Affairs are often an all too common occurrence in many marriages. You know how the storyline goes — the husband cheats on his wife with another woman, a younger man, or even… a goat. And it is the latter topic which No Refund Theatre tackles with its semester opening rendition of “The Goat.”

The story begins with a snapshot of the life of the protagonist, Martin (Chad Poz). His lifelong friend, Rose (Victoria Jones) is preparing to interview him on a few of his most recent architectural accomplishments. His loving wife, Stevie (Katie Mihelarakis), dotes on him by the minute. His relationship with his recently outed son, Billy (Gerry Stamatelatos), has never been better. Martin is at the peak of his career.

Of course, that is, until news of his affair with this glorious creature named Sylvia comes to light. Suddenly, Martin’s life is thrown into chaos as his whole family finds out about this woman and the fact that she’s not actually a woman at all, but rather, a goat.

Junior Dalton Brough directs the show, and though it’s his first time directing a production on his own, Brough is a longtime veteran of the club.

“I’ve been a part of this since freshman year and I’ve never left,” Brough said. “I started off just teching and acting a little bit and now I’m directing a show. I just love it.”

Clearly, the show deals with a lot of sensitive and controversial topics. After all, beastiality is not a topic of everyday conversation. But for Brough, that’s what he loves most about doing this play specifically. After lots of research and reading, he knew that “The Goat” was definitely the directing challenge he wanted to tackle right off the bat.

“I’ve always very much liked to do things on the controversial side,” he said. “I find it more fun, it’s more exciting to do things that not everyone else might not be into.”

Despite the sensitive topic itself, the play is meant to get the audience thinking. While on the surface level it might seem to be about beastiality, it is really more about getting people to question social acceptance and how we define normalcy. The original playwright wanted his audience to question the slippery slope of liberalism.

“I want people to come in having one expectation about what the show is about and leave having that expectation shattered,” Brough said. “I want people to have to think about this show for a couple days. I want it to be something people talk about.”

And with a talented and passionate cast, I find it hard to believe people won’t leave the show completely dumbstruck. It’s hard not to enjoy the performance they put on, no matter the topic. You won’t want to miss No Refund Theatre’s semester opener.

NRT will perform “The Goat” at 9 p.m. January 18-20 in the HUB Flex Theatre. For more information, you can check out the event’s Facebook page here.