“Dog Sees God” blends obscenity, enlightenment

Paul Bowers

Tagline: Pleading the First

Pa The narration in Trustus Theatre’s production of “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” revolves, like so many of the classic “Peanuts” comic strips, around a letter that the chronically unlucky C.B. is writing to his pen pal. Now, however, in his high school years, he and his friends have a whole new set of issues about which to say “Good grief”: suicide, cocaine use, abortion and self-loathing, to name a few.

The play, which won the 2004 New York International Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award for its original Off-Off-Broadway performance, presents a shocking new chapter in the beloved “Peanuts” mythos, replete with gratuitous on-stage drug use and sexual content.

This parody-sequel is completely unauthorized by deceased creator Charles Schultz and his publisher United Feature Syndicate, and accordingly the names of the characters have been altered.

In the newly mature Peanuts gang, Charlie Brown becomes C.B., equally self-conscious and introspective to his younger self, but with much darker demons to face. Pigpen becomes Matt, a deeply insecure germophobe. Linus becomes Van, a pseudo-Buddhist pothead who smokes the ashes of his beloved security blanket.

The characters are portrayed convincingly for the most part. USC second-year MFA acting student Matthew Haws, as C.B., captures the original Chuck’s innocent observational tone in his narrative monologues.

Fourth-year USC theater student Virginia Betleyoun delivers an outstanding performance as Van’s Sister, a grown-up Lucy with pyromania and a lithium habit. Her character elicits big laughs with her still-domineering mannerisms and startlingly serious psychoses.

USC second-year theater student Steven Kopp elicits gut-wrenching emotion in his role as Beethoven, a sexually conflicted social outcast version of the young musical prodigy Schroeder.

Other characters fall flat, however, particularly Marcy (Marcie) and Tricia (Peppermint Patty), who come across as teen movie stereotypes most every time they open their mouths. This probably has more to do with lazy scriptwriting than with the actresses’ skill levels, but it causes parts of the play to drag.

Overall, the cast shows remarkable chemistry, especially in the well-choreographed musical interludes. They fight, hug and grope each other like friends who have lived in the same town for a lifetime.

The play is a startlingly eclectic production, seamlessly blending the profane and the profound to create a grittily human portrait. The gruesome death of Snoopy, like the death of innocence, is a catalyst for C.B.’s philosophical journey, prompting him to ask all his friends, “Where do animals go when they die?”

This is only the first of many questions that the old gang attempts to answer in the ambitious survey of human suffering and dignity that is “Dog Sees God.” The result is a thought-provoking, spiritually charged climax that represents not only the coming of age, but the beginning of existential understanding.

“Dog Sees God” runs through October 6, with performances Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Visit trustus.org for pricing information, or call 803-254-9732.