PBHS drama club presents “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown”

Fourteen Poplar Bluff High School students took the stage tonight for the first production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at Porter Theater.

The production, based on the comic strip “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schulz, follows Charlie Brown through a year in his life while he figures out why everyone keeps saying he’s a good man.

Sophomore Isaac Reid, who plays Charlie Brown’s best friend, Linus Van Pelt, said he originally auditioned for either Linus or Schroeder, another of Charlie Brown’s friends. He could see himself in Linus as the boy who “uses really big words” and addresses unusual topics.

Fairly early in the show comes Reid’s favorite scene where he sings “My Blanket and Me” during which he dances around the stage with Linus’ signature blue blanket after trying to abandon it for being teased about still carrying it.

Reid said he’s part of several other extracurricular activities, but the main two are drama and choir.

“I love being on stage,” he said.

Isaac Reid and Emma Tinsley play siblings Linus and Lucy Van Pelt.DAR/Paul Davis

He doesn’t normally get nervous, Reid said.

“I’m just thinking ‘I’m Linus, let’s do this,’” he said.

“You have to know all these huge words,” Reid said. “I’ve gotten out a dictionary a couple times to figure out what they all mean. It’s really fun though.”

Besides the language, Reid said one of the challenges with the show is that several cast members have high notes.

“I don’t have any of those notes so I’m really thankful,” he said. “Probably the biggest challenge me is all the big words.”

Freshman Emma Tinsley, who plays Linus’ older sister Lucy, agreed with Reid about the language and tone being one of the most challenging parts of it.

“She has to sound like a baby, like a little kid,” she said. “Whenever she sings, she has to hit really high pitch noises while being as annoying as possible. She’s also very annoying.”

Tinsley said one of the memories she has from rehearsal was the first time she put on her wig.

“I cried when I first put my wig on,” Tinsley said. Lucy’s hairstyle is a dark bob cut. “I cried because it’s not for me. Black, short hair is not for me.”

Lucy is one of two main female roles, along with Charlie Brown’s sister, Sally, but Tinsley said she was able to find things in the character to connect with.

“Her bossiness and her being an older sister,” she said. “I’m an older sister and I’m very bossy so I guess I can kind of relate to her. Nothing really spoke out (when auditioning).”

Tinsley said a challenge for her personally is balancing rehearsing for the production with her classes. She’s taking several honors classes, which means a good amount of homework each night.

This meant she had to take time she’d rather spend working on her lines or lyrics in order to study.

Sophomore Dawson Vaughan, who is playing Charlie Brown’s dog Snoopy, has been acting for years. This, he said, is the 20th show he’s been in.

“It’s just so much fun for me to do,” he said.

During auditions, he said, he likes to go for the comic relief style characters, which is why he went for Snoopy.

“I try to put myself in their shoes, which for this part that’s particularly hard because it’s a dog,” he said. “It’s a little difficult to put yourself into a dog’s shoes.”

Playing a dog has been the main challenge for him, Vaughan said. However, he’s also an athlete and had soccer districts he needed to be at.

“It’s been tough to go back and forth between it, but I’ve managed,” he said.

Vaughan said most of his nerves come up on opening night because it’s the first show and he’s hoping everything goes well. After that, it gets easier because the nervousness is gone and he tries to have fun with it.

The first time he saw the constructed dog house for Snoopy, Vaughan said, was a pretty good feeling because it helped him get into character more.

The show will be held again tonight at 7 and Sunday at 2 p.m.