Mark C. Guerra on costumes, and Dave Tenney as technical director and lighting designer. And of course, the show is directed by acclaimed Marianne Galloway.