It's a rare thing today to have a playwright upturn our collective identity like a toy box, shake out the tangled cords of dreams, ideas,and passions therein--and then celebrate the whole mess. But Mee believes it's difficult to not appreciate the colorful mash-up of a people who "make up their lives as they go." Good ol' trucker boy falls for hippie chick; Audrey Hepburn-like princess is wildly attracted to homeless man:  In "bobrauschenbergamerica," at least, the great American dream of limitless possibility is embraced. 

TheSpyAnts do the play, which was originally produced by SITI Company, the Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki-founded collective to which Mee belongs, funky justice. Of course, Mee issues a firm directive that his plays must be performed as he composed them. Still, director Bart DeLorenzo's touches, such as having ping-pong balls rain down as popcorn, not confetti, while a couple dances, are inspired. This is Hollywood, after all. 

Little gifts like that are around every corner. Maria Tomas is both all business and burlesque beauty as she rigs her own version of a Slip 'n Slide. In a prim, sweet pink dress, Jennifer Etienne Eckert tries to silence- yet ends up shouting- her mounting agitation by scooping up and stuffing cake in her mouth. The entire cast bursts out in dance sequences (crisply choreographed by Ken Roht) suddenly. 

In the monologue that probably should end the show, Carl (Mark Slater) says, "We are a patient people no matter what you hear people say and a tolerant people and a fearless, open people...We're all unique. It's a precious thing to compare ourselves to nothing else...I don't feel shame in my joy." While that could come off like our nation's other, more arrogant alter ego, "bobrauschenbergamerica" is so unadulterated in its jubilance you want to thank Mee for reminding us that yes, we can find pride in all our mismatched, hand-sewn glory.

TheSpyAnts present "bobrauschenbergamerica" 

Through February 28 

Thursday/Friday/Saturday, 8PM; Sunday, 3PM (Pay-What-You-Can) and 7PM 

[Inside] the Ford 

2580 Cahuenga Blvd.