Six Degrees of Separation
Taking a break from its mission statement of "one playwright - one season," the Eclipse Theatre Company is winding down a two-year celebration of the first ten playwrights whose work has been featured by its players.
The salute’s latest incarnation, a tribute to 2002’s featured playwright, John Guare, is executed through an updated staging of his most famous work, Six Degrees of Separation.
The press materials distributed prior to the show bill the play as, "inspired by a true story...follow[ing] the trail of a young black con man who insinuates himself into the lives of a wealthy New York couple, claiming that he is the son of actor Sidney Poitier. Captivated by his intelligence and eloquence, the couple slowly discovers that not everything is what it seems on the surface."
Heretofore familiar only with the 1993 film version of the play, featuring Will Smith, I can confidently conclude that the above descriptor of Guare’s work sells the drama way too short.
For Six Degrees of Seperation is about so much more than a shifty con man. The work asks us to consider what it means to be loved and trusted, especially at higher flying levels of society, the trappings of money and loneliness, and in the wise words of Ouisa Kittredge, played by Karen Yates, how we manage to turn our lives into a series of "anecdotes," as opposed to "experiences."
The story arc of the play is told in a series of flashbacks, a narrative of "anecdotes" that Ouisa Kittredge later calls into question. It is true that on a night that Flan Kittredge, played by Eric Leonard, is about to secure financing for the biggest art deal of his New York career, a wounded but seemingly harmless young man materializes on his doorstep.
Claiming not only to be a friend of Flan and Ouisa’s college-aged children, but more impressively, the son of the most legendary African American man in cinema, Flan and Ouisa are taken in by the young man’s charms, intelligence and good looks.
As the play continues, it becomes apparent that the offender has perpetrated his scam on a number of those included in Flan and Ouisa’s inner circle.
Given small amounts of cash and access to some of the most fabulous penthouses and brownstones in New York City, it is only upon reporting the activities of Paul, portrayed by Michael Pogue, to the local authorities, that it becomes apparent to Flan and Ouisa that this is no ordinary crime. Because, as Ouisa rightly wonders, what has Paul really taken that wasn’t his: respect, friendship, personal history?
And moreover, after cooking them a gourmet meal and assisting Paul and Ouisa with the landing of the two million in funds they require from their wealthy friend Geoffrey (played by John Milewski), perhaps he has given back far more than he has ever stolen.
As the action continues, Paul gets in deeper while eluding authorities. It is worth noting that it is only when Paul commits fraud against a couple of young, struggling actors, members of the lower middle class, that his actions begin to adopt a really pitiless quality.
It is a credit to Michael Pogue that he is able to convey Paul’s sense of the line between harmless fun at the expense of the wealthy, and the theft from his trusting, but poor friends that lead one-half of the couple to take their own life. It is as though you can see the light go on in Pogue’s eyes. $50 dishonestly borrowed from Paul and Ouisa does not equal $250 swiped by those who still believe in humanity, believe in their future.
Is Paul a sociopath or not? Does he really believe he is Sidney Poitier’s son? Those questions are never answered, and in a way, are not as important as keeping Paul’s dealings, and subsequently, Ouisa’s unique emotional reactions to them, hidden.
It becomes apparent that Flan, Ouisa and their friends become "easy marks" for Paul because of their success, not in spite of it. Mired in tense marriages, distant from grown children who often despise them, it is not their money that Paul is after necessarily.
As Ouisa says near the end of the play, "he wants to BE us," nothing more. To bask in their attention, to lavish flatteries on them as caring parents, in short, to belong in a world that will not otherwise welcome a nameless, faceless, unpedigreed black man, it is Paul’s "otherness" with which Ouisa ultimately connects.
The cast, led by the aforementioned Yates, Leonard and Pogue, are excellent. A few premiere night line flubs from Yates only make her own flustered state upon realizing just how well she relates to, and in fact loves Paul, the more believable.
The supporting cast, including Brandon Ford, who makes a bold mark on the production as "the Hustler," a trick brought to the Kittredge home by Paul, is first rate. His brief, nude chase scene becomes something darker than slapstick, and makes the victimization of the Kittredge family completely real.
Shown in the upper, smaller venue of the Greenhouse Theater Company complex, the limited space and seating are miraculously expanded through the crafty set design of Kevin Hagan. Using multiple dividers, fronts and maze-like set pieces, the stage feels every bit a spacious Manhattan co-op.
It is the audience that feels close, small and dark, mimicking the psychological unraveling of both Paul, and unlikely friend Ouisa.
Costume designer Kaitlyn Kearn gives a decidedly early 90s flair to the character fashions, which is appropriate in a time before Internet, email and Google, which would likely render the mystery of Paul’s identity moot in the modern day. In fact, speaking only for myself, the play left me with a nostalgic yearning for the days before TMZ, when a little anonymity was still possible, and emotional exchanges played out in person or by phone, rather than instant message.
Six Degrees of Separation runs through August 30, 2009 at The Greenhouse Theater Center, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave. Chicago, IL. Performance schedule:: Thursday - Saturday at 8pm; Sunday at 3pm. Info phone: 773-404-7336.
For more information visit the Eclipse Theatre website.
