SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
Warmly inscribed first edition of this play inspired by a con artist who ingratiated himself with New York's elites.
Fine in near fine dust jacket.
Price: $850.00
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION
"I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation between us and everyone else on this planet. The President of the United States, a gondolier in Venice, just fill in the names. I find it extremely comforting that we're so close."
Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION is one of John Guare's best-known plays. In this comedy of manners, John Guare uses the backdrop of a young, charming con artist (based on the real-life story of huckster David Hampton) to expose the lives of New York's upper crust. The play was later successfully adapted into a film starring Donald Sutherland, Stockard Channing, and a young Will Smith in his first major film role.
This copy is inscribed (twice) to Schuyler and Elizabeth (Steinway) Chapin. Schuyler was on the board of the Lincoln Center Theater, where SIX DEGREES premiered in 1990. Schuyler also served as General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera, Commissioner of Cultural Affairs under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and dean of the Columbia University School of the Arts. Betty Chapin was a member of the New York State Council on the Arts, a senior trustee of the Harlem School of the Arts, chairwoman of the Alliance of Resident Theaters-New York, and co-chairwoman of the Committee for the Library of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.
A warm association between Guare and these two important NY arts and theater figures, who not only supported the playwright, but were undoubtedly among this play's ideal audience.
The Object
First printing. New York: Random House, (1990). 8'' x 5''. Original yellow cloth-backed red boards with gilt spine lettering. Original unclipped ($19.95) color pictorial dust jacket, designed and illustrated by James McMullan. 122 pages. "Dearest Betty & Schuyler / who were there on the front / trenches = what pleasure to sign / this to you = Adele adds to my love." Dust jacket signed by Guare and inscribed "For Schuyler & Betty." Jacket with a bit of edgewear, tiny closed hole to front joint; light sunning to spine. A sharp and bright copy.
The Fine Print
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