The New York Times - May 28, 2006
For Spalding Gray, One Last Tale
By NELL CASEY
WHEN
"Iwanted to do something around Spalding's 65th birthday, which is on June5," Ms. Russo, 45, recently explained at a Greek restaurant in the WestVillage. "So I thought, 'Let's do a reading of his work for one night atP.S. 122' — that's where he started all his monologues — 'and I'llput it together.' "
Ms. Russodiscussed the idea with Vallejo Gantner, the artistic director of PerformanceSpace 122, and he agreed. Soon after, she mentioned it to David Sefton, theartistic director of U.C.L.A. Live, and he signed on to do the show too."Then suddenly David sent me a contract for five nights," Ms. Russoexclaimed, "and I was, like, 'I don't know how to do that.' "
She contactedLucy Sexton, a performance artist and fund-raising consultant for PerformanceSpace 122, and asked if she would help shape the piece. They began to compile ascript, culled from Mr. Gray's published work as well as from more personalmaterial: diaries, unperformed stories, poems from his youth (including onecalled "I Loved a Midget Once"). They even borrowed from a recordingMr. Gray left for Ms. Russo just before his death, in which he announces his plansto commit suicide.
"The first thing that occurred to me was 'Boy, thiscould really be much more than just a couple of excerpts read by differentpeople,' " Ms. Sexton said, seated across from Ms. Russo at lunch."Especially when Kathie talked about wanting to use unpublished material,then you're really talking about a fantastic treasure trove."
The productof their collaboration, "Leftover Stories to Tell," will play atPerformance Space 122 from May 31 to June 4 and at the Freud Playhouse at the
In LosAngeles the readers will include
The actors will read selections from Mr. Gray's work thatultimately serve as theater-as-sŽance. At a reading, the piece so intenselycalled up the presence of the charmingly neurotic actor that you half-expectedhim to come loping out on stage to interrupt with a worried joke. It alsooffers the rich story of his life. (Though with a bit of editing. RenŽeShafransky, Mr. Gray's ex-wife and frequent character in his stories, hardlyappears in this version.)
The piece mainly moves chronologically, with storiesranging from boyhood swimming dates with his mother, who also took her ownlife, to a raucous experience at a sweat lodge in Minnesota to his delightedworship of his children.
The show alsocaptures what brought so many fans to Mr. Gray in the first place: avoyeuristic glimpse into the life of a wayward WASP, someone willing tounstintingly report on his own weaknesses and neuroses while using them tocreate an incisive portrait of relationships, sex, therapy, politics, ambitionand family. And he was reliable: always seated at his desk with a shimmeringglass of water, always ready to tell a captivating story.
The two women have been presenting the material inworkshops since last November, setting up readings and inviting critiques fromguests. What has emerged is a seamless fusion of Mr. Gray's private and publiclives (the two collide less often than it seems in his monologues) to create apiece of storytelling that might intrigue Mr. Gray himself.
"I feel like he was there," Ms. Russo said."At our very first reading, we were playing around with a recording ofSpalding's voice and the CD got stuck, and so he kept saying, 'I am talkingabout myself, I am talking about myself,' over and over again. I just threw myarms in the air and said, 'It's Spalding!' "
Mr. Gray is being resurrected elsewhere too. The actorMichael Brandt has just wrapped the New York run of his one-man play "ASpalding Gray Matter," produced by the New Group (naked). The director
"It feels like the first time we're opening the bookagain and going, 'It's O.K. to talk about Spalding,' " Ms. Sextonexplained. "It was such a harsh end. But all those beautiful, gracefulmoments that he recognized in his work, they still stand. They don't getnegated by that last moment."
That last moment is also a crucial part of theperformance. The excerpts from his diaries chronicling his mounting agony— sadness steadily runs throughout his work but never as starkly as inhis last months — are the most emotional parts of the piece.
Immersingherself in her husband's words, including notes he kept toward the end of hislife throughout his depression after a car accident left him seriously injuredand disfigured in 2001, also allowed Ms. Russo to shape her own perspective.
"Doing this kind of work has given me time to reflecton who he was to me, to the children, to his audience," said Ms. Russo,who hopes to one day open a center for family survivors of suicide victims."He was a very important artist to the world, and I don't want him to beforgotten."
On May 4 apreview excerpt of "Leftover Stories to Tell" was performed as atribute to Mr. Gray and to benefit Performance Space 122. Ms. Russo and Ms.Sexton were there, and so were Mr. Gray's children. The performers —including