Dog Sees God

So I'm enrolled in an acting class at the university I attend, and what we do is select short monologues from plays of characters similar to our age and/or persona. We have to pick two over the semester. For the first one, I chose a brief speech from the book Tweak by Nic Sheff. When I was trying to find a suitable monologue for me to use, I had so much trouble I was getting severely frustrated.

But this time around, for my second speech, I think I've found just the right source.

Dog Sees God: Confessions Of A Teenage Blockhead is a play written by Bert V. Royal. It's a parody of Charles Schultz's Peanuts comics but the characters are grown up and are teenagers in high school. The characters names are changed but hold influences from the original comic. CB (Charlie Brown) is the main character in the play and is grieving over the death of his dog. CB's sister (Sally) has gone goth and constantly changes her philosophy on life. Van (Linus) still offers much philosophical wisdom but is a complete pothead. Matt (Pig-pen) is an OCD neat freak and has internalized his dirtiness; he's a sex maniac and extremely homophobic. Beethoven (Schroeder) is the school outcast because he was sexually abused by his alcoholic father and finds solace only in his piano playing. Peppermint Patty and Marcie's doppelgangers in the play are the two partying, mean girls/fugly grotsky betches.

The play deals with themes concerning drug use, eating disorders, teen violence, rebellion, sexual identity, and suicide.

I've skimmed through this play. And I like what I'm seeing. There's a vibe of that typical high school scenario and characters, but they're warped and disturbed and so fascinating.

I'll have more to say once I read the play in depth.