Written by: Rebecca Straits (Rjs006@marietta.edu)
April 10th, Marietta College’s Hermann Fine Arts Center debuted its double feature musical, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, and Play, Dog Sees God: The Confessions of A Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal.
Dog Sees God took place at 9:00 p.m. in the Friederich Theater and was for mature audiences only.
Set in the unforgiving social sphere of high school, the play follows the reimagined teen versions of the lovable Peanuts comic characters after the tragic and violent death of CB’s dog.
The play tackled real world problems such as underage substance abuse, abortion, homophobia, suicide, and school shootings.
Unlike the cartoonist style of You’re a good man Charlie Brown, the setting for Dog Sees God was more realistic in style, featuring a small red dog house, a small mail box, and a grey wall of school lockers.
The play featured a variety of characters including the mournful CB, played by Brendon Thompson, CB’s identity crisis’ Sister, played by Annalise Bennett, the buddhist smoker Van, played by Declan Garrett, Van’s arsonist sister, played by Carlee Hankinson, the closeted clean freak Matt, played by Kline Howell, The outcast Beethoven, played by Logan Hertle, and the mean girls Tricia, Played by Kynsingten McMaster, and Marcy, played by Maggie Somerville.
The best way to describe this Play is edgy but thoughtful. The play had themes of self discovery, death, and acceptance. There were a few scenes that were hard to watch, while others were more comedic but overall, the most impactful scene would have to be the final act when CB receives a letter from his pen pal, CS. The scene was simple but encapsulated the message of the play perfectly: live life to its fullest and have empathy for yourself and others.
All in all, the actors did a great job portraying the heavy subjects in the play, and the production team did an equally great job with the sound, lighting, and props, such as the small, more realistic red dog house juxtaposed to the large cartoonish red dog house of the Charlie Brown musical.
The play went on from April 10, 11, 16, 17, 18 from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m. and has no intermissions. Marietta College’s theater season isn’t over just yet. May 1st and May 2nd is the free Spring Dance concerts. To find out more, visit the Marietta College theater event calendar: marietta.edu/theatre-season.
