6degree

theatre and dance at cu

True story: During 1983, David Hampton duped numerous New York notables into providing him food, money, and shelter by pretending to be the son of Sidney Poitier. Claiming to have just been mugged, the charismatic Hampton (now David "Poitier") solicited help from the Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, the President of New York's public TV station and conductor/ composer Leonard Bernstein, among others.
When playwright John Guare read about Hampton's exploits, he was inspired to write a play which explores the creation of character, identity, and personal connections. Borrowing wire-less inventor Guglielmo Marconi's statistical theory that everyone can be located through 5.83 people, Guare explores a world where no one is anonymous, where every act has repercussions.

The CU Theatre and Dance Department production of John Guare's 1991 tale of urban angst, class, race, celebrity, family and art, follows the story of Flan and Ouisa, a well-connected New York couple, art dealers, trying very hard to keep from falling through the upper-crust. At a crucial moment in a critical negotiation, they receive a wholly unexpected house guest. Paul is charming, multi-talented and just happens to be the son of Sidney Poitier. (he may even be able to get them a role in his dad's upcoming film version of Cats!) When they wake in the middle of the night to discover that Paul has brought a male street hustler into their home, they begin to suspect everything may not be quite what it seems. Paul vanishes, but his impact on their lives continues. Their involvement with him has forged a connection which they cannot seem to break.
Heralded as a "tragicomic masterpiece" and "the most intelligent, immediate and artful American play in years," Six Degrees of Separation provides us with a startling kaleidoscope of contemporary urban life, asking us to examine how we are connected to each other and what those connections truly mean.


		theatre and dance at cu



True story: During 1983, David Hampton duped numerous New York notables into providing him food, money, and shelter by pretending to be the son of Sidney Poitier. Claiming to have just been mugged, the charismatic Hampton (now David "Poitier") solicited help from the Dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, the President of New York's public TV station and conductor/ composer Leonard Bernstein, among others. When playwright John Guare read about Hampton's exploits, he was inspired to write a play which explores the creation of character, identity, and personal connections. Borrowing wire-less inventor Guglielmo Marconi's statistical theory that everyone can be located through 5.83 people, Guare explores a world where no one is anonymous, where every act has repercussions.


	The CU Theatre and Dance Department production of John Guare's 1991 tale of urban angst, class, race, celebrity, family and art, follows the story of Flan and Ouisa, a well-connected New York couple, art dealers, trying very hard to keep from falling through the upper-crust. At a crucial moment in a critical negotiation, they receive a wholly unexpected house guest. Paul is charming, multi-talented and just happens to be the son of Sidney Poitier. (he may even be able to get them a role in his dad's upcoming film version of Cats!) When they wake in the middle of the night to discover that Paul has brought a male street hustler into their home, they begin to suspect everything may not be quite what it seems. Paul vanishes, but his impact on their lives continues. Their involvement with him has forged a connection which they cannot seem to break. Heralded as a "tragicomic masterpiece" and "the most intelligent, immediate and artful American play in years," Six Degrees of Separation provides us with a startling kaleidoscope of contemporary urban life, asking us to examine how we are connected to each other and what those connections truly mean.