Posted by wendy b on January 13, 2004, at 11:37:40
I usually don't post anymore, but this news made me feel very sad today. NPR this morning reported Spalding Gray was missing for three days now. I looked it up online, and the following is a report from "Playbill." Another news agency said he had been diagnosed as manic-depressive, and that he had left his medications home. If you have seen Spalding Gray's work, and felt a connection to his quirky (depressed, neurotic) view of the world, you might know how I feel. Even a guy with as many resources as Gray probably had, he could not kick this disease.
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From the theater journal "Playbill"
Monologist Spalding Gray Is Reported MissingBy Andrew Gans
January 13, 2004Famed, Obie-winning monologist Spalding Gray is missing. The author of "Swimming for Cambodia" and "Gray's Anatomy" was last seen Jan. 10 at his home in TriBeCa. The 62-year-old artist was reported missing by his wife Kathy Russo, reports the New York Post. Russo reported Gray's disappearance to the police Sunday, Jan. 11 at 10 AM, explaining that the writer disappeared after he returned home from the movies with their two young children.
Gray, who was been depressed since he suffered head injuries in a car accident in Ireland in 2001, has attempted suicide on two occasions. In October 2002 the entire run of his solo piece, "Black Spot," at P.S. 122 was canceled when Gray checked into a mental hospital. At that time, Gray had been found near his Long Island home contemplating a jump from a local bridge. The police and his wife talked him down.
Ironically, "Black Spot" centers on the crash. Gray was celebrating his 60th birthday when traveling in Ireland last year. According to press materials, the crash happened on the day after the longest day of the year. The monologue also addressed Gray's family's move into a bigger house—scheduled moving day: Sept. 11, 2001.
Gray won an OBIE for "Swimming to Cambodia" and filmed the monologue with Jonathan Demme. Other works include "Morning, Noon and Night," "Monster in a Box," "Gray's Anatomy," and "It's a Slippery Slope." He last performed another writer's work on Broadway — Gore Vidal's "The Best Man."
Gray's mother, the Post reports, committed suicide when she was nearly the same age as Gray is now.
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poster:wendy b
thread:300172
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20040109/msgs/300172.html