Having detailed the agonies of writing a book in his monologue Monster in a Box, Spalding Gray now gives us the monster itself: a convulsively funny, unexpectedly moving novel about a man eternally searching for a moment of protected pleasure even as he is permanently incapable of finding it.Brewster North witnesses his mother's madness but misses her suicide; searches frantically for enlightenment in the Poconos and zipless sex in India; suffers family ennui in Rhode Island and a nervous breakdown in Amsterdam. In the process he emerges as a hilariously complex everyman. And as Gray narrates his hero's free fall, he confirms his own stature as one of our funniest, most eccentric, and most engaging storytellers.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Impossible Vacation (Picador)

Literature & Fiction

Spalding Gray

Contemporary

Picador

Impossible Vacation

This is a collection of six monologues by the master of one-man drama. Included are "Sex and Death at the Age of 14," "Booze, Cars, and College Girls," "47 Beds," "Nobody Wanted to Sit Behind a Desk," "Travels through New England," and "Terror of Pleasure: The House." Also includes a preface by the author.

Sex and Death to the Age 14

Children's Books

Random House Audio |

Presents a sampling of thirty-two monologue performances from the artists of P.S. 122, including Spaulding Gray, John Leguizamo, and Laurie Anderson

Out of Character: Rants, Raves, and Monologues from Today's Top Performance Artists

John Leguizamo

Eric Bogosian

Laurie Anderson

Denis Leary

Humor & Entertainment

BANTAM BOOKS

This collection includes seven short plays based on Anton Chekhov's short stories: THE MAN IN A CASE by Wendy Wasserstein, VINT by David Mamet, DROWNING by María Irene Fornés, A DOPEY FAIRY TALE by Michael Weller, EVE OF THE TRIAL by Samm-Art Williams, THE TALKING DOG by John Guare, and RIVKALA'S RING by Spalding Gray. The plays were commissioned by the Acting Company, and the volume is of particular interest to those concerned with both the short story and short play forms. Some of the plays are faithful adaptations of the original stories. Others take the original short stories as jumping off points and so are better characterized as "loosely based on." In all, these are fascinating short works. THE MAN IN A CASE by Wendy Wasserstein: Varinka is a free spirit in love with the older Byelinkov, the most proper man in town. But his inhibitions and worries about how he and Varinka are perceived when she boldly rides a bicycle about town threatens to unravel their impending marriage. VINT by David Mamet: Mischievous bureaucrats play a card game (vint) using identity documents in their possession until they are caught redhanded. DROWNING by María Irene Fornés: A surrealist playlet in which a man performs suicides for a fee. A DOPEY FAIRY TALE by Michael Weller: A spoof fairy tale about a boy and his talking dog, Chatter, who go on a magical journey to recover his lost talent. EVE OF THE TRIAL by Samm-Art Williams: Set in Baton Rouge in 1919, the defendant of a criminal trial meets the judge who, unbeknownst to him, is to try him the following day. THE TALKING DOG by John Guare: While hang gliding in the Catskills, a young woman wonders whether the young man in her company loves her. RIVKALA'S RING by Spalding Gray: Famously astute observer of everyday life, Spalding Gray receives a Chekhov short story in the mail, leading him into a monologue that confronts the fears that beset us. "Take seven contemporary American playwrights with highly distinctive voices and wildly differing approaches to the theater. Ask each to adapt one of Anton Chekhov's short stories, which range in mood from the melancholic to the satiric and back again ... the results are incomparably delicious ... when ORCHARDS is good which is most of the time it is very, very good, indeed ..." Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times "The notion of asking seven contemporary playwrights to produce variations on themes by Anton Chekhov seems at first like asking for combination-platter theater ... All of the playwrights use Chekhov short stories for a springboard but some have jumped so far into the deep end that it would be more accurate to say that they maybe looked at his picture while they were writing ... Whether you pick from Column A or Column B, ORCHARDS offers a superior menu." Megan Rosenfeld, The Washington Post

Orchards

John Guare

WENDY WASSERSTEIN

David?Mamet

Michael Weller

Maria Irene Fornes

Samm-Art Williams

Dramas & Plays

Broadway Play Publishing, Incorporated

Shows carnival people, including those who work in side shows, and briefly tells some of their stories

In Search of the Monkey Girl

Arts & Photography

Randall Levenson

Photography & Video

Aperture

Shows carnival people, including those who work in side shows, and briefly tells some of their stories

In Search of the Monkey Girl (A New Images Book)

It's a Slippery Slope

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Mouth Almighty

Full-Length Comedy ~ Drama / In this signature piece and his most political work, Gray refers to himself as a "poetic reporter." After six months of filming the movie The Killing Fields, Gray found himself compiling a monologue about his personal experience on the film interwoven with the historical events that took place during the Vietnam War. (Cast: 1 ~ may be expanded to 30)

Swimming to Cambodia (A Play)

Dramatic Publishing

Original Middle School Scenes and Monologues contains more than 90 roles created especially for middle school actors. Diverse in theme and style, these challenging and distinctive pieces will motivate young actors to create memorable characterizations. This anthology is equally useful as a resource for acting auditions and forensic competitions. Representative titles include: Foster Gets His Own Demon, The Big Breakup, Geek Secrets, Making Up for Lost Time, Anna and the Sea Monster, Muttface, The Watch Watcher, Sharctoteachergator!, The Garden Dragon, Talkin' Smack, The Underprivileged Club, Don't Wanna Be a Rock Star, This Scene Will Destruct in Five Seconds, The No Socks Gang, But What If an Alien-Steel-Jaw Came Down From Another Universe and Ate Us Up? and Who Says I Talk Too Much? - 256 pages.

Original Middle School Scenes and Monologues

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Books by Spalding Gray