Shades of Gray

I enjoyed reading your article on Spalding Gray so very much (“Meet Our Newest Interviewer,” April 17).

I had never heard of Gray before I returned to school as a graduate student at Cal State Northridge in the speech communication department.

Thanks to Prof. Emeritus Donald Salper, I soon discovered the wonderful world of Spalding Gray. In fact, as an assignment, our seminar group did a takeoff on Gray, complete with a lone table, chair, no script and a glass of water. When I first viewed “Swimming to Cambodia,” I was bowled over by Gray’s honesty. It was just like sitting down with someone in my living room, except I never got to talk back--only listen. Quite a change for a speech major!

Thanks for the opportunity to read Gray interviewing Gray. What an exciting and creative way to really “hear” Gray and, since my thesis was based on oral history, how terrific to hear that he turned in an audiotape that you then transcribed. Hang onto that tape--it is Gray’s voice with all the nuances, inflections and emphasis that tell the complete story.

BARBARA R. CLOUD

Sylmar

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It’s a classic.

A feat of ego only someone as self-absorbed as Spalding Gray could accomplish--the self-interview.

Someone should warn him--if he continues the practice, he’ll go blind.

Then again, perhaps he already has.

BRUCE BELLAND

Encino