‘Dog Sees God,’ GCSU sees new theater production

Director Nic Marrone anticipates the premiere of his senior capstone project and the fruits of the labor of the cast and crew of ‘Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead’

Opening Sept. 30 and running again on Oct. 1, “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead” will be playing in Russell Auditorium. As the directior of the play, senior theater major Nic Marrone is both excited and proud to announce the debut of his rendition of the production.

As a requirement for graduation, senior theatre students must complete a capstone, with the opportunity to direct a play to complete it.

Written by Burt V. Royal, who also wrote new movie “Easy A”, the script has seen some amendments to include several scenes in which Marrone uses his personal experience to influence and revise the lines and circumstances to better suit his vision.

“As a business major, it’s nice to be able to enjoy plays such as this one on campus—it’s a refreshing break from my schoolwork,” said Brandon Beaty. “I also like that students are able to put their own little twist on plays to make it describe their own lives in some way.”

Kendyl Wade | gcsunade.com

From left, senior Kara Cox and freshman Rachel Bull rehearse their parts as Tricia and Marcy. Cox. Tricia is emulating the character of Peppermint Patty and Bull is portraying Marcie from the well-known Peanuts comics.

A modern-day account of the “Peanuts” comic crew, who are now in high school, this version of “Dog Sees God” incorporates several common social situations that affect the everyday teenager, a distinguishing trait that Marrone is quite proud to report.

Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Marcie, Sally, Pig-Pen, Shroeder and Peppermint Patty all make appearances in the play, but their names have been altered for copyright reasons. Just like every other high school student body, there are numerous cliques into which the characters fall. Charlie Brown is your typical high school kid maintaining his reputation as your classic, run-of-the-mill teen male. Sally now follows the gothic trend, while Lucy is institutionalized for being a pyromaniac. Pig-Pen is now germophobic, having kicked his dirty habits and picked up some healthy hygiene practices. Linus, now referred to as Van, is a philosophical stoner, always dishing out bits of wisdom between tokes. Peppermint Patty is now Tricia, and is always followed by her sidekick, Marcy. Shroeder has been outcasted by the group, and may now be classified as a loner.

The cast has been preparing since the second week of this semester, Monday through Friday from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

“The toughest part of rehearsal is to get the flow of everything…the flow of moods, flow of conversations, flow of tone, flow of physicality…so that all the characters’ decisions and emotions make sense,” Marrone said. “We’ll be working on that right up until the night before the show.”

This production is intended for mature audiences only. Dramatized real-life situations and crises are introduced and carried out, causing the viewer to experience an especially wide range of emotions.

“I’ve heard Nic is really talented, and I’m excited to see how this play turns out. I think it’ll be really easy to relate to for everyone because it illustrates the situations that everybody had to deal with in high school,” said visual arts major Katie Graham.

The play will present a group different from the “Peanuts” gang but rest assured, it will be a fresh and mature change, thanks to the unique perspective of Marrone.

Posted by KateRamsey on Sep 24 2010. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.