Guests honor Gray at ICA
by Andrea Fineman
Managing Editor
Arts | 3/3/09
Posted online at 8:17 PM EST on 3/2/09
/ Last updated at 4:10 AM EST on 3/2/09
It takes a lot to pull off a one-man show of autobiographical monologues. The late Spalding Gray, a theatrical performer and performance artist best known for his 1985 play (and 1987 film of the same name) Swimming to Cambodia was one of the rare individuals who could. (Cambodia, a monologue inspired by Gray's small role in the film The Killing Fields, consists of Gray sitting behind a desk, speaking for four hours. The film version, at 85 minutes, grossed over a million dollars.) To bring Gray's monologues to life, the creators of Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell employ no fewer than five actors in their mash-up of Gray's monologues and diary entries, which premiered at the Minetta Lane Theater in New York City and which appeared at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston last weekend.
Stories Left to Tell, conceived in part by Gray's widow, Kathie Russo, employed guest readers at its original inception as well as at the ICA's run, whose guest readers included novelist Claire Messud and local radio personality Christopher Lydon. Saturday night's guest reader was Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, former mayor of Providence. Director of Programs David Henry said by way of introduction that Cianci was included in the guest line-up because the museum felt it needed to include a Rhode Island-area celebrity in the performance. It was clear from the beginning of the performance why this was relevant-many of the monologues are rooted heavily in Gray's upbringing in Barrington, R.I.
Having seen little of Gray's work before attending the show on Saturday night, I came to the ICA with no expectations other than a general hunch that this performance might be something special. I was right. The production in the ICA's small theater was rather spare: There were no elaborate costumes, the set consisted of a few pieces of average-looking furniture and there were no special effects. With only a few colored lights and a sound system loaded with a few clips of music, the creators of this performance simply enhanced Gray's irreverent, honest and moving works of storytelling.
Stories Left to Tell, conceived in part by Gray's widow, Kathie Russo, employed guest readers at its original inception as well as at the ICA's run, whose guest readers included novelist Claire Messud and local radio personality Christopher Lydon. Saturday night's guest reader was Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, former mayor of Providence. Director of Programs David Henry said by way of introduction that Cianci was included in the guest line-up because the museum felt it needed to include a Rhode Island-area celebrity in the performance. It was clear from the beginning of the performance why this was relevant-many of the monologues are rooted heavily in Gray's upbringing in Barrington, R.I.
Having seen little of Gray's work before attending the show on Saturday night, I came to the ICA with no expectations other than a general hunch that this performance might be something special. I was right. The production in the ICA's small theater was rather spare: There were no elaborate costumes, the set consisted of a few pieces of average-looking furniture and there were no special effects. With only a few colored lights and a sound system loaded with a few clips of music, the creators of this performance simply enhanced Gray's irreverent, honest and moving works of storytelling.
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