Bone Songs

by André Gregory

“Bone Songs is a series of love poems, inspired by 33 years of marriage . . . The sonata-style material, which evokes Rumi, Thornton Wilder and James Joyce without ever seeming referential, is elegiac, furious and rhapsodic by turns—true theatrical poetry.”—David C. Nichols, Los Angeles Times

“To describe André’s contribution [as a theatre artist] gets into something which is enormously intangible. His greatest accomplishments are really in the realm of human insight and psychological truth.”—Wallace Shawn

Bone Songs is a meditation on the journey of marriage and the meaning of one’s long life, by acclaimed avant-garde theatre director André Gregory. Loosely based on Solomon’s Song of Songs, it takes the shape of a passionate conversation with the artist’s late wife. Gregory performs Bone Songs as a kind of “After Dinner with André,” weaving together his own personal anecdotes with the journey of five characters on a cruise to Antarctica: a young couple honeymooning, a middle-aged couple dealing with illness and an old man returning after the death of his wife. The signature performances sold out in Los Angeles and will debut this season in New York.

André Gregory has been one of the most important forces in the American theatre for nearly 40 years. He was the founder of Seattle Repertory Theatre, and in the late 1960s created the Manhattan Project, one of the leading theatres in the New York avant-garde. His ongoing collaboration with playwright Wallace Shawn is at the center of such films as My Dinner with Andre and Vanya on 42nd Street. His legendary production of Alice in Wonderland played in New York for seven years, and toured the U.S., Europe and the Middle East.

131 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most moving experiences of my entire life was seeing this play performed in a workshop setting at Dickinson in early 2005. No less moving is the experience of reading it. It is more profound and poignant my humble words can even begin to describe. The story of a young couple, that same couple when they are old(er), all through the eyes and with the guidance of an older man ("the explorer"), this play is simply phenomenal. "Bone Songs" makes my bones ache with desire, melancholy, happiness, and everything in between.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely play -- but I particularly enjoyed Gregory's all-too-brief memoirs at the end of the book.