The program for Bert V. Royal's Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead says that the show "is intended for adults only," but it would likely make a greater impact on an audience of teens. True, the language about sex and drugs is exceedingly explicit. But once we've gotten used to the idea that the company from Peanuts has grown up and turned to Ecstasy, blow jobs and arson, the plot turns to one character's sexual crisis, and the ensuing developments — the schoolyard taunts, the bullying, the inescapability of public opinion — all read as high school problems. If Dog Sees God is really aimed at adults, then its story is old hat and offers next to nothing original to think about. But for a 16-year-old, the play's message of tolerance may feel distinctly relevant. In the pressure-cooker that is high school, Dog Sees God might even save a life.
Dog introduces us to the Peanuts crew a few years past childhood. Charlie Brown ("CB" in the play) is in a funk because Snoopy contracted rabies and had to be put down, and his sister Sally is into Wicca after a brief stint as a Baptist. Linus ("Van") is a stoner who smoked his own blanket, and Marcy is a sexpot whose body is available to just about all comers. Pigpen ("Matt") has become a super-clean macho germophobe, and Lucy ("Van's Sister") is in a mental institution because she set the little red-haired girl's hair on fire. Just about all the characters are sexually savvy, use foul language fearlessly, and can't satisfactorily answer CB's question of whether there's a heaven for dogs.
Then the real story begins: sensitive Schroeder ("Beethoven"), who's used to being accused of acting gay, wins a surprise kiss from another (male) character. The kiss leaves both guys confused, and Beethoven, at his piano, sees big trouble looming. One thing leads to another and finally the danger Beethoven foresaw becomes actual. In the world of the schoolyard, there's neither privacy nor safety.
If the story's a little trite, still the acting in this Jobsite Theater production is topnotch. As CB, Shawn Paonessa is wistful, impulsive, depressed and philosophical, and as his younger sister, Kari Goetz is extremely funny and just extreme. Jason Vaughan Evans as the Linus figure is credibly high on pot and testosterone, while Meg Heimstead as Marcy exudes sex from head to foot. Then there's Beethoven, whom Spencer Meyers portrays as a beleaguered talent in search of some solitude, and the Lucy figure, who in Summer Bohnenkamp-Jenkins' capable hands is joyfully deranged. Katrina Stevenson makes Tricia the school narcissist-in-chief, and Richard Kennedy, as Matt, is a trouble-seeking hothead. All are superbly directed by Jobsite Artistic Director David M. Jenkins. Brian Smallheer's two-level set seems to be composed of brick and stone, and could easily stand for a section of a high school.
For most even slightly liberal adults, there's little here that's challenging, and much that's already tired (the earnest chorus that ends the pageant is more reminiscent of an adolescent Laramie Project than of a wild-eyed Saturday Night Live sketch). Royal is a skillful writer, but when he's not shocking us with the antics of characters from our beloved Peanuts, he's not interesting us at all. We've seen this story too many times.
Dear Pen Pal: What else is new?
An Auspicious Start. The brand-new Revolve Theatre Company is just now putting on its first play at Tampa's Gorilla Theatre, and it's a daring one. The play is Caryl Churchill's hour-long Far Away, about a future in which nature itself takes up arms against humans, parents lie to children about nearby atrocities, and people make preposterous hats to be worn by those condemned to die. As acted by Jackie Rivera, Eric Burgess and Bridget Bean, it's bizarre and provocative and powerfully unpredictable in form and content. Chris Jackson directs, and the busy set is by Eric Haak. Churchill is possibly England's greatest living playwright, so it's wonderful to have a chance to follow her latest thoughts. So Happy Birthday (literally) to Revolve. And many happy returns.
This article appears in Aug 12-18, 2010.