Spalding Gray was one of the most influential solo performers of his generation, chronicling life’s ups and downs in wry, unflinchingly honest monologues. His suicide in January 2004 shocked the theater world and left fans, friends and family reeling.
Yet Gray left behind a vast body of unpublished work, including diaries, letters, poems and short stories. At 8 p.m. March 30-31, Edison Theatre will present the Midwest premiere of “Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell,” a tribute that combines these materials with excerpts from his famous solo shows.
The show will feature Rockwell Gray, Spalding’s brother and adjunct instructor in University College in Arts & Sciences.
“Stories Left to Tell” was created by Gray’s widow, Kathleen Russo, and director Lucy Sexton. It unfolds chronologically, moving from Gray’s childhood memories of swimming with his mother (who committed suicide in 1967) to his awkward adolescence and eventual fatherhood. In addition to previous monologues, Russo and Sexton culled stories and anecdotes from Gray’s journals, unperformed works and even an answering machine message made shortly before his death in which Gray discusses suicide plans.
The performance also draws heavily from “Life Interrupted,” Gray’s final — and unfinished — monologue, which details a crippling June 2001 car crash that happened while the author was vacationing in Ireland. Gray, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was knocked unconscious and suffered a fractured skull and badly broken hip, leaving his right leg virtually immobilized.
Over the next two years, Gray battled depression and underwent six operations; his health — both physical and emotional — never recovered. He attempted suicide several times before leaping from a Staten Island ferry into the icy waters of New York Harbor.
“Stories Left to Tell” debuted in June 2006 in Los Angeles with a cast headed by Teri Garr, John C. Reilly, Tony Shalhoub and Frances Conroy. It is currently in production in New York.
The Edison Theatre production includes a trio of contemporary monologists — author Jonathan Ames; acclaimed comedian Reno; and Obie Award-winning actress Carmelita Tropicana — as well as Calvin Johnson, founder of the indie-funk band Dub Narcotic Sound System.
Born in suburban Rhode Island in 1941, Gray planned to become a novelist but in the late 1960s, moved to New York and began performing with a series of experimental theater companies.
In the mid-1970s, he helped form the avant-garde Wooster Group, which included actor Willem Dafoe. In 1977, the troupe mounted “Rumstick Road,” an autobiographical work exploring the aftermath of the death of Gray’s mother.
Gray continued to hone his stage persona in monologues and came to national prominence in 1985 with “Swimming to Cambodia.” Based on his experiences in the cast of the 1984 Academy Award-winning movie “The Killing Fields,” Gray’s Obie Award-winning monologue was itself filmed by Jonathan Demme in 1987.
Gray appeared in several other films, including “King of the Hill,” based on alumnus A.E. Hotchner’s memoir of his childhood in St. Louis. Gray also performed on Broadway.
Gray was a frequent guest at Edison Theatre, performing “Interviewing The Audience,” “Gray’s Anatomy,” “Monster in a Box,” “It’s A Slippery Slope” and “Morning, Noon & Night.”
In 1998, Edison hosted the world premiere of “Gray on Gray: A Lifelong Conversation,” a dialogue between Spalding and Rockwell Gray.
Tickets are $30; $25 for seniors, faculty and staff; and $18 for students and children.
For more information, call 935-6543 or visit edisontheatre.wustl.edu.