Student directs mature version of Charlie Brown
For its final student performance of the semester, the FMU theatre department performed the play “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” on April 11-13 in the Hyman Fine Arts Center.
Senior Emily Bochette directed the show, which featured eight characters played by FMU students. The play was also almost entirely completed by the students.
Bert V. Royal wrote the original show in 2004, which is an “unauthorized parody” of the Charlie Brown (CB) gang as high school students.
The play focuses on themes such as sexuality, life after death, bullying, mental illness, drug use and suicide.
It begins with CB’s beagle dying from rabies, and CB writing to a pen pal about it.
Following the death of CB’s dog, the characters of the play experience a whirlwind of events.
FMU students Jay Hilbourn, Ashlei Jones, Da’quan Jordan, Caitlyn McCoy, Malcolm Parker, Joy Price, Alexander Simmons and Jessica Sistrunk performed their roles as: CB, Marcy, Beethoven, CB’s sister, Van, Van’s sister, Matt and Tricia, respectively. Each character represents a character from the “Peanuts” comic series, but have had their names changed as a part of the parody.
FMU student Anyla Jackson attended the show as a requirement for a theatre class, but ended up enjoying the performance.
“When you think about plays, you think that they are going to be boring or something, but this wasn’t boring,” Jackson said. “It was actually really good and interesting. It had a twist I wasn’t expecting.”
Jackson said she was impressed with the actors’ performances.
“They were really convincing with their characters and you could tell they put everything into it,” Jackson said.
