Charlie Brown Grows Up in "Dog Sees God"

The Young Adult Summer Theater Group is entering their final weeks of rehearsal for Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead by Bert V. Royal.

The play depicts the beloved Peanuts characters as teenagers grappling with substance abuse, violence, sexual identity, eating disorders and death. According to Devon James, the 18-year-old director of the production, the cast isn't trying to water any of the content down. 

"I really wanted to do something that was going to identify us," said James, a Harrison High School graduate. "To do show that hasn't been done before, and has a very heavy cult following, I thought would be really successful." 

Despite references to drugs, alcohol and other taboo topics in Dog Sees God, James feels the play reflects the reality of what it is like to be a teenager while still pandering to adults who have grown up with the Peanuts characters. 

"It's things that you see in News Channel 12," he said. "Anyone going through high school has seen these things, especially in this day and age, but it's still the Peanuts characters who are the same person at the core."

It is James' intention to depict the "real American teenager" through Dog Sees God, something he finds relatively easy since the cast range in age from 17-to-25 years old themselves. 

"They're all Westchester locals," James sad. 

Kayla Gersten, 18, is a graduate of Irvington High School heading to Roger Williams University in the Fall. Gersten is playing Marcy in Dog Sees God.

"It's definitely one of my favorite parts that I've played," she said. "I love it. It's not something you see everyday." 

She feels the play resonates with the lifestyle of Westchester teens. 

"It shows all different topics that aren't addressed in that many plays, and you'll learn something," she said. "It's nice to show what it's like to be a teenager, there's a lot of kids like our characters in Westchester." 

Gersten has been very active in theater throughout her life, including previous performances at the Pulse Theater. She now works with the New York Performing Arts Center, where she describes her fellow cast members as family. 

The New York Performing Arts Center is  an acting, dance and theater arts studio based in White Plains. To cast God Sees Dog, NYPAC held open auditions. 

"We practice three times a week, for about four hours," James said. "We are all focused on putting on as professional a show as possible."

Because most of the cast members work during the day, whether at a summer camp or a car dealership, rehearsals are held at night. Cast members also earned their own funding for the show through ad sales in their playbill. 

Tickets for the show are $12. The show will be performed at 8:00 p.m. on August 13, 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on August 14th, and 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. on August 15th at the Pulse Performing Arts Center Theater. 

"This is the first time that this show is ever being done in Westchester," James said. "Past productions of the show have really candy coated it, and there's so much that you lose when you just skip over a lot of the details that are really emotional and have a lot of life lessons."

For more information about tickets, call (914) 358-4222