In 2010, the play was revived at the Old Vic theatre in London starring Lesley Manville as Ouisa. The play made its UK debut in 1992 at the Royal Court Theatre and then transferred to the West End's Comedy Theatre. Veronica Hamel also played Ouisa in the first production in Chicago. The original Broadway production was nominated for four Tony Awards, winning for Best Direction for Zaks.
Kelly Bishop played the role of Ouisa as a replacement on Broadway, and Laura Linney made her Broadway debut as a replacement for the role of Tess. The production closed on Januafter 485 performances, directed by Jerry Zaks.
The production transferred to the Vivian Beaumont Theater for its Broadway debut on November 8, 1990. Stockard Channing won an Obie Award for Best Actress for her performance. Newhouse Theater, Lincoln Center, on May 16, 1990. The play premiered Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Kurtz later replaced Channing during the Broadway run. Channing had starred previously in John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves, and he offered her the role for the official Off-Broadway run. Channing was originally unavailable and was committed to coming to Broadway in another play, Neil Simon's Jake's Women. Kristin Griffith and Swoosie Kurtz read the role of Ouisa Kittredge in workshops in 1989 before Stockard Channing was cast. Six degrees of separation between me and everyone else on this planet. How every person is a new door, opening up into other worlds. Or perhaps is his son, although I doubt it.
6 degrees of separation play how to#
How to find the man whose son he pretends to be. I am bound to everyone on this planet by a trail of six people. Because you have to find the right six people to make the connection. I find that A) tremendously comforting that we're so close and B) like Chinese water torture that we're so close. Between us and everybody else on this planet. I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Towards the end of the play, in a climactic moment of reflection, she delivers the play's most famous monologue: Despite their efforts-Ouisa's more than Flan's-his fate is unresolved, except for a possibly tragic end. Over a protracted and laborious phone call, he agrees to give himself up to the police however, during the arrest, he and the couple are separated. Partly due to strained relations with her children, Ouisa finds herself feeling emotionally attached to Paul, hoping to be able to help him in some way despite the fact that he has victimized them. In desperation, Paul calls the Kittredges for assistance. In a fit of fury, she cruelly suggests that Rick's father had always questioned his son's sexuality. Later that night, Rick tells Elizabeth that Paul is gone, that he has all their money, and that he and Paul had sex. One night Paul takes Rick out on the town, and seduces him in order to get the money. The trio become good friends, with Paul spinning a tale of being estranged from his racist father the girlfriend tells Rick not to lend Paul any money. The naive young couple are new to the big city having just moved to New York from Utah and, based on Paul's con, invite him to live with them until he gets everything sorted out with his wealthy father-who Paul tells them is Flan Kittredge. Soon after, Paul starts up another con against a sensitive young man named Rick and his live-in girlfriend, Elizabeth. Eventually Paul uses their home for an encounter with a hustler, but is caught red-handed. Paul continues to charm them with his story, though, in reality, it is all a lie: Paul is not a Harvard student but obtained details on the Kittredges from another male student he had seduced. Paul claims he is in New York to meet his father, who is directing a film version of the Broadway musical Cats. The Kittredges are trying to get the money to buy a painting by Paul Cézanne and now have this wounded stranger in their home. Paul has a minor stab wound from an attempted mugging, and says he's a friend of their children at Harvard University. A young black man named Paul shows up at the home of art dealer Flan Kittredge and his wife Louisa, known simply as "Ouisa", who live overlooking Central Park in New York City.