Try not to Freak Out, but Bozeman’s award-winning musical is back. This May 18-19, see the hilarious giant puppet show returning for its  encore performance.

Inside the Rialto Theatre audiences will be treated to a new kind of theatrical experience. They will watch the show in groups at table rounds. Huddled together, audiences may find comfort, or a hand to squeeze as they jump and scream from scares and laughter alike. They will witness the story of two counterculture bikers on a drive across the country to “find the real America.” When our protagonists cross paths with a cult trying to resurrect its dead founder, they must work together, learning to cooperate as they grapple with the absurd challenge that life presents.

What makes Freak Out so special is that the moral of the show is a lesson that the show’s co-creator Ryan Cassavaugh and his production team learned while creating Freak Out. “It is such a collaborative effort. I wrote it, but to take credit for all of it…I wrote that. Joe wrote the music. But the puppeteers designed their own puppets. The sets were the cast’s. It was a lot of late nights. Everyone was there running lines while hot gluing a puppet motorcycle. It’s all that. It took the total commitment of everybody,” Ryan Cassavaugh.

When audiences laugh with delight at Freak Out, they won’t just be delighted by a show that co-creators Ryan’s Cassvaugh & Joe Knapp, Director Sadie Cassavaugh and their team created for 2018. They will be enjoying a show that is the culmination of the team’s efforts over the past six years. This May will mark the first time that Ryan & co gets to re-introduce their characters to a live audience. In the past, the puppets and sets that comprised their shows would be recycled and refitted into new characters and settings for the next show.

Until Freak Out, the team had never been satisfied with producing the same show. Each year he and his team built off the “bones” of the previous show, always challenging themselves to push harder creatively. “Every year that we did a puppet show, we would just add a word or two. It’s a giant puppet show. It’s a giant puppet show horror. It’s a giant puppet show horror musical. How can we take this thing we’ve been working on and take it to the next level? Compared to the first show we did with puppets, this is light years ahead. I think musical was the big breakthrough,” Ryan Cassavaugh.

On May 18-19, witness that breakthrough. Experience homegrown Bozeman creativity as you Freak Out. In a way these shows outside of the Verge Theatre are an expreiment,and if everything goes as planned in May they performances will act a springboard for the Freak Out production to go on the road. Hope you get a ticket and to see you there.

Tickets at Cactus Records in downtown Bozeman for $23 in store only. Friday, May 18th at 8pm and Saturday, May 19th at 6pm and 9pm (the Saturday late show is “extra risque sing-along” performance) Tickets for this event are NOT available through the Cactus website, but can be purchased in store ***THIS SHOW IS 18+ ONLY; PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE TICKETS IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO ATTEND. NO REFUNDS OR EXCHANGES ***