|
Six Degrees
of Separation
Winner of the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Play and the 1991 New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Inspired by a true story, a young man charms his way into the lives of a wealthy circle of friends by telling them he is the son of Sidney Poitier and promises them all a part in his father's upcoming movie version of Cats. This compelling comedy-drama makes us all take a look at what it means to be a part of our society and how such disparate folks are so closely related in a world where everyone is linked by Six Degrees of Separation.
Views of rehearsal and run of
"Six Degrees of Separation".
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
The play is based on a true story. Growing up in Buffalo, New York, David Hampton idolized Sydney Poitier and turned his fantasy of secretly being Poitier's son into a hoax that eventually invaded the lives of many prominent New Yorker's in the early 1980's. Hampton called himself David Poitier and through charisma and sheer bravado convinced everyone that he was the actor's son. Playwright Guare first learned of the real-life hoax from his friend Osborne Elliott, who was one of Hampton's victims. Guare kept the story and the newspaper clippings stashed away for seven years until using them as the starting point of a play beginning in 1990. His comedy touches on tensions that discolor life in the '90s - racial tension, homophobia, homelessness, celebrity status, the perennial fears of having one's privacy invaded and conflicts between parents and children.
SPECIAL THANKS TO: Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc. Originally produced by Lincoln Center Theatre, New York City. |
May 7 - May 29,
1999
