Director’s Notes

Anatomy of Gray

When trying to choose a play to work on for our One-Act play competition I take many things into account but the most important aspect to this competition, in my opinion, is the opportunity to work on material that challenges and educates the students.  I also try to find material the makes me, as the director, feel something.  I read Anatomy of Gray this summer as I was searching for the perfect play for us to do this fall and I liked it a lot but I wasn’t certain it was perfect.  I kept reading other plays, and more plays, and more plays but I always came back to Anatomy of Gray.  The playwright, Jim Leonard first wrote this story 10 years ago when his dear friend was diagnosed with Aids.  He was never very happy with the original script and came back to the story very recently after having a dream.  He rewrote the story, combining and complicating the characters and putting a young woman at the center.  Her father has died and she won’t shut up about loss and love and grief and longing and landscape and weather.   

In the end I chose this show because it makes us think.  What is this show about?  What is the playwright’s intent?  What are we as a cast and crew trying to say?  What does the set mean? What do you feel?

As we worked on this show I fell in love with the characters and the story and hopefully through our creation of Gray Indiana and all of its’ town folk, you will too.  But most importantly, it is our wish, that as you walk away from the theatre tonight you will be talking about the play and in the end YOU will decide its meaning.   

Thank you for taking the time to come take this journey with us.

Renee Denney

Theatre Director

Milton High School

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