Dog Sees God is playwright Bert V. Royal’s look at a post-modern post-Peanuts Charlie Brown gang. It’s been a long time since the strips and the characters are all teenagers now. Things are considerably more complicated than they were when they were kids. You can imagine the dark permutations. Snoopy has passed on. All that’s left is a bunch of people transitioning into adulthood.
After seeing this a few years back, I always kind of wanted to see it done in rotating rep with You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown with same cast playing the same characters in both productions. While that’s not ever likely to happen, it’s nice to see another production of Dog Sees God. This one is being staged by Splinter Group. It opens this week. The production stars sharp dramatic and comedic talent Nate Press as an existentially lost “C.B.” His beloved dog has passed on and he’s trying to figure out what it all means in a play that is remarkably dark in places. Brenna Kempf plays his sister Sally and Katie Merriman plays Lucy in a production that also stars Emily Vitrano (Marcie), Ryan Kreuger (Shroeder), Joe Picchetti (the kid formerly known as Pig Pen) and Nathan Danzer (Linus).
Splinter Group’s production of Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenaged Blockhead runs June 13-29 at the Marian Center on 3211 S. Lake Drive. For more information, visit the Splinter Group online.
