Guare's 'Six Degrees' Starring Ziemba Begins at Old Globe 1/10

The Tony Award-winning Old Globe presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning Six Degrees of Separation, by John Guare (The House of Blue Leaves, Landscape of the Body), directed by Trip Cullman, to run in the Old Globe Theatre January 10 - February 15.

Broadway veteran Karen Ziemba, who will play "Ouisa," won the Tony for the musical Contact and was nominated for her work in Steel Pier, Never Gonna Dance and Curtains!.

Tickets are available by calling (619) 23-GLOBE, online at www.TheOldGlobe.org, or by visiting the Globe Box Office at 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.

The Kittredges' lives revolve around the high-stakes world of the New York art scene, where the appearance of success is everything. One evening as they are entertaining at their Upper East Side home, a young man claiming to be a college friend of their children shows up at their front door injured and asking for help. He is a charming young man who enchants the couple with a home-cooked gourmet meal and regales them with stories of his famous father. As their involvement with him takes unexpected twists and turns, they begin to question not only his identity but their own. A hit on Broadway that became an acclaimed motion picture with Will Smith, Stockard Channing, and Donald Sutherland, this intriguing play probes the allure of celebrity and the games we play to elevate our own significance.

The cast of Six Degrees of Separation features Thomas Jay Ryan as "Flan," Karen Ziemba as "Ouisa," Donald Sage Mackay as "Larkin," Keliher Walsh as "Kitty," Tony Torn as "Geoffrey," Samuel Stricklen as "Paul," James Eckhouse as "Dr. Fine," Joaquin Perez-Campbell as "Rick/Hustler," Catherine Gowl as "Elizabeth," Kevin Hoffmann as "Ben," Sloan Grenz as "Doug," Jordan McArthur as "Woody," Andrew Dahl as "Trent," Vivia Font as "Tess" and Steven Marzolf as "Doorman/Policeman/Detective."

The creative team includes Trip Cullman, director; Andromache Chalfant, scenic design; Emily
Rebholz, costume design; Ben Stanton, lighting design; Paul Peterson, sound design; Diana Moser,
stage manager.

John Guare (Playwright) is the Obie and New York Drama Critics Circle Award-winning playwright of such plays as House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation (which won London's Olivier Award as Best Play and for which he also wrote the screenplay), Landscape of the Body, A Few Stout Individuals, as well as his Oscar-nominated screenplay for Louis Malle's Atlantic City. He won a Tony for his libretto to the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona and was nominated for a Tony for his play Four Baboons Adoring the Sun and his libretto to Sweet Smell of Success. His adaptation of His Girl Friday premiered to great acclaim at London's National Theater. He co-edits the Lincoln Center Theater Review, teaches playwriting at Yale School of Drama, is a council member of the Dramatists Guild, a trustee of PEN America and received the 2004 Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The NYShakespeare Festival/Public Theater will produce his new play, A Free Man of Color, next season.

Trip Cullman (Director: Six Degrees of Separation) most recently directed South Coast Repertory's critically-acclaimed world premiere of Richard Greenberg's The Injured Party. He has directed numerous acclaimed off-Broadway plays, including The Drunken City and Manic Flight Reaction at Playwrights Horizons, Terrence McNally's Some Men at Second Stage Theatre, The Wooden Breeks at the Lucille Lortel Theatre; Dog Sees God and Last Sunday in June at Century Center for the Performing Arts, and Roulette at the John Houseman Theatre. His regional credits include The Petersons Project and Keith Huff's A Steady Rain at New York Stage & Film, and Lauren Weedman's Rash at the Empty Space Theatre, Seattle. Cullman trained at the Yale School of Drama and is an Associate Artist at The Play Company.

Karen Ziemba is making her debut at The Old Globe. ELSEWHERE: Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare Theatre, D.C./Hartford Stage; House And Garden, Geva Theatre; Leading Ladies, Ford's Theatre; The Three Penny Opera, Williamstown Theatre Festival; The Opposite Of Sex, Magic Theatre. Broadway: Contact, (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards); Curtains (Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony Nom.); Never Gonna Dance (Outer Critics Circle Award, Tony Nom.); Steel Pier (Tony Nom.), Chicago, Crazy For You, A Chorus Line, 42nd Street. Off-Broadway: And The World Goes ‘Round (Drama Desk Award), I Do! I Do! (Drama Desk Nom.). New York City Opera: 110 In The Shade, The Most Happy Fella. Tv & Film: The Producers, Scrubs, all three Law & Order series, The Kennedy Center Honors, and for PBS, My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies, Gershwin At 100 and Stephen Sondheim: A Celebration At Carnegie Hall.