"Spalding Gray used to perform a show called Interviewing the Audience. The celebrated monologist would invite a stranger he had met in the lobby to join him on stage. Through a sequence of innocuous questions, he would get them to open up about their lives. At one performance, a guest broke the audience's hearts by talking about her daughter's murder. At benefit nights, people living with HIV shared their tales. Other times, the anecdotes would be eccentric or amusing."
"It was the show he saw on his first visit to the Performing Garage, the New York home of the Wooster Group. The pioneering avant garde company had been established a few years earlier by Gray and director Elizabeth LeCompte with their colleagues Kate Valk, Ron Vawter, Jim Clayburgh, Willem Dafoe and Peyton Smith. Interviewing the Audience was quite amazing, says Shepherd."
Spalding Gray staged Interviewing the Audience, inviting strangers from the lobby and using simple questions to elicit intimate stories. Performances ranged from a guest recounting her daughter's murder to benefit nights where people living with HIV shared their tales, and other times eccentric or amusing anecdotes. Gray believed the stories showed what it is to live in the world. The show deeply influenced young actor Scott Shepherd and intrigued Kate Valk. The Performing Garage in SoHo, a tiny venue without a foyer, became home to the Wooster Group, founded by Gray and Elizabeth LeCompte with colleagues Kate Valk, Ron Vawter, Jim Clayburgh, Willem Dafoe and Peyton Smith.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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