Feature in the Flagstaff Live, Cover Story
Six Degrees of Separation
Theatrikos’ daunting onstage task of examining human identity
By Stephanie Flood
Published on 08/07/2008
The meaning of the play rests inside a revolving, two-sided painting by Russian abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky: one side is geometric and technical while the other side is flailed with wild and vivid strokes. It is a simple prop symbolizing the two sides of human identity: one side we show people and another we hide.
In “Six Degrees of Separation,” the actors depict real, honest archetypes of today’s egos, even as a theory exists that each and every one of us is separated by a mere margin of six people in the entire world.
“Six Degrees of Separation” was written by playwright John Guare, a writer born in 1938. The play took him 51 years to complete and saw its premiere in 1990. Now, Richard Jesswein, a director at Theatrikos Theatre Co., has decided to take on the risks of this challenging play. For him, it took 10 years to get the show in the works.
The conflicts of society haven’t changed much since the play was written. Jesswein explains more, as he offers a brief summary of what this play is about:
“Ouisa (played by Linda Sutera) and Flan Kittredge (played by Tony Sutera) are both art dealers, and they are very affluent and very rich,” Jesswein says. “They live on the upside of New York City, and there’s a real phoniness about them. There seems to be no depth in their relationship, no depth in their character. Totally superficial, until this young man walks through the door—this guy, Paul, claiming to be the son of Sydney Poitier.”
Paul, played by Jared Chamberlain Stewart, is a black con-artist extraordinare who name drops Poitier, playing on celebrity glamorization as a way to win this rich couple’s affection.
He also claims he went to school with their sons at Harvard, yet another clever ploy that wins over their trust.
“Paul is a very troubled young man. I think he’s very brilliant,” says Stewart. “That, and he goes out to other people to establish his existence. So Paul is trying to find himself through the Kittredges. And he just can’t. When he becomes exhausted and he finds that he can’t use them anymore, he goes to another source to draw energy from. And he keeps going to all these people, trying to fill a void in him that he can’t get from anyone else because he has no character.”
The play employs a contemporary stage consisting of a black background with light fading in and out. The lighting controls are meant to concentrate on every single character, their expressions and their presence in the play. And as each character is introduced, they either compare or contrast with what Paul is or isn’t as Paul expresses the genius of his own imagination.
“The play is about racism, it’s about classism and it’s about homophobia,” Jesswein says. “Because what happens is that this man that walks through the door—one, he’s gay; two, he’s black; and three, he’s from the streets. And he challenges all the Kittredge’s conventions—everything they think is real. And the question is, ‘Who is this guy Paul?’”
The play focuses mostly on Ouisa, who transforms as she learns more about Paul’s tricks and illusions, only to realize that her life was hollow before a true connection between her and Paul formed. Again, Kandinsky’s work represents opposing identities.
“One of the things that I see overall that affects me the most is that the Kandinsky is a two-sided painting,” Sutera says. “I have a monologue where I’m talking about a painter losing a painting. I was once an artist, and I lost sight of my artistry whether because I wasn’t making enough money, or that I got this opportunity to become an art salesman.”
He continues, “I gave up my artistic, sensitive side and started pursuing this making money side, to fit in to this New York society. One of the real struggles that I have throughout the play is I want to go back to my sensitive, artistic side but I just can’t. And in the end, I’m one of the people that doesn’t get to flip myself. I don’t get to be that other side. I’m just the geometrically, calculated side.”
But even with the darker issues of society being addressed, a joust of uncompromising humor is alive in the script and performance, which explains why some critics have called this play a “tragicomedy.”
One scene simultaneously rattles the audience of any lingering homophobia while also being absolutely hilarious. Paul and a surprised hustler, played by Charlie Commanda, are found nude together the morning after the Kittredges accept Paul into their house.
This scene has proven to be one of the most controversial in “Six Degrees of Seperation.”
“A lot of people ask, ‘Why is there a hustler in the play, and male nudity in the show?’” Jesswein says. “Most people think that a naked guy running through an apartment unexpectedly is a violation in many ways. So in this scene, with this naked hustler running around with Paul, it’s the moment where Paul is exposed and the suspicion is planted. Staging that has been challenging, because we want to respect the Flagstaff audience but we still want to stay true to the integrity of Guare’s work.”
