“WANTED: Someone to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. You’ll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.” In 1997, a writer named John Silveira posted this humorous advertisement in a small Oregon publication called Backwoods Home Magazine, where he was working at the time. Dry and inconspicuous, the ad has since been mentioned on radio and talk shows, printed on T-shirts, and is a long-running internet meme. It also inspired a 2012 indie movie called Safety Not Guaranteed, directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, and Jake Johnson. Ryan Miller and Nick Blaemire adapted the film into an alternative rock musical in 2024. The show premiered to critical acclaim at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and is now playing at Signature through April 12, directed by Oliver Butler. Mia Pak (Darius, center) with Joshua Morgan, Tyler Dobies, Erin Weaver, and Preston Truman Boyd in ‘Safety Not Guaranteed.’ Photo by Daniel Rader. As in the film of the same name, Safety Not Guaranteed begins in a bleary publisher’s office in Seattle, where the clever but disillusioned intern Darius (Mia Pak) laments a lack of purpose and passion in her field. As the team struggles to come up with an exciting pitch, another writer, Jeff (Preston Truman Boyd), suggests locating the mastermind behind a small-town want ad seeking a time-traveling companion (inspired by the 1997 ad mentioned above). The story is quickly picked up by the magazine, and Jeff, Darius, and a younger intern, Arnau (Tyler Dobies), set out for Ocean View, Oregon. Staking out the listed P.O. box, the group encounters a squirrely young man named Kenneth (Gunnar Manchester), quickly identified as the ad’s solicitor when he asks Jeff, “What’s your mission?” The thing is, Jeff’s mission lies elsewhere — in the arms of a former fling named Liz (Erin Weaver), whom he hopes to reconnect with while in Ocean View. When Jeff fumbles the question, Darius steps up to the plate, gradually earning Kenneth’s trust over a number of days and becoming his time-traveling partner in crime. Throw in a heist at a medical facility, FBI agents lurking in the shadows, and a whirlwind romance between Arnau and local librarian Tristan (Joshua Morgan), and Safety Not Guaranteed has all the ingredients for a sci-fi thriller. But at the end of the day, it is a millennial coming-of-age story that asks: what are you willing to give up in the present in order to redo the past? While the musical is set later than the film, it captures the same wistful, early-2000s aesthetic via its dry wit, quirky pop-culture references (like a subtle but very early-on homage to Smash Mouth’s “All Star”), and grungy Pacific Northwest–inspired wardrobe by Shahrzad Mazaheri. With the show featuring a mix of nostalgia-core and second-hand embarrassment, audiences born between 1981 and 1996 can expect to feel seen and heard on stage.  Miller and Blaemire soundtrack the story admirably. From the celestially adorned “Gaming Laptop” to the upbeat interlude “Go Time” to the most devastating song about chocolate milk I have ever heard, the music is multidimensional and moving throughout. For a musical that ventures into the unknowns of time and space, Arnulfo Maldonado’s scenic design is minimal. Sparse set pieces effectively transport us to the salt-coated sea town while most of the stage is occupied by a platform on which the band plays in full (sometimes partial) view of the audience. Yet, this staging is far more compelling than, say, the National Tour of Back to the Future, which relies on theme-park–style gimmicks and special effects to minimal degrees of intrigue.  Gunnar Manchester (Kenneth) and Mia Pak (Darius) in ‘Safety Not Guaranteed.’ Photo by Daniel Rader. Frequently backlit, the actors navigate a hazy “nowhere” space that feels as close to a concert hall as it does the expanse of a coastal rainforest. The stage is small (especially compared with its premiere venue, the 900-seat Harvey Theater at BAM), but Jason Lyons does everything imaginable to make this space feel larger through the depth and intricacy of his lighting design. It is mesmeric.  As Jeff, Boyd fits the “chill millennial manager” archetype, capturing the essence of someone in their forties aching to “relive his adolescent dreams.” Pak, while virtuosic in the lead role of Darius, ventures close to an imitation of Plaza (whose signature deadpan in the 2012 film propelled her career to new height) –– but movie-to-musical adaptations have a tendency to push that sort of direct translation, and Safety Not Guaranteed is hardly its worst offender. Weaver, whose penchant for scene-stealing is usually unmissable (as seen in Signature’s recent productions of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Private Jones), humbly blends in with the rest of the cast, while still excelling in a number of secondary roles. Dobies and Morgan revel in authentic chemistry, a worthy subplot to humanize the sci-fi components of the play. Finally, Manchester delivers a Kenneth so deeply unsettled by his past that you cannot help but hope for his better future.  The play leaves us without a surefire answer as to what actually happened that weekend in Ocean View. The characters and the audience may wonder: Is any of this actually real? But, speaking on behalf of my generation, I ask myself that question every day. An ode to the millennial itch, Safety Not Guaranteed argues that the adventure of time travel lies not in what we know about the past, but in what we don’t know about the future. Running Time: One hour and 45 minutes, no intermission. Safety Not Guaranteed plays through April 12, 2026, in the MAX Theatre at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave, Arlington, VA. Tickets range from $47–$98 and are available online or by calling the box office at 703.820.9771. Tickets are also available on TodayTix. The program is online here. Buy Tickets Discount Tickets SEE ALSO:Signature Theatre announces cast and creative team for ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’ (news story, February 11, 2026) The post Signature’s ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’ is a sci-fi trip and a journey through time appeared first on DC Theater Arts. ...read more read less