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Bob: A Life in Five Acts

Postcard design by Bill Lynn

I had the chance to read/hear/participate in this script at my good friend Peter Roth’s house on Monday, September 24, 2012. Man, that’s quite a ways back. So, my interest in seeing the play at convergence was heightened, and I was not disappointed.

As Geoffrey Hoffman, director, noted in the program:

“Bob is an everyman and a representative of The American Dream… He is born with nothing and becomes a passionate adventurer—part myth, part reality, and completely legendary.”

Bob is born in the bathroom of a White Castle, so things can only get better right? He wanders the American landscape, exposing the bankrupt culture that we all have come to know and, eh em, love. From museums to rest stops to casinos and un-earned statues; from waif to sexy man to affluent someone-or-other to side-show barker—- Peter Sinn Nachtrieb makes a fillet of the prototypical American soul. Bob is funny, poignant, and sometimes frightening as we stare down the black rabbit hole that is our American existence.

Bob uses one main character and a chorus: a technique in plays that has come around recently from its old Greek days and which remains a highly versatile tool for play constructing and random character deployment. Doug Kusak is great as Bob and is always fun to see at convergence. I was equally happy to see Robert Hawkes and Katie Nabors, who always shines when she’s on stage: from Poor Little Lulu to The Underpants to certain crazy workshops inspired by Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant with one Jeffrey Frace.

Geoff did a great job of keeping the pace up, the story moving, and discovering innovative uses for the chorus when they were only voices out of the dark… Cool use of multimedia with location projections, as well.

Went and saw Grace and convergence on Friday night. It was a very emotional and thought provoking stab at religion, faith, and science, and I thought, successful. Especially scene five, which for convergence was the first scene after the intermission. In the scene Sam (John Busser) attempts to get rid of Sara (Laurel Hoffman) because Sam is falling for her. The attempt ends up doing quite the opposite, however, it is only after an discussion of faith and belief led by Sara. The discussion was very moving and honest. The play is somewhat ironic in that the other main character in the play Steve (Doug Kusak) is a born-again Jesus freak who at the end of the play loses all faith and commits a murder suicide, whilst the faithless Nasa IT person (Sam) ends up finding faith and a reason to embrace life.

I’ve also seen a number of other plays: The Hyacinth Macaw at convergence, which I felt was truly fantastic. Mac Wellman takes flights in language and thought that are comprehensible on a level that exceeds thought and almost touches intuition. I saw God of Carnage at Dobama, which was a funny play. Saw Peter Roth’s thesis in Pittsburgh, and a whole host of things I’m sure that I’m forgetting.

I am now squarely focused on creating. I have written two plays and one screen play since October 2011. I have another play that is about to get underway, which I hope to finish by October 1. I am busily sending out my plays to see if I can get them staged. As well, I am hitting Linoleum cuts again pretty hard and hope to pump out a children’s book for both of my kids by December. I’ve got a children’s book that I wrote a decade ago which I will start editing soon.