The grim Los Angeles setting of Brendan Hunt’s play—which catches up with the hygienically challenged Pigpen from Peanuts—makes for a nice contrast to the piece’s ridiculous comedy. Perpetually surrounded by dust and dirt (rendered via hula hoop), the indigent Pigpen (Hunt) is slowly brought out of his clouded mental state, and the funeral of an estranged childhood friend begins a sequence of events that allows him to discover all may not be lost. Although quite dysfunctional, this thirtyish Pigpen turns out to be both witty and sentimentally humorous. The cast (smoothly directed by Jeremy Aldridge) finds novel ways to make one-dimensional characters from a comic strip fully realized adults. Their commitment to the work brings this show to life, absurd as it is compelling.—Jeffrey Cedeno
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