Six Degrees of Separation opens May 11th at Vpstart Crow Productions by Rob Batarla

Vpstart Crow Productions’ Artistic Director Rob Batarla tells us about their new production of Six Degrees of Separation which opens this Friday at the Hylton Performing Arts Center.

“Vpstart Crow Productions has been around for about 17 years in the greater Manassas area and has been in our new home at the Hylton Performing Arts Center for the past two seasons. Initially focusing on Shakespeare, the company expanded early on to include other classic theatre and in the 2010-2011 season started introducing modern shows as “instant classics.”

The cast of '6 Degrees of Separation.'
For the 2011-2012 season, Vpstart Crow is very excited to be presenting John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation as this year’s “instant classic.” Directed by Artistic Director Rob Batarla, the show features 17 incredible actors performing in the round. In fact, this is the first production in the Hylton’s Gregory Family Theatre to be performed in the round. There are many challenges to presenting theatre in the round; however, the benefits for the audience outweigh those challenges.  Primarily, the audience will have the benefit of being intimately involved in the show.
Director Rob Batarla.
The story of Six Degrees focuses on Manhattan socialites Flan and Ouisa Kittridge as they tell the story of how they spent the evening with the son of Sidney Poitier. Or rather, who they thought was the son of Sidney Poitier. The plot of the play 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 Sir Sidney Poitier. After the play became a dramatic and financial success, Hampton was tried and acquitted for harassment of Guare; he felt he was due a share of the profits that he ultimately never received.

Six Degrees of Separation explores the existential premise that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else in the world by a chain of no more than six acquaintances, thus, “six degrees of separation.” The original Broadway production debuted in 1990 and nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. A film version starring Will Smith, Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland came out in 1993 and earned Stockard Channing an Academy Award nomination for Best Leading Actress.”

Note the production does contain adult language, sexual situations and partial male nudity.  Viewer discretion is advised. The show runs approximately 90 minutes with no intermission.
Six Degrees of Separation plays from May 11-20, 2012 at The Gregory Family Theatre in the Hylton Performing Arts Center – 10960 George Mason Circle, in Manassas, VA. Purchase tickets online. Here are directions.

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