Focusing on the words

Spalding Gray's widow shares his 'Stories'

Kathleen Russo (below) created ''Stories Left to Tell'' because she wanted her late husband, Spalding Gray (above), ''to be remembered also for the great writer that he was.'' (NOAH GREENBERG (above))

When Spalding Gray didn't come home the night of Jan. 10, 2004, his wife, Kathleen Russo, had a feeling. The famed monologist had suffered bouts of depression all of his life. His mother had committed suicide when he was in his 20s. But after Gray sustained head, hip, and leg injuries in a car crash in Ireland in 2001, things had gone from bad to worse.

Russo called the police. Two months later, his body was pulled out of New York's East River. It was an apparent suicide.

Since then, Russo has done much to showcase the legacy of Gray, an actor/writer best known for his autobiographical "Swimming to Cambodia," "Gray's Anatomy," and "Monster in a Box." "Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell," which makes its regional premiere at the Institute of Contemporary Art Thursday through March 1, is her way of giving his words a new voice.

With a four-person ensemble and rotating guest speakers - here the guests are American Repertory Theatre's Gideon Lester, novelist Clair Messud, radio personality Christopher Lydon, and Vincent "Buddy" Cianci, the former mayor of Providence (where Gray was born) - the show draws on both Gray's acclaimed monologues and his unpublished writings. Audiences will laugh wildly, says Russo, radio producer for an NPR affiliate in the Hamptons - and perhaps they will see a greater humanity and the deep sense of humility that defined her husband's life.

In a telephone interview, Russo had this to say.

Q. What inspired you to put this piece together?

A. "Swimming to Cambodia" they republished in paperback shortly after Spalding died. We put together a group of readers who read excerpts from the book for the book's release. And then I had finished Spalding's [unfinished] book "Life Interrupted," and so a year after we released that at Barnes and Noble Union Square. We did a big reading for that. So I was like, "Other people can read his work. It doesn't have to be Spalding Gray." I want Spalding to be remembered also for the great writer that he was, because most people think of him as this great monologist, performer, but he really wrote his own material. And to hear other people do it, you really pay attention to the words. You are not so much captivated by the performance style.

Q. Of his unpublished work, what would you say is the most powerful?

A. I would say 40 percent of the show is from his journals - unpublished works. There's a letter to his brother Rocky played by two actors: One actor is playing Rocky and the other is playing Spalding. The letter is something that was never read publicly before, and it's something. And then there were the journals when he was talking about killing himself. They were the most powerful. He felt as if he was a burden to his family and to others and that there was no relief for his pain. This was the only answer he had.

Q. How have you coped with his suicide?

A. Well, there's no manual. You just get through it somehow in your own way. What helped me most was that I had my children that I had to be responsible for and care for. I had no choice. If it was just Spalding and myself, maybe it would be different. But I had these kids to still raise, so I needed to be as strong as possible.

Q. Did you see it coming?

A. Of course. He was sick for almost three years. One thing your readers need to be absolutely clear on and we do make clear in the show was that he was suffering from brain damage from the car accident. So, yes, he was prone to depression. Yes, he had bouts of depression and episodes. But this was really because he had brain damage.

Q. There is the suicide, but are there moments of humor in this play?

A. Oh yes. You will laugh. And you will cry. Like Spalding and the sweat lodge, which is a famous story he told. Off Broadway we had this really funny African-American woman with dread-locks down to her butt reading it and acting it out. And she becomes Spalding, amazingly enough, because she's such a great actress and the words are so strong and funny that she pulls it off. It's great to see physical polar opposites of Spalding read the material - like Buddy Cianci, I mean what is he going to do with the material? It's gonna be so cool.

Q. Do you feel you're keeping Spalding alive in "Stories Left to Tell"?

A. I was a good mate for him because I made sure his life continues in this play. Steven Soderbergh is doing a film on his life; I put that together. Whoopi Goldberg is doing a film on this play. So there are a lot of projects that keep his work alive even though he's gone. And I am very active with that even though I work a full-time job with three kids. I've made sure we have enough going on. We have a foundation in his name for young writers.

Q. How are you hoping audiences will react to the play?

A. I think a lot of people miss Spalding, and Boston was a town he went to every year with a new piece and he had a big draw there. A lot of people when they hear this, they go, "Oh, that's not him. Why should we go?" But then they are completely blown away that other people can read his work. And it brings him to life for that hour and a half. And you remember him in a way as the talented artist he was, the wonderful father he became, the tortured artist he was. His themes are very universal, and everyone can relate to it.

Q. In your quieter moments, when you reflect on all that you have accomplished after his suicide. . .

A. Oh, if I stopped to think about it I'd probably need a lot of therapy. I just keep going with it. Spalding and I were well matched because he would be the one to over-analyze everything, and I just want to plow through it. I think it's really important to talk about suicide because the more you talk about it, you realize everyone you know has been touched by it. It's something that should never be swept under the rug like it was when Spalding's mother committed suicide and no one talked about it. I don't want my kids to be embarrassed by how their father died. There was something terminally wrong with him. He had a sickness that couldn't be cured.

Megan Tench can be reached at mtench@globe.com.