If you thought that Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang were “nuts” as children, things have escalated now that they’re in high school.
Bert V. Royal’s “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead,” based on Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip “Peanuts,” follows the familiar characters as they navigate the often-cruel realm of high school. NSU’s production opens on Oct. 7. I interviewed Dan Gelbmann, assistant professor of technical theatre and design, Lucas Doytier, freshman theatre major, Chris Gacinski, sophomore theatre and English major, Amanda Holtzman, junior psychology major, and Sierra Shreves, freshman theatre and secondary education for literature major, to talk about the production, the comics and life onstage.
Can you talk about your role in the play?
Gelbmann: “I’m the director. I’m driving the bus. I’m the person that supervises the vision of the show in its entirety.”
Doytier: “I play the [main] character CB…He’s going through a self-identity crisis. He’s trying to break out of his shell because he’s always Charlie Brown, and he’s always forgiving and so nice, and he’s trying to get out of that character and try new things.”
Gacinski: “I play Beethoven – my Peanut affiliate would be Schroeder. I’m the artistic, musically-inclined one in the production that gets picked on. He wants acceptance. He prefers to be alone, and he doesn’t want to be tormented in high school.”
Holtzman: “I’m the stage manager, so I’m the main line of communication between the director, the designers and the actors. I run rehearsals and production meetings…and call all of the cues during the show.”
Shreves: “I’m one of the two assistant stage managers…I make sure the actors are where they need to be, the set is where it should be and the props are where they should be.”
Were you familiar with the comics and did the play change your perspective on them?
Gacinski: “It spoiled the comics for me, man. I love the Peanuts. I really do, but it made me think differently because they still display the qualities in the show that they do in the comics…It opened my eyes to how growing up can really change somebody.”
Gelbmann: “Of course I grew up with [the comics]. They have a big spot in my heart, and with the evolution of this play, lots of things hit home very quickly.”
Holtzman: “I don’t know if it changed my perspective of the characters, but it’s been interesting to see how realistically everything ties back to their childhood…It’s exaggerated, but it’s also pretty realistic.”
What’s been the biggest challenge for you throughout this process?
Gacinski: “Being more comfortable with yourself. You realize that sometimes the show reflects you in high school as well, because this picks up on all the stereotypes of high school characters…It’s hard to play these characters because you have to be accurate, but there’s something you have to add to the characters to make them more powerful.”
Gelbmann: “The challenging thing about the piece for me is to have the bullying be correct and as poignant as it needs to be but de-escalating it in a way so that it’s not hyper-aggressive. It could snowball into this giant thing where there’s no redeeming quality at the end, and so keeping the dynamic level…has been a challenge.”
Doytier: “Memorizing [CB’s] monologues is really challenging on top of schoolwork and everything else. Also, getting connected to the character and putting yourself in the character’s shoes is something that I’m working on for sure, but I’m slowly getting where I need to be.”
Shreves: “Right now, all of us are involved in at least one other production, so time is crazy. For me, there’s particular aspects of this piece that are attached to real-life circumstances, so that’s been a difficult thing, but also a very therapeutic thing to deal with.”
Any funny rehearsal stories?
Doytier: “[One morning] I had worked for eight hours and I was really tired, and I was just like, ‘I want a clothing article from everyone,’ and so I took something from everyone.”
Gelbmann: “It’s not really a story, but explaining the oblique sexual references [in the show] to very shielded individuals has been hysterical.”
Holtzman: “I have a Charlie Brown sticker book, and I give stickers when the actors get their lines right or show up on time. So I always think it’s funny when they’re really excited to get a sticker. Sometimes when I give one person a smaller sticker than someone else, they’ll argue with me.”
Favorite lines from the show?
Gelbmann: “There’s not much we can give away without spoiling the show, but the spork monologues are fantastic. Also, be looking out for the Mexican pizza.”
Holtzman: “Australian spaghetti. It’ll be funny in context.”
What do you hope people who see the play come away with?
Gelbmann: “I hope they’re brutally shocked at the beginning of the show and that it forces them to think about what the message has been throughout…I want them to be able to get hit and then think about it. The rest of the show leads us into that discussion. And I hope people find it funny, because it’s funny.”
Gacinski: This show [delivers a message]. It shows that we all grow up tough, but we can’t take it out on each other, since we coexist with each other. Bullying is absolutely terrible, and no one should pick on each other ever. We all go through rough times, and nobody knows it until it’s too late.”
Doytier: “This is a really powerful anti-bullying message…Maybe it’ll get people to think about the way they act and see other people.”
Shreves: “Hope…Life can be overwhelming at times, and you can be at a point where you don’t feel optimistic in any way, but if you hold on to a hope for a better day…eventually a better time will come.”
Holtzman: “I hope they take away the message that the things you say to people stick, and it can affect them negatively without you even knowing it.”
“Dog Sees God” addresses issues related to violence, sexual abuse, eating disorders and suicide. Gelbmann said the show would be given an R rating if it was a movie.
The play opens in the Black Box Theatre in the Don Taft University Center on Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m., with subsequent performances on Oct. 8 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 9 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $7 for NSU students and $12 for the public. Following the performance on Oct. 8 at 2 p.m., Razor’s Edge Shark Talent will be hosting a conversation reflecting on the themes in the play led by Michael Reiter, professor in the Department of Family Therapy. Tickets for all performances can be purchased at the door for cash or credit or prior to the performance online at cahss.nova.edu/arts/performance-series.
Photo: The cast and crew of “Dog Sees God” prepares for the show’s opening on Oct. 7.
Credit: S. Shreves
