Peanuts and Puberty

Equipped with an imaginative dog, a puny little Christmas tree and loads of missed football kicks, Charles Schulz’s Peanuts crew has captured the attention of generations of children. However, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead scandalizes those childhood icons, by adding identity crisis, teen angst and substance abuse to the story.

An off-Broadway audience favorite a few years ago, the play focuses on CB, a boy who begins questioning the existence of an afterlife after his dog dies of rabies. But CB is unable to find solace in his friends Linus, Lucy, Sally, and the Peppermint Patty/Marci duo because they are preoccupied with smoking up, a mental ward, goth-posing, and inebriation, respectively. However, an encounter with Beethoven (Schroeder), the gay artistic kid, sets into motion a friendship with Matt (Pigpen, now a germophobic/homophobic misogynist) that cranks up the tension and grants CB some peace of mind. As long as you don’t mind watching childhood icons being lampooned in scandalous ways, Dog Sees God may be the play for you.

September 27-October 13, Plays and Players Theatre, 8:00 p.m., $20 – $25; playsandplayers.org