Remaking American Theater
Charles Mee, Anne Bogart and the SITI Company

A 2003 study of the work of American theater artists Charles Mee and Anne Bogart.

Scott T. Cummings (Author)

9780521818209, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 August 2006

340 pages
23.6 x 16 x 2.6 cm, 0.691 kg

"Well-researched, elegantly written." -- Choice

An account of contemporary theater practice in its most collaborative and dynamic form, this 2006 book was the first book-length study of two of the most important American theater artists at the start of the twenty-first century. For twenty-five years, Mee and Bogart have pursued independent but sympathetic visions of theater rooted in the avant-garde of the 1960s, guided by a view of art and culture as a perpetual process of 'remaking'. Since 1992, the SITI Company has pioneered the unique combination of three training practices as the basis for collective creations that layer language, gesture, and image in a complex and often stunning fashion. This study provides both a general introduction to Mee's unorthodox playwriting, Bogart's innovative directing, and the ensemble work of the SITI Company and an in-depth case study of their work together on bobrauschenbergamerica, a piece inspired by the art of Robert Rauschenberg.

Introduction: of hiccups and fireflies
Part I. A Playwright, a Director, and a Company: 1. Mee: from accidental historian to citizen playwright
2. Bogart: engendering space, or building a nest
3. Mee: putting on the Greeks
4. SITI: from toga to 'new toga' and beyond
5. SITI: the trainings (Suzuki, Viewpoints, Composition)
6. Two metadramas: Bogart's Cabin Pressure and Mee's Full Circle
Part II. The Making of bobrauschenbergamerica: 7. Preliminaries: facing Rauschenberg, making lists, collecting stuff
8. Summer 2000: messing around in Saratoga Springs
9. Fall 2000: getting ready in New York
10. Winter 2001: rehearsing in Louisville
11. Spring 2001: the play in performance
12. bobrauschenbergamerica forever
Appendices. A. bobrauschenbergamerica: personnel and performance history
B. SITI Company: production history
C. Charles L. Mee: plays and productions
D. Postscript: an email from Betty Bernhard.

Subject Areas: Theatre studies [AN]