As the curtains open, the stage is revealed to be embellished with some very familiar set pieces. On the right side is a brick wall. In the middle, a piano. And on the left side is a red doghouse with “Snoopy” written across the top. In the middle of the stage, Dylan Hoffman ’18 sits writing in a notebook, wearing a well-known yellow t-shirt with a brown zigzag pattern.

“Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead,” presented by Brandeis Players, opened last Thursday and ran through Sunday. As evident from the set-up and characters, the play indeed parodied the popular comic strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz. However, unlike “Peanuts,” which focuses on the lives of young children and is considered to be humorous and cute, “Dog Sees God” has much darker undertones and deals with themes such as bullying, sexuality and violence. 

The story revolves around many of the characters from “Peanuts” as high school students, with much different personalities than anyone part of the Peanuts fandom would expect of the them. 

“CB” (Hoffman) — who is clearly parodying Charlie Brown — is dealing with the death of his dog, who has passed away from rabies. He continuously tries to write to his pen pal, who does not end up responding until the end of the play, about his feelings. His sadness causes him to ponder over questions about an afterlife, his sexuality and his social status, as well as many other topics that add to the theme of the show. 

Meanwhile, Beethoven (Benjamin Korman ’19) — imitating Schroeder — is distressed by the fact that he is bullied almost every day of his life. CB and Beethoven used to be very good friends but have parted ways. 

When CB discovers Beethoven playing piano in his music room and spills out his feelings over the death of his pet, Beethoven, in return, shares his bullying experience with CB. CB and Beethoven, both feeling sympathy for each other, make a plan to try to rebuild their friendship. 

At a party at Marcy’s (Remony Pearlman ’19) house, Beethoven is made fun of for his homosexuality and is asked to leave. CB proceeds to stand up for Beethoven by kissing him in front of everyone. The relationship between the two boys is the root of many of the problems that persist throughout the play. 

Both boys must get used to the idea of loving each other. They are required to deal with bullying from their classmates. Matt (Zain Walker ’18), one of CB’s close friends, is furious that Beethoven is in love with CB and harasses Beethoven to the point where he commits suicide. This causes even more distress for CB, who deeply regrets not having been friends with Beethoven for all those years. 

The casting for the show was very well done. Each cast member brought the personality of  their character to life. It was especially interesting to see the teenage personas of the well-known “Peanuts” children.

CB’s sister (Talia Bornstein ’19), who is the teenage version of Charlie Brown’s sister Sally, is goth. Van (Otis Fuqua ’19), who is the equivalent of Linus, is a pothead who has a crush on CB’s sister. Peppermint Patty, who throughout the play is known as Tricia (Emily Galloway ’18), and Marcy are the “popular” girls. Van’s sister (Lily Shrayfer ’18), who is clearly Lucy, does not have nearly as big a role in the play as she did in the series. She is now a pyromaniac who has been taken to a mental institution after setting fire to the hair of the well-known “little red-head girl.” 

One of the most interesting and complex characters is Matt. It is unclear for most of the show which teenage “Peanuts” character he is. He is CB’s best friend and a popular guy who is good friends with Tricia and Marcy. He is extremely germophobic and homophobic, and he spends lots of time bullying Beethoven about his sexuality. 

He is not wearing the signature clothes of any “Peanuts” character, as the others do, nor does he have a name that alludes to a “Peanuts” counterpart character, such as “CB.” It is not completely clear who Matt represents until one of the later scenes, in which he tells Beethoven to stay away from CB, to which Beethoven, extremely enraged, calls Matt by his old nickname — “Pig Pen.” 

Matt’s character was the most different from his younger “Peanuts” counterpart than any other character. Considering that Pig Pen is not a major character in the “Peanuts” series, it was an intriguing mystery to me throughout the show who he was portraying, which made it especially interesting to watch. Walker did a fantastic job at embodying his character, bringing a level of “toughness” to Matt that gave him the aura of a real high school “bully.”

The show was extremely heavy and dark to watch and actually managed to bring some audience members to tears at various parts. However, there were also some parts in the show that were hard to not laugh at. 

Although the whole cast brought such great character to their roles, including at the solemn parts, they had a way of making all of the hilarious lines in the show even  funnier. Galloway and Pearlman did a great job bringing the stereotypical “popular girl” vibe to their characters, and Tricia and Marcy were definitely the comic relief of the show. 

The show itself brought back a few recognizable trends from “Peanuts” — there is a scene where Tricia and Marcy are talking about a teacher who they are mad at, and Tricia imitates him by going “Woh wohwoh,” a humorous reference to the adults in the “Peanuts” television series, who are never actually seen on screen and do not speak in words. During the party at Marcy’s house, the teenagers start dancing to the familiar “Peanuts” theme song. 

One of most creative and impressive elements of the show was the music that the Brandeis production staff added. Nearly all of the songs were pop-punk/emo songs from the early 2000s, which not only went with the theme of the show extremely well but also added a very desirable dose of nostalgia that, at least for me, made the somber play more fun to watch. 

The songs that the production staff picked paired perfectly with their respective scenes. When CB and Beethoven kiss each other after the party, “First Date” by blink-182 plays in the background. In the first scene, when Beethoven plays the piano in the background to add effect to the grave scene, the tune he is playing is the beginning of Simple Plan’s “I’m Just a Kid.” As the scene ends, it becomes clear how well the message of the song represents the theme of the show. 

“Dog Sees God” was no doubt an extremely intense show and encompassed many burdensome themes that were probably very triggering for many members of the Brandeis community. However, between the amazing acting, unexpected humor, allusions to the extremely lovable “Peanuts” and fantastic music, it was overall very well done. “Dog Sees God” definitely made its mark in Brandeis theater as a show that managed to delight the audience while also shining light on serious issues.