Flashback Friday – Review from the Vault

Review Roundup: Shots in the Dark Dog Sees God Dark, Gutsy

by Bob Weesner

Presently playing in the MadLab theatre is the Shots In The Dark Independent Theatre Company production of Dog Sees God: Confessions Of A Teenage Blockhead.

My first view of the set reveals a large red doghouse, so familiar I can easily visualize a beagle on the roof. The lead character comes out of the darkness and speaks directly to the audience. Again, the sweater with the black jagged stripe across the chest places me even more at ease. Only … isn’t the stripe supposed to be horizontal instead of vertical?

Indeed it is. And that’s only the beginning. For good or ill, playwright Bert V. Royal has taken the beloved Charles Schultz characters (the Peanuts gang), advanced them a handful of years, and placed them in strictly adult situations. At first, and because I’m conditioned to react to these characters in a certain way, I hunted hard for humor. What humor I found was dark. I rationalized that this is what Charlie Brown and friends would be like if played on Saturday Night Live. But the action and adult language carried well beyond satire into dichotomy, as the characters dealt directly with sex, drugs, and homosexuality. The drama was intense and often brutal.

The production was directed – wisely – by Patrick McGregor II. Movement was careful and unambiguous. Pace was steady, and characterizations, which could have easily slipped into burlesque, were largely understated (combined with action that was as broad as you can get. Neat trick.) The stage wanager was Mari Taylor and sound design was by Devon Farris.

The cast consisted of Justin McGregor as CB, Drew Klopfer as Beethoven, Johnna Valenti as CB’s Sister, Joey Albus as Matt, Brittany McPheters as Tricia, Katie Taggart as Van’s Sister, Isabella Trevino as Marcy and Brian Smith as Van. As drama reviewers are fond of saying, several performers had “moments.” Klopfer was warm, Albus was brutal, Valenti and Taggart were zany, and the others drifted in and out of my awareness. In the end, I felt that choosing this play was ambitious and just a touch beyond the experience of this ensemble. Because the characters didn’t appear to be listening to each other, it took me a long time to believe what the actors were saying. Further, the myriad and subtle stage “business” that makes a character (or an ensemble) interesting, was largely missing. Once the shock value of the play was over, my interest waned.

On the way out of the theater, an elderly lady asked me if I had enjoyed the play. I avoided answering, because I wasn’t at all sure “enjoyed” was the correct word to use in the context of the presentation. Rather, I appreciated what I had seen. The work was an approach to common and important issues in a unique way. In that respect live theatre is better than just about any form I know.

Shots In The Dark Independent Theatre Company will continue to present Dog Sees God: Confessions Of A Teenage Blockhead on Saturday, June 25, 2011 at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, June 26, 2011 at 2:00pm, in the MadLab Theatre and Gallery, 227 North Third street. Admission is “pay what you can.” You may contact MadLab for tickets and information.

For most of his career, Bob was employed as a television director, working for stations from Los Angeles to Columbus. During the same time period he wrote and directed plays for theatres all over the Midwest. For several years he was the drama critic for the Spectator newspaper chain and for Channel 6 here in Columbus. Bob has won numerous awards, including two Emmy awards, a Freedom’s Foundation award, and two recent awards from the National Writers Digest playwriting competition.