Out!Cast Theatre redraws Peanuts in its premiere production
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Yet another new company is poised to bombard the local 2009-10 theater season with potentially delightful weirdness: Out!Cast’s first show, Dog Sees God: Confessions Of A Teenage Blockhead (opening Nov. 6 at the Bartell Theatre) is an unauthorized and very adult re-imagining of the Peanuts gang in their late teens. The names are changed, but Linus likes his weed, Pig-Pen is a homophobe, and Lucy has been institutionalized. Oh, and Charlie and Schroeder may or may not be romantically entwined. It wouldn't be the first time this season that a local play screwed up our image of a childhood icon. The Bricks Theatre recently closed its successful An Adult Evening Of Shel Silverstein--which, granted, just drew on a different side on the man's actual work, rather than gleefully desecrating it.
Steve Noll and Chrissie Valdez started Out!Cast after they came across the off-Broadway script for Dog, and for various reasons, couldn’t find any local companies to produce it. Noll is on the Board of Directors at StageQ, and while it had to pass as well, did offer to lend Out!Cast the set it's using for its upcoming production The Stops (which opens Friday). Noll said he’s not exactly sure what’s ahead for Out!Cast, but if it had a mission it would be to rally around shows that aren’t a good fit for any of the companies in Madison. “After Dog Sees God, our hope is to do more next year,” says Noll. “We want to do shows we have a passion for, but can’t find a home anywhere else. We just need to get through this one first.”
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