Friday night, I got the night off from Zanna Don't rehearsal so that we as a cast could go to Bruka theater's latest showcase – the dark comedy “Dog Sees God”. A few members of the Zanna cast were in the production so I was happy and excited to be able to go and support them in this show. The script, written by Bert V. Royal, is a twisted parody of the beloved children's comic strip Peanuts. However Royal never received permission from Schultz for the right to use names and such from Peanuts. In response, Royal cleverly altered names and traits of the various characters. You have Tricia, a throwback to Peppermint Patty, who is a dumb, slightly alcoholic, mean girl or Van, who has discarded his precious blanket for the comforts of marijuana, or Van's sister – everyone's aggressive go-getter – who has landed herself in prison for lighting someone's hair on fire. The complexities and arduous trials and tribulations of life have warped these characters. In other words … high school happened.

The story opens with everyone's beloved beagle dead from a bad case of rabies and C.B, everyone's straight-edged conventional character, contemplating life without his faithful dog. The seemingly innocuous event of the beagle's death has brought a dark cloud of depression, confusion, and anger to the world of Peanuts. Though at one point all friends, the group has broken apart and are pursuing their own life and interests. Here is the teaser description found on Bruka's website:

“Brüka Theatre proudly presents DOG SEES GOD: CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE BLOCKHEAD. Meet the characters from the Peanuts comic strip, ten years later. Writer Bert V. Royal re-imagines the ingenious characters that contradict their younger comic-strip selves and places them in a world full of controversy. Violence, sexual identity, drugs, and even suicide; Dog Sees God will take both teen and adult audience members to a world that they know all too well, and asks the question: Is there afterlife after high school?”

In all honesty, this is one of the funniest & darkest plays that I have scene in a long while. The campy one-liners and crude offensive comments sent the entire audience into hysterics and the emotionally poignant scenes brought a hushed silence over the crowd and more than one person could be heard sniffling – trying to fight back the tears – as the lives – and deaths – of these familiar characters played out before them. I totally sobbed like a baby, which is not really a shocker to anyone who knows me. Most of the time when I see plays, I sit through the production and think how it would have been infinitely better if it were a musical. I had no such inclination during this production and as an audience member was completely satisfied with the whole show. The show deals with a number of emotionally charged and heavy issues including drugs, alcohol, homophobia, teen sex, death, and suicide so it is definitely not a show for the faint of heart. However the show ends on a slightly uplifting note that leaves audiences with some small shred of hope of the life we lead after high school.

The show runs the entire month of July on the Bruka's mainstage. Tickets are $16 for students and seniors, $18 in advance, and $20 at the door. It is well worth the price of admission and I am probably going to see this show a second time. This show might bring up some sensitive memories for attendees but ultimately shows us all the power and impact of how a simple gesture of kindness can alter the course of events in a person's life. It is definitely not a show to miss!

Well lordly, it has been ages since I have been able to steal away and write a blog entry. The past couple of weeks have been some of the busiest, craziest, and most exciting weeks of my time here in Reno. In the past two weeks I (1) Got a Job - THANK YOU LORD (2) Quit A'DOLLed Fantasy - long dramatic story and (3) Got cast in another musical - one of my all-time favorites, Zanna Don't!

So my life this week has been wake up at 6 in the morning, bike my ass to work, be in an office all day, bike my ass home, go to Zanna Don't rehearsal, then quickly zip over to Utility Players rehearsal, come home, masturbate, and then pass out, wake up and repeat. This has left very little time for this queen to sit down and write. However, all of these wonderful things came into my life - or incidentally left my life - at the most perfect moment. Being a part of Zanna Don't is one of the greatest experiences in my life. I have never done a professional musical theatre production before and the experience thus far has been enlightening, rewarding, and one I certainly will not forget. I have never been around theatre people for any extended period of time and so did not know what to expect from the whole experience. I walked into rehearsal and was instantly welcomed and accepted by the group. I am taking the whole experience in and trying to learn as much as I can. The best part of the experience thus far is our very gay choreographer Adam - who also stars as Zanna in the production - who is supplying us with amazing moves for the show. Now, my dance background is very limited so when he looked at us and started screaming "Do a shane, I want to see those shanes NOW!"

.... I have no idea what a shane is but in true drag queenary form I faked it as best as I could. The production is the last three weekends in August and everyone should come out and see it. The show is opening the same weekend as Reno Gay Pride - which is fitting because this musical is the GAYEST musical there is ... it even beats out the Big Gay Musical. Here is the link for the facebook event for the show. I get to play the principal in the show as well as a few other small minor roles.

So I hope to write some more updates this weekend, but this queen has been tired. It has been a while since I have had to get up consistently early in the morning and my body is not adjusting too kindly to the experience. Hopefully that will change in time. Happy 4th of July weekend everyone!!!!

Saying that I am a musical enthusiast would be an inadequate description of my feelings for musicals. I often think that many plays and movies would be more entertaining and enjoyable were they converted into a musical.

I get hooked on one musical and will listen to it on repeat until it has lost all worth or value. I usually don't even listen to the full score of the musical, and instead listen to my favorite songs within the musical.

At the moment I am currently addicted to the off-Broadway musical "Zanna Dont!" which stars former Queer Eye for the Straight Guy Jai Rodriguez. This campy musical, set in a paralell world where straight people are the minority and chess players are hot studs, tells the story of a fairy matchmaker, on a mission to spread love throughout the world. Aside from the fantastic music the musical does promote positive messages of love - no matter who they are or what their gender or sex is. I think I also gravitated to this musical based upon what is currently happening in California with the Prop 8 trial. With testimonies about the sanctity of marriage and "experts" coming in to discuss and debate homosexuality I can't help but endulge myself in being transported to a world where acceptance occurs in less than 2 hours and through a fantastic group number.