Don’t go to “What Rhymes With America” expecting a traditional plot, or even a satisfying explanation for the title. Melissa James Gibson’s quirky play meanders gently from cryptic scene to seemingly extraneous aside.
But an affecting picture eventually emerges of people’s desperate need for kinship and fulfillment. Just as you’re getting a hang of what Gibson is up to, it’s curtains — this is the rare show that leaves you wanting more.
Linking the vignettes is the gruff Hank (Chris Bauer, Sheriff Andy Bellefleur on “True Blood”). A middle-aged, divorced dad who speaks in a grumpy growl, he defies his ex-wife’s orders by keeping in touch with their 17-year-old daughter, Marlene (Aimee Carrero).
Hank, an economist, has lost his funding — “It’s not that they don’t like my research. It’s that reality hasn’t caught up to my predictions” — and moonlights as an opera extra.
He shares cigarettes and amicable chats with fellow supernumerary Sheryl (Da’Vine Joy Randolph, last seen in the Whoopi Goldberg role in “Ghost — The Musical”). An actress who dreams of playing Lady Macbeth, Sheryl boasts of her mad kissing skills: “I have an excellent sense of timing and position and how to adjust for height variation,” she tells Hank. “I’m even good at navigating glasses.”
Also wandering around Laura Jellinek’s white, sparse set is Lydia (Seana Kofoed), a grave, lonely soul who meets Marlene at the hospital where the teen volunteers to beef up her college application.
Lydia and Hank cross paths as well. “I sort of like it when things are bad but not too bad, you know,” she tells him. “That’s my comfort zone.” Still, Lydia probably didn’t mean for her date with Hank to go quite as wrong as it does — the funny-sad scene is vintage Gibson (“[sic],” “This”).
While her characters often fumble, the playwright and director Daniel Aukin (“4000 Miles,” “Bad Jews”) never mock them. Neither does the cast, which is uniformly excellent at projecting warmth despite the deadpan language. These characters may have a hard time connecting with each other, but they still touch us.