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SOUTHERN VOICE
OCTOBER 7/1993
A comedy dark with imposters and connections
Horizon’s “Six Degrees of Separation”
testifies that it really is a small
world after all
“We play a game around the set,” jokes Rosemary Newcott,
the director of Horizon Theatre Company’s production of
“Six Degrees of Separation.” “We all try to figure out how
we’re connected to other people. Sometimes there are even
less than six degrees separating us.”
“Six Degrees of Separation” is about connections—the
title refers to the theory that any two people on the face of the
earth are separated by no more than six people who know
each other. The play is a fictionalized version of a story which
occurred a few years ago in New
York, when a drifter, David
Hampton, convinced several
wealthy people he was the son
of actor Sidney Poitier and that
he was helping his father cast a
new movie. Poitier, in reality,
has no sons, only daughters.
The play paints a scathingly
funny portrait of urban Ameri
cans as we see how this stranger,
Paul, charms his way into the
cozy world of an affluent Manhattan couple, Ouisa and Flan,
their friends and their children. Playwright John Guara, best
known for “The House of Blue Leaves,” was fascinated by
the story. He put aside a script he’d been working on for two
years and quickly penned “Six Degrees,” a story he felt de
manded be dramatized immediately. It was, and it became a
major success when it was staged two years ago.
New York Times critic Frank Rich called it “transcen-
Six Degrees
of Separation
runs Oct. 1
through Nov. 14
at Horizon Theater
Company,
1083 Euclid Ave.
in Little 5 Points.
Call 584-7450.
Trent (Ron Estes, right) tries to seduce Paul (Judge
Luckey) in a scene from “Six Degrees of Separation.”
dent, magical, an extraordinarily high comedy,” but the play
is much more than that. Though Horizon bills it is a suspense
ful comedy, the play has a very dark, tragic side.
“It could be called a black comedy,” said Newcott. “There
are times we laugh, but there are times when we are shocked
by what’s happening. Yes, you can call ‘Six Degrees’ a com
edy, but it’s a comedy like Shakespeare’s ‘Measure for Mea
sure’—it’s not laugh-a-minute stuff.”
In the play, Paul finds a kindred spirit in Ouisa, a woman
who reaches out to connect with him, even after she learns
he’s a liar, even after he brings a hustler into her home to have
sex with him, even after he drives a young man to suicide.
A movie version of “Six Degrees of Separation” is due out
this winter, but it is reported all indications of Paul’s homo
sexuality have been eradicated by the filmmakers. “I don’t
know how they can do it,” says Newcott. “The point of the
play is that it makes no difference who or what we are. His
sexuality is essential to many of the plot points of the play, at
least as I see it.”
Though she says she feels a little like a traffic cop at times
with this play—there are 10 actors playing 17 roles—Newcott
has striven to develop the characters in “Six Degrees” as fully
as possible. “I didn’t see the show in New York, though I
wanted to at the time, but I was told Jerry Zaks directed it in a
very fast-paced, boom, boom, boom kind of way. In our
production, we’re looking for the duality of the play. It has its
funny sides and its serious ones. Paul and Ouisa and Flan have
their good sides and their dark sides. What Guare constantly
tells us in this play is that there are two sides to everything.
Yes, he does make some radical switches in the writing, but
that is how he keeps making that point.”
Ironically, there are less than six degrees separating Rose
mary Newcott from the original con man whose story is
unfolding at Horizon. “My sister, Mary Lou—who’s in our
cast—went to school at the State University of New York at
Buffalo. She remembers this guy who was hanging around the
theater department all the time pursuing some other guy. He
was, of course, David Hampton.”
MICHAEL KAPE
Watch for us...
The Atlanta
Feminist Women's
Chorus
Coming this December
With a new director and
Margie Adam...
The Chorus begins its twelfth
season without missing a beat —
Don’t YOU miss a beat!
Tickets on sale in November.
Call 438-5823 for more information.
Musical Theatre
Coaching
by
/ictor Floyd
Former Faculty Member:
Northside School of Arts
Shorter College
Graduate Indiana Univ.
School of Music
Professional Opera Performer
370-1331
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presents
THE WINTER
SOLSTICE CONCERTS
featuring Windham Hill recording artists
Nightnoke,
Liz Story,
Alex De Grassi
with Special guest Joel DiBarlolo
Enjoy the distinctive solo performances and beautifully crafted ensemble
styles of three top Windham Hill recording artists - the fusion quartet
Nightnoise, pianist and composer Liz Story, and guitarist Alex De Grassi.
Don't miss the magic of this unique musical program!
Wednesday, November 10,1993,8 PM in Symphony Hall
Ticket Prices: $17, $21.50, $24
PHONE CHARGE:
892-2414 (Symphony Box Office) or 249-6400 (Ticketmaster)
IN PERSON:
Symphony Box Office, 1280 Peachtree Street, TKx ^/i
s including Turtles
WCLK
or High Museum Shop at Perimeter Mall
ONE NIGHT ONLY-NOV. 10!
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