Inspired by a true story, the play follows the trail of a young black con man, Paul, who insinuates himself into the lives of a wealthy New York couple, Ouisa and Flan Kittredge, saying he knows their son at college.
Producer Stuart Thompson announced that John Guare's critically acclaimed play Six Degrees of Separation will return to Broadway in a revival starring seven-time Emmy Award winner Allison Janney ("Mom," The Girl on the Train) as Ouisa and Tony Award winner John Benjamin Hickey (The Normal Heart, "Manhattan") as Flan.
Trip Cullman (Significant Other, Punk Rock) will direct the production, which is set to open at the Barrymore Theatre in April 2017 and will run for 15 weeks only.
Any doubt that John Guare's 1990 sharp-edged comedic drama 'Six Degrees of Separation' is one of the finest contemporary American plays should be put to rest by the terrific new Broadway revival starring Allison Janney ('The West Wing'), John Benjamin Hickey ('The Normal Heart') and Corey Hawkins ('Straight Outta Compton'). The play (which was adapted into a 1993 film with Will Smith) popularized the idea that everyone in the world is connected by just a handful of people (i.e. 'Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon'). But it also displays a class-based society, where an Upper East Side penthouse is a world away from a homeless youth sleeping in Central Park - though not necessarily impenetrable.
On the evidence of the spectacular revival that opened tonight at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, with a cast led by Allison Janney (Mom, The West Wing), Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton) and John Benjamin Hickey (The Normal Heart), either it's been a very long moment that Guare captured. Or, more likely, Six Degrees transcends its particulars and addresses something ineffably human: The terrifying gulf between how we see ourselves and how we need others to see us. That's a theme for the ages, from Moliere to Arthur Miller to Tony Kushner. Guare, however, using a brief, intriguing newspaper report as his jumping off point, found a way in Six Degrees to make us laugh in the face of our own insufficiency in bridging that midnight-dark gulf.
| 1990 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
| 1990 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2010 | West End |
Old Vic Production West End |
| 2017 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Corey Hawkins |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Allison Janney |
| 2017 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | Six Degrees of Separation |
| 2017 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Allison Janney |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Corey Hawkins |
| 2017 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Six Degrees of Separation |
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