This Is Not My Memoir

by André Gregory, Todd London

Overview

The autobiography-of-sorts of André Gregory, an iconic figure in American theater and the star of My Dinner with André

This is Not My Memoir tells the life story of André Gregory, iconic theatre director, writer, and actor. For the first time, Gregory shares memories from a life lived for art, including stories from the making of My Dinner with André. Taking on the dizzying, wondrous nature of a fever dream, This is Not My Memoir includes fantastic and fantastical stories that take the reader from wartime Paris to golden-age Hollywood, from avant-garde theaters to monasteries in India. Along the way we meet Jerzy Grotowski, Helene Weigel, Gregory Peck, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, Wallace Shawn, and many other larger-than-life personalities.

This is Not My Memoir is a collaboration between Gregory and Todd London who create a portrait of an artist confronting his later years. Here, too, are the reflections of a man who only recently learned how to love. What does it mean to create art in a world that often places little value on the process of creating it? And what does it mean to confront the process of aging when your greatest work of art may well be your own life?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780374298548
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	11/17/2020
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

André Gregory has been directing in New York for more than half a century. He has collaborated on film versions of his theatre productions with Wallace Shawn, Louis Malle, and Jonathan Demme. The now legendary My Dinner with André was created by Gregory, Shawn, and Malle. He is also an actor, writer, teacher, painter, and author of the poetry collection, Bone Songs.

Todd London's books include An Ideal Theater, The Importance of Staying Earnest, and novels. A past winner of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, he was the inaugural recipient of the Visionary Leadership Award for contributions to the American Theater.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for This Is Not My Memoir

“Among the revolutionary stage troupes of the 1960s and ’70s . . . none was more inventive or exciting than André Gregory’s Manhattan Project . . . A candid personal memoir detailing the long career and life experience of the brilliantly accomplished Gregory would certainly be welcome, and this book marvelously fills the bill . . . Gregory is a masterly storyteller and chronicler.”
—Phillip Lopate, The New York Times Book Review

"As anyone who has seen the 1981 film classic My Dinner with André knows, avant-garde theater director and actor André Gregory is a wonderful raconteur. His multi-faceted life, full of dramatic ups and downs (and celebrities!), is rich material for memoir."
—Heller McAlpin, NPR.org

“In this perceptive, nonlinear memoir, director Gregory, who wrote and starred in My Dinner with Andre, offers anecdotal reflections on his artistic life . . . Film lovers and theatergoers will delight in Gregory’s reminiscences.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“André Gregory is a director, an impresario, a painter, a storyteller, maybe a fabulist, and always an artist. This Is Not My Memoir reveals André’s sublime talent, his ability to look, to really see, and ultimately just be. My experiences with André profoundly shaped my growth as an actor; reading this book is a reminder of the urgency of seeking yourself in your life and your art.”
—Julianne Moore

“Adventure. Compassion. Hatred. Money. Friendship. Marriage. Theatre. Failure. Beauty. Revelation. Cinema. Success. Death. Creation. And re-creation. This is a remarkable story, of a life so deeply lived.”
—Martin Scorsese

“Reading this book was like having André sit by my side and tell me the stories of his life. Heartfelt, honest, insightful and inspiring stories all told by the great story teller himself.”
—Jude Law

“André Gregory has lived a life in the theatre filled with wildly uncalculated risks, thrilling successes, dazzling failures (at least as interesting) and endlessly fascinating memories. He is and always has been the boldest hero of our avant-garde.”
—Wes Anderson

“André Gregory’s art has always rested on a unique mix of avant-garde audacity and aristocratic charm, not to mention anecdotal flair. All of those elements are irresistibly on display in what is not his autobiography.”
—Adam Gopnik

“True to the title, André Gregory hasn’t written a memoir, but a confession. I never knew brutal honesty could be so romantic and inspiring. It’s a testament to a fearless artist and a fascinating man.”
—Mikhail Baryshnikov

“[André Gregory is] one of the pioneers of American avant-garde theater. Few artists’ lives have been as colorful . . . [This is Not My Memoir is] a witty trip through a unique life in the theater.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“André Gregory has made a career of artistic risks: arbitrary, baffling, passionate, and incredibly funny risks. This Is Not My Memoir is a loving scorecard of how those risks played out—and, best of all, when they did not.”
—John Mulaney

“[André Gregory] recounts his early life as a spectacular swirl of tragedy and privilege, one that sets the stage for his later, almost comical searches for theatrical inspiration across countless borders of country, class, and culture . . . But this book is more than an account of Gregory’s plays, roles, or foibles. Rather, it’s an intimate conversation between Gregory and readers (made possible by theater historian London) that asks us to listen to the ideas behind the words and emerge more thoughtful for it.”
—Robin Chin Roemer, Library Journal

