Disappointed best describes my response to bobrauschenbergamerica, the much-praised theater collage by Charles L. Mee. First introduced at the 2001 Humana Festival, then remounted by Anne Bogart's SITI company in New York (and toured afterwards), the play has finally made it to L.A. in a Spyant production at Inside the Ford, the 87-seat venue supported by various local and national arts commissions.
With Bart DeLorenzo directing a skilled and spirited 10-person cast, I expected to be moved by Mee's play; instead I was merely titillated.
bobrauschenbergamerica kicks off with a voiceover quote from avant-garde artist Rauschenberg: "Everything overlaps, connects in some way," then goes on to try and prove the statement.
A mishmosh of scenes follow: grotesque parodies of such bible-belt staples as parades and square dances; an old woman crooning a gloopy pop song ("It Feels Good to Me"); a sexy girl whirling around mindlessly on roller skates; a woman kissing a tramp while her husband looks on (their fractured marital relationship seems to be vaguely at the heart of the play); a hick reciting bad chicken jokes, and so on.
The whimsy and corniness are occasionally offset by spurts of anger and violence, such as a man bashing a metal washbasin with a baseball bat. It's all very freewheeling and formless (just like Rauschenberg's work itself) and while I appreciated much of it, I wasn't moved until one of the actors stepped forward and quoted some lines by Walt Whitman which truly and eloquently spoke to the human condition. Whitman's majestic sentiments served to expose the inherent shallowness of all that came before and after it.
