Six Actors Deconstruct Gray On Stage
By KAITLYN KILMETIS
Opening night looms mere weeks away. The cast of "Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell" spent hours Monday evening performing a fully-staged, non-stop rehearsal of the show.
In a colorful children's classroom at a local church in Flushing, a burgundy carpet was laid diagonally to signal the stage's dimensions, and miniature wooden chairs nearly two feet tall served as seating.
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| Spalding Gray will be represented by six actors in the Outrageous Fortune Company production of "Spalding Gray: Stories Left To Tell." |
Once Director Bill Saunders signals the rehearsal is to begin, suddenly the cast snaps into action.
He informs them the run-through will be "YFI" an acronym for "You foul it. You fix it."
He stands up straight and proclaims loudly in an authoritative tone, "We're going from the top, non-stop." And it's almost as if with the uttering of these seven simple words, the burgundy carpet elevates above floor level to create a stage and the plethora of play toys that litter the room's perimeter transform one by one into audience members on opening night.
All six cast members sit up straight in their seats and recite their lines passionately. If you're wondering why the number of cast members has increased since our last installment, it's because the play picked up two new actors who are splitting the role of Love between Sexual Love (Bernard Bosio) and Family Love (Emma Givens). Just as a refresher, the play dissects monologist Spalding Gray into different parts, in addition to the two Loves, there are Journals, Adventure, Family and Career, depicted by Bill Rapp, Tracy Winston, Carol Wei and Pat Clune.
The one thing that strikes me throughout the rehearsal is that after only a few minutes, each cast member becomes Gray as the viewer is sucked into the stories. The actors' individual attributes - Clune's vibrant red hair, Bosio's dark features, Winston's tight spiraled curls, Wei's stud nose piercing, Givens' modern square glasses and Rapp's plaid flannel shirt - all dissipate until each actor is solely a vehicle to tell Spalding's stories.
The interruptions are minimal as Saunders furiously etches pages of notes into a composition book. By the rehearsal's close, the meticulous director has written four pages of suggestions, which he checks off one by one as he shares his notes with the cast. At this point, the classroom setting is quite apropos as each actor locks eyes with the director who rattles off lesson after lesson. His notes include changes to the tempo, pronunciation, interaction between characters and speed - all of which he mentions are merely nit picky criticisms.
At one point, he asks an actor to channel what they are thinking at the moment they deliver a certain line - a rhetorical question he urges her to ponder inwardly.
Next, he tackles comedic timing in a humorous way.
"If you don't set that joke up it will lie there kicking and screaming in a pool of its own blood," he instructs dramatically with a smile.
As the rehearsal wraps, Saunders says the cast's progress is positive.
"Considering how terrified I was two weeks ago, we're in good shape," Saunders exclaims in a relieved tone.
Ever the character, the effervescent Clune replies excitedly "We're going to be stars darling. Twinkle, twinkle, little stars."
The Queens Tribune with follow the Outrageous Fortune Company production "Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell" from its first rehearsals to opening night on March 19 at Queens Theater in the Park. Stay tuned for upcoming installments of this multi-part series.
Reach Reporter Kaitlyn Kilmetis at kkilmetis@queenstribune.com, or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 128.