mailing list march 28, 2010

It has occurred to me that there is much that goes on at the site that goes somewhat unnoticed. Sure, the biggies make it to Updates on the page, the mailing list, blog and the facebook appreciation page. And some other things eventually make it to the page. Like the Turkish grad student who writes a psychoanalytic analysis of Monster in the Box - yes he's from Istanbul and writes virtually perfect English as well as an interesting paper. The Brazilian writer who is translating Gray's Anatomy for performance in Rio. The student who wants to know how true Spalding's stories were...and the list goes on and on - oh, a multi part blog on a one month retreat with Spalding in 2002 - great story buried somewhere in Fan Writings and destined for Updates as it's really good.

Here are the latest 'biggies' (and it always seems I miss a few or make a mistake - last time I got something completely backwards but I don't remember what, it was relatively obvious, and I had few complaints(corrections) - besides my favourite (Canada spelling, eh) bumper sticker is 'DAM - Mothers Against Dyslexia'...
1) numerous excellent reviews for And Everything is Going Fine - blogs where people got stuck in Austin traffic, some making it, some not.
Latest great review is:
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/reviews/sxsw-review-and-everything-is-going-fine.php
2) I think I sent out some of the festival showings. They are all on Updates on the site. The unofficial Soderbergh site(www.soderbergh.net) chose spaldinggray.com as their link for 'Everything' since it has the best listings - better than imdb!!!
Of recent note is the NYC showing on April 6th with Soderbergh in attendance, and the Canadian showing in Toronto (Tarrannta) April 30th, May 1st - all details on the site. Based on the SXSW attendance - get you tickets asap.
3) Stories Left to Tell keeps showing to wonderful reviews - one NY writer doing a great 3 part series from rehearsal to show.
4) the Monologist page has been redone in alpha order. Believe me it's a lot of work to move lots of code around even with an alpha program to help. There are about 100 monologists listed now!!!
5) and it is official as of today - the 2010 Spalding Gray Award has been awarded to Lebanese playright Rabih Mroué who performs mostly in Europe - and that will now change. The best links for him will be on the site soon (now!) but for now here is what the NY Times wrote today:
The 2010 Spalding Gray Award has been given to Rabih Mroué, below, an actor, director, playwright and visual artist in Beirut known for controversial work that reflects his country’s political climate. The Lebanese Interior Ministry banned his 2007 performance piece about that country’s civil war, “How Nancy Wished That Everything Was an April Fools’ Joke,” written with Fadi Toufic. (The ban was later reversed.) The award, named after Gray, the monologist who died in 2004, is sponsored by a consortium that includes Kathleen Russo, Gray’s wife; Performance Space 122 in New York; the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh; and On the Boards in Seattle. It comes with a stipend to create a new work and provides for a full production of that work by each organization. (copyright NY Times).
6) And while I think of it, Radiohole, who won the 2009 SG Award continues for a bit to perform at PS122. And spring is wonderful in NYC...
7) and at SXSW:
during the q & a, one of the producers (Joshua Blum or Amy Hobby)
answered a question about plans to release Gray's performance films on DVD
by saying, "We hope to see a box set come out through the Criterion Collection in 2011,
but the deal's not done yet."

- Hope springs eternal that unreleased monologes such as SAD (Sex and Death) will be included
and yes, for our British fans, that the Box Set will also be on Region 2!!!

So that's the biggies for now. With the eventual success of Everything, things will just get busier and busier ... and ain't that Going Fine...

somewhere in the Dharma
(another good bumper sticker - 'my karma just ran over your dogma')

jb