The best description of this play would require a prospective audience to close their eyes and remember back to the days of the Charlie Brown Peanuts comics. However, under the direction of the playwright, Bert V. Royal, there’s a new twist. This November, TAMIU Theater Troupe is producing Royal’s play and within the first few minutes of Dog Sees God you find the Peanut characters are all grown up and Snoopy has died of rabies, leaving “CB” to contemplate what it means to exist. Fueling the teenage angst fire, CB’s sister is now goth, his girlfriend institutionalized for setting a classmate’s hair on fire, and his other friends are often too intoxicated and/or high to offer him any comfort. “Inventive and raunchy…hysterically funny,” says the New York Post. This entertaining, and considerably controversial comedy shines a light on issues often swept under the rug. Topics ranging from drug use, suicide, eating disorders, and sexual identity are unapologetically played out on stage, only to inevitably crash, winding toward an ending that’s both intruding and emboldened. Under the direction of Casandra Canales, Dog Sees God opens mid November. Introducing Dog Sees God is the surprisingly shocking 15-minute short play, Choices, written by TAMIU professor Warren Graffeo. Without ruining the plot twist, it is already being claimed as a must see romance – for the straight male.
Producing both of these hilariously assertive theatrical displays is the newly formed, TAMIU Theater Troupe. Performance dates for both shows are Friday, Nov. 13, Saturday, Nov. 14 at 7pm and Sunday, Nov. 15 matinee at 3pm at the Sam Johnson Experimental Theater in the Fine and Performing Arts Center on campus. Bring your student ID; admission for students is $5 and general public $10. Audiences please be forewarned, while comedy ensues, so will explicit adult content. For more information, email tamiutheatertroupe@gmail.com.