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Avant-Garde Theatre Channels Spalding Gray
3 Feb
Summary
- Wooster Group reinterprets Spalding Gray's 'Nayatt School' tribute.
- Actors channel Gray's performance through clothes and mannerisms.
- Company fuses high art with pop culture in unique productions.
New York's avant-garde Wooster Group is presenting 'Nayatt School Redux,' a reimagining of Spalding Gray's 1978 work. The performance serves as a seance-style tribute to the late monologist. Actors Scott Shepherd and Kate Valk are channeling Gray's original performance, even wearing some of his clothes, to get as close as possible to his presence.
The Wooster Group is renowned for its distinctive style, merging diverse elements like baroque opera with sci-fi B-movies. Their productions often juxtapose high art, such as T.S. Eliot's plays or Gertrude Stein's writings, with elements of pop culture, like old movies or Lenny Bruce's comedy. This approach creates unexpected resonances, offering new perspectives on both the "high" and "low" cultural components.
Elizabeth LeCompte, a co-founder of the Wooster Group, likens her creative process to frottage, rubbing texts and performers together to generate something new. This method, while sometimes disorienting, often results in humorous and profound outcomes. The company's performers exhibit an athletic spirit, executing demanding physical and technical feats to synchronize with recorded material, showcasing remarkable precision.
