Play: Rumstick Road

Play: Rumstick Road I Spalding Gray and Elizabeth LeCompte Composed by Spalding Gray and Elizabeth Le Compte with Libby Howes, Bruce Porter, and Ron Vawter. Directed by Elizabeth Le Compte. Technical Direction by Bruce Porter and Bruce Rayvid. Technical Assistance by Libby Howes. Environment by James Clayburgh with Elizabeth Le Compte. CAST Spud.............. Spalding Gray Operator............ Bruce Porter Woman........... Libby Howes Man................ Ron Vawter And the Voices of: Margaret Horton (Gramma Horton) Dorothy Spalding Gray (Gram Gray) Rockwell Gray Sr. (Dad, Rock) Dr. Henry Bradford (fictitious name) Dorothy Spalding Wood (Gray): Born June 30, 1887, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Married in 1907. Divorced in 1918. Margaret Metcalf (Horton): Born April 19, 1890, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Rockwell Gray Sr.: Born January 26, 1912, in Muskegon, Michigan. Margaret Elizabeth Horton (Gray): Born December 27, 1914, in Barrington , Rhode Island. Married on Halloween, 1936. Committed suicide on July 29, 1967, at Shady Hill Drive, East Greenwich, Rhode Island. Alice Mason: Neighbor to the Gray family when they lived on Rumstick Road. Dr. Henry Bradford (fictitious name): Psychiatrist who treated Margaret Elizabeth Gray. 92 MARGARET METCALF= ELMER HORTON DOROTHY WOOD =CURTIS GRAY r EDWVARD JOHN CHANNING (CHAN) ROCKWELL JR. (ROCKY) MARGARET ELIZABETH = ROCKWELL SR. SPALDING (SPUD) KEY GG = Recorded Voice of Dorothy Spalding Gray (Gramma Gray) RG = Recorded Voice of Rockwell Gray Sr. (Rock) SG = Recorded Voice of Spalding Gray (Spud) GH = Recorded Voice of Margaret Metcalf Horton (Gram Horton) DR = Recorded Voice of Dr. Henry Bradford ORGANIZATION OF TEXT AND MOVEMENT Part I Direct Address Letter from Alice Mason Tag Dance with Gun The Pick Up / The Ghost The First Examination Part Ii Direct Address House Slide House Dance Interview with Dad in Tent Flying the Tent Part III Direct Address The Scientific Statement of Being Scene Change (The Move) , Slide Show Letter from Mom Interview with Dad in Chairs Telephone Call / Woman in Tent The Second Examination Part IV Direct Address Letter from Dad Family Snapshot 93 ROOM (Stage Right) ROOM (Center) ROOM (Stage Left) PART I Direct Address Letter from Alice Mason Tag Tag Tag Dance with Gun The Pick Up The Ghost The First Examination PART II Direct Address House Slide House Dance House Dance Interview with Dad in Tent Flying the Tent PART III Direct Address The Scientific Statement of Being Scene Change (The Move) Scene Change (The Move) Slide Show Letter from Mom Interview with Dad in Chairs Telephone Call Woman in Tent The Second Examination PART IV Direct Address Letter from Dad Family Snapshot Family Snapshot Family Snapshot PART I Direct Address SPUD: My name is Spalding Gray, Spud. This piece is dedicated to my parents; My Mother, Margaret Elizabeth Horton Gray, Betty, Bette, Bette Gray, and my Father, Rockwell Gray Senior, Rock, Rock Gray. While interviewing my Grandmother Gray on my tape recorder, she suggested that I get in touch with Alice Mason. Letter From Alice Mason OPERATOR: Dear Spud: I called Molly Tobey who lives at the curve in Rumstick Road which leads to Rumstick Point Road. She is 85 years old and she remembers Charlie Joe Smith who was a real old timer telling her this: (I also remember my father telling me the same tale with variations). In the "Old Times" the Indians (Wampanoag Tribe) owned Rumstick Point which the English settlers very much wanted. The Indians would not sell it 94 to them-but one day the English settlers met them at this curve in the road and brought along with them a barrel of rum. The Indians stuck a stick into the rum and then tasted it-and it tasted good! So they sold Rumstick Point to the English settlers for a barrel of rum (hence the word Rumstick). There is a small boulder along the side of the road which marks the exact spot in the curve of the road where they met. One addition from my father's account:the English landed at Smith's Cove (the cove between Adams Pt. and Rumstick Pt.) and walked up the hill carrying the barrel of rum to where the boulder is on Rumstick Rd. and met the Indians there. A rather far out version is the following: a barrel of rum...