Rambert’s ‘Race’ Preaches From a Garage Rooftop

Atop a nine-story parking garage in downtown L.A., with a view of the Bunker Hill skyline to the west, a dozen silent figures--of many ages and ethnicities--inch forward in slow-motion solemnity, staring straight ahead. The traffic from the streets below, an occasional airplane and a few chirping birds provide the only sounds.

This scene of unsettling mystery begins the hourlong “Race,” a collaboration by French writer-director Pascal Rambert with Cal State L.A.’s theater department and the LAPD (Los Angeles Poverty Department) troupe of homeless theater practitioners.

Unfortunately, when the performers begin speaking Pascal’s fragmented speeches (translated from the French) through a forest of microphones, the magic vanishes. Though the text is supposedly based on interviews with immigrants in France and the U.S., individual voices are drowned out in the service of Rambert’s heavy-handed imagery. No one says anything new about immigration. As the performers continue their zombie-like walking around the rooftop, they intone Rambert’s phrases without a trace of humor and with precious little irony.

A car drives into the back of the playing area at one point, and a well-dressed woman emerges and raises the hood. One of the performers pushes a shopping cart, another draws a chalk outline on the blacktop. But no scenic effect on opening night had half as much impact as the arrival of rain with about 15 minutes left.

Part of the audience sought shelter wherever they could find it, but the performers gamely continued their paces and chants (“Starved to Death by the IMF!”) through the final bow.

*

* “Race,” 333 S. Spring St., parking garage rooftop. Tonight and Sunday, 8:01 p.m. Free, on a first-come, first-served basis, but parking inside the building is $3. Running time: 1 hour.