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The Daily Wildcat

The Daily Wildcat

 

    “Charlie Brown gets risque, fresh makeover”

    Charlie Brown is gay. Forget Lucy van Pelt: Charlie’s into boys.

    While it’s not something we saw growing up, this isn’t out of line in Bert V. Royal’s “”Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead.””

    The play takes Charles Schulz’s beloved “”Peanuts”” characters and places them in a new reality, one that is more similar to “”Rent”” than Schulz’s classic comic strip.

    The play follows Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang, but it’s 10 years in the future. They’re all in high school and dealing with real life issues: drugs, alcohol, suicide, identity crisis, and homosexuality. Nothing is left untouched.

    “”Dog Sees God”” is playing at the Live Theatre Workshop as part of the Etcetera Series.

    “”Etcetera’s mission statement is to do thought-provoking, edgier theatre,”” said Christopher Johnson, Etcetera’s co-artistic director.

    Johnson also plays the character of CB (Charlie Brown) in “”Dog Sees God.””

    This production certainly will make you think as it explores the darker, more painful side of high school and all the relevant issues teenagers face.

    “”You know, there’s not a lot of representation for the really shitty sides of high school in a lot of movies and television,”” Johnson said. “”This show is more of a little bit of a look at the ugly, real side of it and what a lot of kids are really going through.””

    Amanda Gremel , assistant education director at Live Theatre Workshop, plays CB’s sister, a troubled girl who experiments with identity while struggling to find who she truly wants to become.

    “”She’s going through high school not knowing her identity,”” Gremel said. “”Every week she changes, like one week she pretends she’s Wiccan … she just goes through different phases of her life trying to find herself and where she belongs.””

    We can all remember back in high school when the boundaries of personal discovery were set by social standards and locked into place with peer pressure.

    Although the performance is expected to be enjoyed by an audience in their 20s, Alex Garday, a journalism senior who plays Matt in “”Dog Sees God,”” also reminds us that it is applicable to those in all stages of life.

    “”I also think it’s a great show for adults … so that they can begin to get an understanding of what it’s like as these characters, and as teenagers, growing up in our society today.””

    “”Dog Sees God”” opens tonight and runs every Friday and Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. until

    Sept. 20.

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