Drunken sexual encounters. Bulimia. Homophobia. Drug abuse. Suicide. Death.

Bert V. Royal’s fascinating play, “Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead,” takes on the hot button teen issues of our age, but here, they play out in a most unlikely setting: Charles M. Schulz’s beloved comic strip “Peanuts.”

On the face of it, “Dog Sees God” may seem a like a crass appropriation played for pure shock value. But Royal, who wrote the screenplay for the clever “Easy A” movie with Emma Stone, masterfully propels CB (Charlie Brown, get it?) and friends into a not-unreasonable future where alienation, existential crisises and the crushing pressure to conform are all fodder for the average school day.

Don’t worry, it’s funny, too.

On opening night, the Funky Little Theater Co.’s minimalist production, which runs throughSaturday, was a little loose in places, yet still delivered excellent pacing and many strong and imaginative renderings.

It all starts with the death of CB’s dog and its friend, a little yellow bird. Rabies, the befuddled boy tells us, caused the dog to rip the bird from wing to wing. It’s an unexpectedly sad moment that underlines our deep connection to these characters, even when conjured radically out of context.

The death of CB’s best friend proves a profound trigger for the typically predictable teen and many of his friends. I’m not going to reveal more of the story, which would undermine the principal magic of the first act of the play: Because the characters are never called by their original names, uncovering their identities – through the character’s clothing, tossed-off clues and suggestive names – surprisingly propels you deeper into the action, which by Act II ably stands on its own.

This sly transformation is perhaps the reason “Dog Sees God” was a hit at 2004’s New York International Fringe Festival, winning the Excellence Award for Best Overall Production. Also scored: Theatermania’s Play Award of 2004, the GLAAD Media Award for Best Off-Off-Broadway production, Broadway.com’s 2006 Audience Award for Favorite Off-Broadway Production and the 2006 HX Award for Best Play.

Some of the FLTC performances weren’t fully cooked, as if the actors were getting their first chance to run through the whole thing in one fell swoop. I’m sure repeated runs will likely close some of the distance between the actors and the characters they play. Still, there were many strong performance – too many, in fact, to list here.

Luke Schoenemann’s CB is muffled, a willful innocent practically wrapped in a thick cotton batting. In Royal’s imagining, he’s embraced conformity to the point of standing by, silent, as his buddies bully an old friend. Schultz’s Charlie Brown was similarly disaffected, only with fewer consequences. Schoenemann gets better and better as the play goes on, although he could work on his physicality, especially in the love scenes. (Yes, love scenes.)

As his sister, Gretta Hutcheon brought Sally’s joy for life, as well as an impressive physical presence with a palpable dash of teenage angst. A particularly wonderful passage: A la Isadora Duncan, Hutcheon melodramatically dances a caterpillar’s determination to become a platypus, not a butterfly. As she throws herself around the small stage, Hutcheon is at turns playful, mischievously self-aware and deadly serious – not unlike the work itself.

Justin Anderson (Van) and Alex Niforatos (Matt) inhabited their very different characters with full-out abandon. Niforatos, especially, delivered Fourth of July fireworks with the ease of someone who is pyrotechnic in real life. These actors rolled the characters out in HD living color.

Finally, costume designer Delaney Hallauer made choices that were quiet, sure and just plain smart. CB’s yolk yellow T-shirt peeking out from under a hoodie, for instance, or Beethoven’s striped shirt. They were like a wink-wink to those in the know.

“Dog Sees God” will overturn your view of “Peanuts” forever. In a good way. It’ll also make some interesting baggage to take to “The Peanuts Movie,” which opens Friday.

One piece of advice: FLTC’s space is very intimate. It works for the show, but not all seats allow for good sight lines. I spent part of the first act craning my body to either side of a man’s head to see the work about 20 feet away from me.

To avoid my fate, try seats in the first two rows or the back two rows.