The vulnerability of Ouisa shines during that moment of exasperation. Later in the play, as more upper crust characters are inspected and slowly revealed to be more human, the six degrees of separation that connects everybody with each other—whether rich or poor, black or white—begins to close in.
A prime example is the character of Woody, the son of the Kittredges, played by Drew Purcell, who plays an over-the-top caricature of what spoiled, high society rich kids are like. His shallow role shows how empty that upbringing can be, with the lack of warmth and connection most children need from their parents.
Or there’s Elizabeth and Rick, an innocent couple in a park who are both swindled by Paul—but at a grave and shocking price. These two characters, Elizabeth played by Laura Burt, and Rick, played by Jesse Beagan, are symbols of the desire that drives most people in society: money, fame and comfort to summate to either success or grief. It is safe to say that each character in “Six Degrees of Separation” sews a destined web that will ultimately lead to the penultimate moment in the play.
“I have asked everybody in the cast and crew to think about the moment in the play that is the most important moment,” Jesswein says. “I said to them, ‘Each of you will have your own idea about which moment that is, and I want you to focus on that.’ Everything we do as actors, as a director, and everyone that’s involved should be getting us toward that epiphany moment, or that moment about what the play is about.”
Some secrets aren’t revealed until the very end, and “Six Degrees of Separation” doesn’t give the meaning away until the absolute conclusion.
“I hope the question that the audience walks away with is, ‘You as a canvas and as a human being—Who has contributed to that canvas?’” Jesswein says. “‘Who has painted your life, and can you account for how you’ve been composed? … You see yourself as one thing, but the world sees yourself as something different. How do you reconcile that as a human being?’”
“Six Degrees of Separation” is currently playing at the Doris Harper-White Community Playhouse, 11 W. Cherry, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Sun, Aug. 24. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 8 p.m. and are $17, and Sunday performances begin at 2 p.m. and are $15. No one under 15 will be admitted due to brief nudity in the play.
Theatrikos’ daunting onstage task of examining human identity
By Stephanie Flood
Published on 08/07/2008
The meaning of the play rests inside a revolving, two-sided painting by Russian abstract painter Wassily Kandinsky: one side is geometric and technical while the other side is flailed with wild and vivid strokes. It is a simple prop symbolizing the two sides of human identity: one side we show people and another we hide.
In “Six Degrees of Separation,” the actors depict real, honest archetypes of today’s egos, even as a theory exists that each and every one of us is separated by a mere margin of six people in the entire world.
“Six Degrees of Separation” was written by playwright John Guare, a writer born in 1938. The play took him 51 years to complete and saw its premiere in 1990. Now, Richard Jesswein, a director at Theatrikos Theatre Co., has decided to take on the risks of this challenging play. For him, it took 10 years to get the show in the works.
The conflicts of society haven’t changed much since the play was written. Jesswein explains more, as he offers a brief summary of what this play is about:
“Ouisa (played by Linda Sutera) and Flan Kittredge (played by Tony Sutera) are both art dealers, and they are very affluent and very rich,” Jesswein says. “They live on the upside of New York City, and there’s a real phoniness about them. There seems to be no depth in their relationship, no depth in their character. Totally superficial, until this young man walks through the door—this guy, Paul, claiming to be the son of Sydney Poitier.”
Paul, played by Jared Chamberlain Stewart, is a black con-artist extraordinare who name drops Poitier, playing on celebrity glamorization as a way to win this rich couple’s affection.
He also claims he went to school with their sons at Harvard, yet another clever ploy that wins over their trust.
“Paul is a very troubled young man. I think he’s very brilliant,” says Stewart. “That, and he goes out to other people to establish his existence. So Paul is trying to find himself through the Kittredges. And he just can’t. When he becomes exhausted and he finds that he can’t use them anymore, he goes to another source to draw energy from. And he keeps going to all these people, trying to fill a void in him that he can’t get from anyone else because he has no character.”
