The heart of John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation can be summed up ill a few sentences that Ouisa Kittredge directs at the audience: "I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation. . . . It's a profound thought. .
. . How every person is a new door, opening up into other worlds."
Six Degrees of Separation first opened off-Broadway in 1990. Its original ten-week run was extended almost immediately. Audiences lined up in hopes of ticket cancellations to see this play that explores late twentieth-century society as deftly as it does universal human relationships. Called a tragicomedy by some critics, Six Degrees of Separation is a witty, biting, yet ultimately sincere commentary on what drives people: the desire for money, fame, social standing, comfort, and, for the lucky, a desire for meaningful human connection. Guare based the premise of his play on an actual incident-a young African-American man gained access to the homes of upper-class New Yorkers by pretending to be the son of actor Sidney Poitier but the creation of the play is an imaginative tour de force. Guare uses the props of the late twentieth century, such as social issues and art, to create a comprehensive picture of a fragmented society, one in which those simple Six degrees that bind people together are overlooked, blatantly ignored, and, very occasionally, celebrated
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