''I read somewhere that everybody on this planet is separated by only six other people. Six degrees of separation...It's a profound thought...How every person is a new door, opening up into other worlds.'' Six Degrees of Separation is a modern American classic play: an explosive comedy that exposes white middle-class hypocrisy and prejudice. The play is a sharp, witty but serious exploration of the individual in society and the values or beliefs which motivate them. A young African-American man gains access to the homes of upper-class New Yorkers by pretending to be the son of actor Sidney Poitier. Treated with suspicion and then affection, he soon wreaks havoc in their comfortable lives. The play first opened off-Broadway in 1990 and, after playing to sold-out houses and ovating audiences, it was produced internationally and made into a blockbuster film starring Donald Sutherland, Stockard Channing and Will Smith in 1994. It won numerous awards, including an Olivier and New York Drama Critics' Circle Award.