I was reminded by a short interview with the late performance artist, writer, and actor Spalding Gray's widow and daughter just posted on npr.org that it's been ten years since his disappearance. Gray had been battling depression and his body was found in the East River days after he went missing. Gray’s neurotic but ever-searching, frequently insightful yet rambling spoken narratives hearkened back to the American oral tradition and such figures as Mark Twain. Gray’s earliest works included being interviewed by the audience such that a wilful spontaneity and improvisatory aspects could be retained. Moreover, the responses from “Spalding Gray” could either be read as coming from a character or the actor himself. In his “Short History of American Theater” the set up developed a little further into the shuffling of titles of plays in which Gray had been involved, which the performer would proceed to discuss, extrapolate, and verbally riff upon. But Gray’s work also had a foundational moment in the attempt to make sense of his early life in suburban Rhode Island and the suicide of his mother during his teenage years. Mortality, interruption, failure, guilt, seeking love and understanding: these are among the paramount themes of Gray’s practice. Gray, who had been a member of the experimental theater company The Wooster Group moved into his monologues from the group’s avowed interest in bridging the art/life divide and more specifically the difference between a “theatrical production” and a more experimental postmodern event which dissected the very terms under which it functioned. The ways this occurred included: examining the bleed over between stage and audience, actor and role, recorded time and live performance. Below I've posted some Spalding links, including a vintage documentary A Life in Progress (1987), and one of his filmed performances, Gray's Anatomy (1996) For more info see: http://www.spaldinggray.com/
Part One of a documentary about Spalding Gray by Robby Henson. Music by Pat Irwin. Produced by Cecilia Roque. circa 1987. Features Sex and Death to Age 14 and A Personal History of American Theater. Brattle Theater. Performance Art.
