October 20, 2008
From Broadway to BC:
MFA Candidate Jack Savage
When Jack Savage, a Brooklkyn College candidate for a master of fine arts in theater at Brooklyn College, began looking for a play with current relevance he chose, and eventually directed, Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead for his graduating thesis.
A Burt V. Royal play about a kid called C.B. – short for Charlie Brown – and the other iconic characters of the Peanuts comic strip as contemporary American high school teenagers, the production opened at the New Workshop Theater last Thursday.
In the play, which won the Excellence Award for Best Overall Production at the 2004 New York International Fringe Theater Festival, C.B. goes in search of the deeper meaning of life after the death of his pet beagle.
“I chose it because of its edginess – it’s both a tragedy and a comedy,” Savage explains. “And I like it because it addresses a number of issues – bullying, sexuality, drugs, peer-pressure, and teen suicide – that actual American teenagers face as they grow up.”
Savage, who started as a singer trained at the Manhattan School of Music, increasingly gravitated toward theater and took acting classes at the age of 25 in Florida.
After a successful run with the Broadway production of the Phantom of the Opera, in which he played the auctioneer, Savage decided to come back to complete his theater studies and become a director.
“Brooklyn College has a well-rounded program for adult students who want to be creative,” Savage, who will graduate next May, says. “Both graduate and undergraduate student-actors at the theater department are very well trained, too,” he adds.
The cast included Adam Smith (C.B.) Lisa Anderson (C.B.’s sister), Lauren Adamkiewicz (Tricia), Samanth Fontana (Marcy), José Rivera (Van), Rosa Fernandez (Van’s sister), Christian Marte (Matt), and Andrew MacLarty (Beethoven).
“In addition to its obvious symbolism, the play has an uplifting message and a spiritual aspect that attracted me to it,” Savage says.
For more information, visit: http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/theater
Top: Scenes from the "Dog Sees God" dress rehearsal. Above: Jack Savage. Photos: John Ricasoli and Ernesto Mora