“As a director, actor, writer, teacher, and painter, Gregory has a lot to say, and he says it with style and no little substance. Readers fascinated by theater, film, and the creative process will want to pull up a chair, pour a glass of wine, and feast on the thoughts of one of the theater’s great artists.”
—Carolyn Mulac, Booklist

From the Publisher

02/01/2020

When is a memoir not a memoir? For boundary-pushing theater director and My Dinner with Andre actor Gregory, the question is a sort of thesis, a musing on the tensions—between life and work, reality and falsehood, life and death—that consume avant-garde artists. Born into a dysfunctional family of wealthy Jewish émigrés fleeing Europe during the 1930s, Gregory recounts his early life as a spectacular swirl of tragedy and privilege, one that sets the stage for his later, almost comical searches for theatrical inspiration across countless borders of country, class, and culture. A mix of successes and failures leads to the discovery of Gregory's artistic niche: small theatrical productions, rehearsed over many years, private and ephemeral yet somehow still aimed at posterity. But this book is more than an account of Gregory's plays, roles, or foibles. Rather, it's an intimate conversation between Gregory and readers (made possible by theater historian London) that asks us to listen to the ideas behind the words and emerge more thoughtful for it. Precisely what one would hope from half of My Dinner with Andre. VERDICT This rare, beautiful book toes the line between life and work; a must for Andre fans and theater lovers. [Prepub Alert, 11/1/19.]—Robin Chin Roemer, Univ. of Washington Lib., Seattle

Library Journal

2020-01-12
Reminiscences by one of the pioneers of American avant-garde theater.

Few artists' lives have been as colorful as that of Gregory. Born in Paris in 1934 to Russian Jewish parents, he lived a privileged life of "private clubs, private schools, debutante balls" once the family left wartime Europe for New York. They spent summers in a California house Thomas Mann rented to them, where they socialized with celebrities like Errol Flynn, with whom his mother had an affair. He discovered a passion for acting when he attended a New York private school "established to train repressed, polite, withdrawn little WASPs." Much of this book, co-written by London (An Ideal Theater: Founding Visions for a New American Art, 2013, etc.), is a series of vignettes, some more entertaining than others, about Gregory's artistic and spiritual journey: stage manager jobs at regional theaters, lessons at Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio, pilgrimages to ashrams in India, and outrageous flourishes in the plays he directed, such as a production of Max Frisch's Firebugs that featured an actual fire engine onstage and scenes from Hiroshima projected onto a trampoline—a gig that got him fired. The narrative is filled with anecdotes about such luminaries as fellow director Jerzy Grotowski, who had a profound influence on Gregory's work, and Gregory Peck, who "slugged" him during an argument during the filming of Tartuffe. The highlight for many readers will likely be details of his long collaboration—"forty-five years and only one fight"—with Wallace Shawn and the making of their art-house hit My Dinner With André. These sections chronicle the duo's struggles to make the picture, from Gregory's memorizing hundreds of pages of dialogue for "the longest speaking role in the history of film" to his wearing long johns during the shoot because they couldn't afford to heat the hotel where the restaurant scenes were staged.

A witty trip through a unique life in the theater.

Kirkus Reviews

Along with Wallace Shawn, André Gregory is one of the two principals in Louis Malle’s cult classic film, MY DINNER WITH ANDRE. Here Gregory recounts anecdotes and remembrances from his remarkable life. The iconic stage director, writer, actor, and founder of The Manhattan Project, a 1960s-70s avant-garde theater company, delivers smart, clever observations with an actor’s perfect timing. From harsh beginnings—never sentimentalized—to a series of adventures—sometimes funny, sometimes not—listening to Gregory is pure delight. A world-class raconteur, he mentions mentors—Grotowski and Stanislavsky—and regales us with stories of friendships—with his wife, Chiquita; Wallace Shawn; and Gregory Peck—sharing intimate moments and emotions with wit, candor, a bit of snark, and a lot of love. This is a non-memoir listeners won’t want to end. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2021 - AudioFile

Along with Wallace Shawn, André Gregory is one of the two principals in Louis Malle’s cult classic film, MY DINNER WITH ANDRE. Here Gregory recounts anecdotes and remembrances from his remarkable life. The iconic stage director, writer, actor, and founder of The Manhattan Project, a 1960s-70s avant-garde theater company, delivers smart, clever observations with an actor’s perfect timing. From harsh beginnings—never sentimentalized—to a series of adventures—sometimes funny, sometimes not—listening to Gregory is pure delight. A world-class raconteur, he mentions mentors—Grotowski and Stanislavsky—and regales us with stories of friendships—with his wife, Chiquita; Wallace Shawn; and Gregory Peck—sharing intimate moments and emotions with wit, candor, a bit of snark, and a lot of love. This is a non-memoir listeners won’t want to end. S.J.H. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2021 - AudioFile