PHS grad storming the stage in ‘Stomp’

A Poway High graduate is drumming up major success with a role in “Stomp.”

Cade Slattery, 19, who graduated from Poway High School in 2014, has been playing the role of Ringo in the long-running show since December and is currently performing Off-Broadway.

Slattery also recently portrayed Ringo in a nationwide “Stomp” tour from February to April.

“I love (portraying) Ringo, it’s a blast,” said Slattery, who now lives in New York City.

This is the first big show Slattery has been a part of, he said.

Slattery got his start preparing for “STOMP” early, joining a percussive performance group called Arts in Motion in El Cajon that is run by Chris Rubio, a “Stomp” veteran, when he was 9 years old.

“It’s a funny story,” said Slattery. “My older sister saw them perform at a San Diego Gulls hockey game, and she thought one of (the performers) was cute, so she joined, and I thought it was cool so I joined too.”

Though Slattery’s sister didn’t end up staying with the group, he said, he did, and still performs with them when he comes back to San Diego for vacations. He performed in a “percussive motivational assembly” at a San Diego elementary school with the group last week, he said.

Slattery described his character Ringo as someone who is kind of awkward and doesn’t really fit in. Ringo is one of eight characters in “Stomp,” which is a show told through music and percussion but without any words. “It makes music with everyday objects you’d find on the street, but we don’t use words. It’s a show without spoken language, because music is a language used around the world. Anyone can come to “Stomp” and understand it, no matter what language they speak,” said Slattery.

The items used in “Stomp” include everything from brooms to garbage cans.

Slattery was 18 when he made it through the “Stomp” auditions, he said, something he had watched his fellow members of Arts in Motion experience throughout his time with the group.

He was trained for roles, but wasn’t picked up for a role in the New York show until this December, he said. Though he was an experienced drummer from his time with Arts in Motion, Slattery said he had to train in movement, something Rubio helped him with. “Half of the show is moving fluidly around stage,” he said. “That was something I had to learn.” He also had to learn the music and how to shape the role of Ringo to suit himself, he said.

Slattery said he isn’t interested in pursuing anything other than “Stomp” in the future and hopes to be with the show for several years. It is possible for him to play other roles in “Stomp,” but he said he will wait for the show runners to ask him if he wants to switch roles, rather than requesting a change. “I don’t want to change how my “Stomp” journey will go,” said Slattery. “I want it to be as raw and real as possible. When (the show runners) think you’re ready to move on (to another role), they’ll let you know.”