The play employs a contemporary stage consisting of a black background with light fading in and out. The lighting controls are meant to concentrate on every single character, their expressions and their presence in the play. And as each character is introduced, they either compare or contrast with what Paul is or isn’t as Paul expresses the genius of his own imagination.
“The play is about racism, it’s about classism and it’s about homophobia,” Jesswein says. “Because what happens is that this man that walks through the door—one, he’s gay; two, he’s black; and three, he’s from the streets. And he challenges all the Kittredge’s conventions—everything they think is real. And the question is, ‘Who is this guy Paul?’”
The play focuses mostly on Ouisa, who transforms as she learns more about Paul’s tricks and illusions, only to realize that her life was hollow before a true connection between her and Paul formed. Again, Kandinsky’s work represents opposing identities.
“One of the things that I see overall that affects me the most is that the Kandinsky is a two-sided painting,” Sutera says. “I have a monologue where I’m talking about a painter losing a painting. I was once an artist, and I lost sight of my artistry whether because I wasn’t making enough money, or that I got this opportunity to become an art salesman.”
He continues, “I gave up my artistic, sensitive side and started pursuing this making money side, to fit in to this New York society. One of the real struggles that I have throughout the play is I want to go back to my sensitive, artistic side but I just can’t. And in the end, I’m one of the people that doesn’t get to flip myself. I don’t get to be that other side. I’m just the geometrically, calculated side.”
But even with the darker issues of society being addressed, a joust of uncompromising humor is alive in the script and performance, which explains why some critics have called this play a “tragicomedy.”
One scene simultaneously rattles the audience of any lingering homophobia while also being absolutely hilarious. Paul and a surprised hustler, played by Charlie Commanda, are found nude together the morning after the Kittredges accept Paul into their house.
This scene has proven to be one of the most controversial in “Six Degrees of Seperation.”
“A lot of people ask, ‘Why is there a hustler in the play, and male nudity in the show?’” Jesswein says. “Most people think that a naked guy running through an apartment unexpectedly is a violation in many ways. So in this scene, with this naked hustler running around with Paul, it’s the moment where Paul is exposed and the suspicion is planted. Staging that has been challenging, because we want to respect the Flagstaff audience but we still want to stay true to the integrity of Guare’s work.”
The vulnerability of Ouisa shines during that moment of exasperation. Later in the play, as more upper crust characters are inspected and slowly revealed to be more human, the six degrees of separation that connects everybody with each other—whether rich or poor, black or white—begins to close in.
A prime example is the character of Woody, the son of the Kittredges, played by Drew Purcell, who plays an over-the-top caricature of what spoiled, high society rich kids are like. His shallow role shows how empty that upbringing can be, with the lack of warmth and connection most children need from their parents.
Or there’s Elizabeth and Rick, an innocent couple in a park who are both swindled by Paul—but at a grave and shocking price. These two characters, Elizabeth played by Laura Burt, and Rick, played by Jesse Beagan, are symbols of the desire that drives most people in society: money, fame and comfort to summate to either success or grief. It is safe to say that each character in “Six Degrees of Separation” sews a destined web that will ultimately lead to the penultimate moment in the play.
“I have asked everybody in the cast and crew to think about the moment in the play that is the most important moment,” Jesswein says. “I said to them, ‘Each of you will have your own idea about which moment that is, and I want you to focus on that.’ Everything we do as actors, as a director, and everyone that’s involved should be getting us toward that epiphany moment, or that moment about what the play is about.”
Some secrets aren’t revealed until the very end, and “Six Degrees of Separation” doesn’t give the meaning away until the absolute conclusion.
“I hope the question that the audience walks away with is, ‘You as a canvas and as a human being—Who has contributed to that canvas?’” Jesswein says. “‘Who has painted your life, and can you account for how you’ve been composed? … You see yourself as one thing, but the world sees yourself as something different. How do you reconcile that as a human being?’”
“Six Degrees of Separation” is currently playing at the Doris Harper-White Community Playhouse, 11 W. Cherry, every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Sun, Aug. 24. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 8 p.m. and are $17, and Sunday performances begin at 2 p.m. and are $15. No one under 15 will be admitted due to brief nudity in the play.