Company Carolina to bring fresh perspective to Dog Sees God

A fresh cast will bring a fresh perspective to Company Carolina’s production of “Dog Sees God,” which opens tonight at Historic Playmakers Theatre.

Freshman dramatic art major Connor Sturgis, plays the lead role as Charlie Brown, or CB. Sturgis said he was slightly surprised by the unexpected and mature twist to the classic Peanuts’ plot. 

“My first reaction was, 'Holy shit,'” he said. 

“I just wasn’t expecting it, especially something that’s taken from Charlie Brown. It’s just one of those shows you wouldn’t bring your family to. I mean you should go, just not with your grandma.”

The play takes place while CB and his friends are in high school, dealing with the height of teenage angst and drug experimentation.

“What’s interesting about this show is that it can be seen as a satire in that it takes every high school problem and puts it into a week, two weeks maybe,” said assistant director and stage manager Lauren Wilson, a senior communications studies major.

“As we’ve gotten into it, it has been incredible to see human forms take on this script, and it’s a really, really good synopsis of what the Peanut gang could be in high school.”

This is Wilson’s first time as assistant director. Wilson is working with junior Dakota Proctor, who is also directing for first time. 

“I think it could be described as ‘good cop, bad cop’ but sometimes we are also polar opposites in every way,” Wilson said. 

“It’s been really funny to see what the cast does with that. It gives them two perspectives to play with. We hope by giving them angles they can really form their positions that both of us will be happy with."

Proctor said he has been collaborating closely with Wilson throughout the directing process to develop the right feeling for the play.

“She reels in my crazy ideas, or as the cast has said, gives good criticism,” Proctor said.

“The hardest thing for me is that you don’t want to say something is good or fine, you want to constantly break it down, build it up and make it better.”

The production was conceptualized over the summer, and the cast has been working on the play since early February.

“We’re in tech right now and I love the things that I can see that (Proctor) directed that he is just in love with,” Wilson said.

“I can just tell he’s really proud of it and it’s still becoming something new. Every night of tech this week they’ve done something different, which is exciting to see them take the reigns because we’ve had to step back.”

Sturgis said this attention to detail has been paying off for the cast and play alike.

“I feel like with this play, it would have been easy to go overboard dramatic with it and have it all as one giant soap opera, but (because of) the way the directors handled it and the whole cast handled it, it balances out,” Sturgis said.

“It’s also unique because you have these cartoon characters dealing with real life issues, and not just Linus missing his blanket.”

arts@dailytarheel.com