Kentwood Players Presents SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION 1/8-2/13

Kentwood Players continues its 60th Anniversary Season with "Six Degrees of Separation" by John Guare, from January 8 to February 13, 2010 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM and Sundays at 2 PM, at the Westchester Playhouse located at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester. The production is directed by Don Schlossman and produced by Meredith M. Sweeney and Jordan Bland.

Six Degrees of Separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one step away from each person they know, and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth. The term was popularized by playwright John Guare's intriguing, insightful exploration of celebrity and the games we play to elevate our significance. The plot of "Six Degrees of Separation" was inspired by the real-life story of David Hampton, a con man who managed to convince a number of people in the 1980s that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier. It won the 1991 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and the 1993 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Play, and was nominated for the 1991 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play, the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the 1991 Tony Award for Best Play.

In Guare's play, Paul, the African-American protagonist, arrives at the doorstep of moneyed Manhattanites Flan and Ouisa Kittredge under the false pretenses that he is Sidney Poitier's son, having been violently mugged and claiming to have found them because he is a classmate of the couple's kids. But Paul is not what he seems, and his presence in their lives becomes a catalyst by which everyone else entertains questions of race, class, money and morals.

Featured in the "Six Degrees of Separation" cast are Nick Alspaugh, Dylan Bailey, Joanna Churgin, Jack Coppock, Willie Mack Daniels, Drew Fitzsimmons, Marco Garcia, Andy Grosso, Lorenzo Jimenez, Kevin King, Ryan Knight, Ginny Kunz, Ken MacFarlane, Mark Mayes, Michael-Anthony Nozzi, Tara Jean O'Brien and Meredith M. Sweeney.

Tickets are $18.00 with a $2.00 discount for seniors, students, and servicemen. To purchase tickets, please call (310) 645-5156 during box office hours, Tuesday through Saturday from 4-7 PM. Visa, MasterCard, and Diner's Club accepted. You may also purchase tickets online at www.kentwoodplayers.org. For group ticket sales, please contact Jenny Boone at (310) 204-1838 or Calia Mintzer at (310) 837-3609.

Please join us at the Westchester Playhouse, home of the Kentwood Players, for our next meeting to learn more about our upcoming season of shows. You'll have the opportunity to meet and get involved with our very professional and talented group of producers, directors, actors and designers as we celebrate 60 years of presenting great entertainment. Our meetings are free to the public and are held on the third Wednesday of every month at 8:00 PM. Westchester Playhouse is located two blocks west of the San Diego Freeway and two blocks north of Manchester at 8301 Hindry Avenue in Westchester, CA 90045.

For more information on current and future Kentwood Players productions, auditions, and our Kentwood Kids Children's Theatre Classes, please visit the Kentwood Players website at www.kentwoodplayers.org. And you can also sign up and be a Kentwood Players friend on Facebook and My Space.