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bobrauschenbergamerica

Chuck Mee’s plays and Bob Rauschenberg’s art are pretty much the same thing

A A A Comments By Lee Williams Thursday, Feb 19 2009

Imagine abstract artist Robert Rauschenberg as a playwright, and you start to get at what Charles Mee was after when he wrote bobrauschenbergamerica. Rauschenberg’s new way of seeing the world and art, and the resulting mind-blowing work of “combines,” collages and strange mixing of materials, was considered revolutionary. Mee, too, recombines and resees the world as we know it, but he does it in his plays. None of what happens onstage in bobrauschenbergamericais linear, but somehow it all makes loopy sense. Chicken jokes get told while a shooting victim dies and a girl goes by on roller-skates; a trucker is somehow involved. They all come together to capture the world as seen through the eyes of one of America’s most creative and influential minds. The show was created by New York-based SITI Company, and company member J. Ed Araiza is directing the play at the University of Houston. See the madness through the eyes of a groundbreaking genius at 2 p.m. February 22 and March 1, and 8 p.m. February 20, 21, 26, 27 and 28. 4800 Calhoun. For information, call 713-743-2929 or visit www.uh.edu. $20.