Gray Matter

Related Content

• Hey, You Got Your Storytelling on My Comedy!
  April 6, 2011
• More Theater Reviews
  February 16, 2011
• So True
  January 26, 2011
• What’s It All About?
  March 16, 2011
• More Theater Reviews
  February 9, 2011

More About

• Spalding Gray
• Kathleen Russo
• Science and Technology
• Internet

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Spalding Gray was odd and funny and brilliant and (ultimately) tragic. The nerdy northeastern intellectual wrote poetry, founded an experimental theater group, acted in motion pictures and on TV, and finished a novel. More than anything, he's remembered for his minimalist, autobiographical monologues in the 1980s. With a desk, a microphone, a glass of water, and a spiral notebook, Gray was LiveJournal before there was a LiveJournal. He turned several of these performances, including Swimming to Cambodia, into movies. But his battle with depression and bipolar disorder was no secret. His mother killed herself at age 52. He did the same in 2004. In Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell, five actors bring the monologuist's spirit back to the stage by portraying different parts of his psyche: love, career, adventure, family, and journal. The production was conceived by Gray's widow and collaborator Kathleen Russo. It mixes parts of his published works with previously private writings, and the actors vary in age, race, and gender. Gray's inner life was always the undisputed center of his monologues; this plural-logue, if you will, shows that the odd, funny, brilliant, and tragic man also reflected the world that encountered him.
Tue., Jan. 25, 8 p.m.; Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: Jan. 25. Continues through Feb. 26, 2011