Six Degrees of Separation October 22, 2006

This drama by John Guare is about identity and trust. Flan and Oiusa are an Upper East Side couple with a fancy art collection and throbbing consciences. Into their home stumbles Paul, a young, handsome black man, who claims he was just mugged and that he came to them because he went to Harvard with their daughter. His father, he says, is Sidney Poitier. Paul then fixes them dinner, admires their art, and gets invited to spend the night. Paul manages to insinuate himself deeply into their lives. But, one night he brings home a male lover who burglarizes the place and Paul is thrown out. Flan and Ouisa feel guilty and try to find him. They want to know who he really is. But the lies are so deeply ingrained in Paul that he can not possibly satisfy his former benefactors.