Two new faces in 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'

DPRCAs latest production, "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," is just days away, and two new cast members have come to New Rockford to help bring the beloved comic strip to life on the Old Church Theatre stage.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida native Hunter Quinn will play Charlie Brown himself, and JoshuaDerrick Kenebrew, a native of Chicago, will portray Charlie's best friend, Linus.

Kenebrew is currently a senior theatre student at Western Illinois University, and he said he enjoys getting to portray the famous blankie-carrying cartoon character.

"He's one of those kids that uses a lot of big words and philosophical sounding phrases," said Kennebrew, "but he's still a child at heart because he carries around this blanket that he loves so much.

"I literally carry it throughout the entire show," he added with a chuckle. "There's not a point in the show where I drop it. ... He's just this sweet loving kid and a lot of fun."

Quinn, meanwhile, is excited to portray one of the most famous cartoon characters of all time.

"I feel like Charlie Brown is really relatable to the average audience," said Quinn, a rising junior at Rider University in New Jersey. "He seems to have everything going against him and has all the obstacles in the world, and it's nice playing Charlie Brown because he always finds the good in it."

He added, "I just love that I can relate to Charlie Brown, because I'm sure that we can all feel like the world is against us sometimes but it's nice to know that even if everything's going wrong, there's still a way to be positive about it."

Quinn discovered New Rockford and DPRCA through a Facebook group where fellow theatre students post about shows and auditions all around the world. Quinn auditioned and got the job, and now says he's enjoying the small-town community of New Rockford.

"It's way different than what I'm used to," he said. "Growing up in Florida and then going to college in New Jersey it's very crowded, so it feels a lot more comfortable here and it feels like there's a much stronger sense of community since it's a smaller town and everybody knows everybody, so people are a lot nicer around here."

Kennebrew added that he's also liking New Rockford and has enjoyed the nice and comforting nature of the community here.

As for the play, meanwhile, Kennebrew described it as less of a show with a plot line, and more like going through a bunch of great and hilarious Charlie Brown comic strips from the newspaper.

Of course, there's plenty of singing and dancing throughout the show, with most of the songs coming from the original cartoons.

Quinn added that most folks will enjoy the nostalgia of the show because of how much is taken from the cartoons, and also believes those in attendance will enjoy the pure simplicity of it all.

"The main thing I hope that an audience takes away from the show is being reminded of the simplicity of being a kid and how we don't have to take everything so seriously all the time. That you can just go to a show and just laugh at the stupid silly things."

"You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" opens Wednesday, July 12 at the Old Church Theatre in New Rockford, and runs through August 6. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. weeknights and 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Book your seats online at http://www.dprca.com or call or text the DPRCA Box Office at (701) 399-9634.