Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

Posted by Bruce Miller

In response to a recent blog entry (Summer Stock Memories - Part II [Aug 19]), a curious reader commented as follows: “I don’t mean to be dumb, but what the heck is Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?” The question, of course, is not dumb at all.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a game. I understand it’s now even a board game. I've never seen the board game, but the photo to the right and above, found on the internet, seems to indicate that a board game version does indeed exist.

For years it was a boardless trivia game, inspired by the career of the talented actor, Kevin Bacon, pictured to the left. It required no equipment other than a knowledge of and interest in theatre and film.

The game was originally inspired, I believe, by the brilliant John Guare play, Six Degrees of Separation, which was itself inspired by the interconnectedness theories espoused by the Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy in 1929, and the subsequent "small world" research conducted by Harvard-based American social psychologist, Stanley Milgram, in the late 60s and early 70s.

The basic idea is that everyone in the world is interconnected. If you are separated from your friend by one degree, then you are separated from your friend’s friends by two degrees. Milgram’s research suggests that when we extend this theory forward to six degrees, everyone in the world is connected to everyone else—and by a fairly short chain.

John Guare’s play is a funny, thought provoking and deeply moving examination of what this means when we look at our daily lives and social responsibilities. It’s one of my two or three favorite plays in the world. If The Little Dog Laughed works well on the 2007-2008 Signature Season at Barksdale Willow Lawn, expect to see Six Degrees of Separation appearing in a forthcoming seaon not too far down the road.

Anyway, back to Kevin Bacon. Inspired by these same theories, the game depends on the belief that every actor in the world can be connected to every other actor in the world by a chain of cast mates. The object of the game is to discover the closest connections in the shortest amount of time.

Let me give you an example: I recently mentioned Charlie Dacus, the child actor who just appeared in Bye Bye Birdie at Dogwood Dell. Can we link him to Sir Laurence Olivier, the “greatest English-speaking actor of the 20th Century”?

After about 5 minutes, here’s the chain I discovered. Charlie Dacus was in Theatre IV’s The Wizard of Oz with Jan Guarino (one degree). Jan Guarino was in Swift Creek’s Once Upon a Mattress with Phil Whiteway (two degrees). Phil Whiteway was in Theatre IV’s West Side Story with Blair Underwood (three degrees). Blair Underwood was in L A Law with Jill Eikenberry (four degrees). Jill Eikenberry was in Arthur with Sir John Gielgud (five degrees). Sir John was in Richard III with Sir Laurence Olivier (six degrees).
And yes, I have noticed that Kevin Bacon appears nowhere in the chain noted above. But he doesn’t have to, at least the way I’ve always played the game. The game is called Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon simply because, as college kids were inventing and playing the game in the 90s, Kevin Bacon’s name kept coming up because he tends to have been in lots of movies with lots of diverse actors, including his wife Kyra Sedgwick. That's Kevin and Kyra in the photo to the right.

While at the University of Virginia, a grad student named Brett Tjaden created the Oracle of Bacon website and computer program to determine if Kevin Bacon was, in fact, the Center of the Hollywood Universe. Tjaden entered data for the 800,000 plus actors listed in the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) to see which actors had the closest connections to the largest number of other actors. He determined that whereas Kevin Bacon was in fact in the top 1% of all film actors in terms of his close connections to all other film actors, he was beat out by Rod Steiger (pictured to the left), Dennis Hopper and Donald Sutherland for the top three spots.

Some people play the game by giving each actor a Bacon Number. If you are Kevin Bacon himself, your Bacon Number is 0. If you have appeared in a cast with Kevin Bacon himself, your Bacon Number is 1. If you have appeared in a cast with someone who has a Bacon Number of 1, then your Bacon Number is 2.

Richmond All-Star Robyn O’Neill (pictured to the right with Pat Carroll) has a Bacon Number of 3. You can read her comment to my previous blog post (Summer Stock Memories – Part II [Aug 19]) to count the connections. The only Richmond actors who I know have a Bacon Number of 2 are John Glenn, Pat Carroll, Sam Wells and Kelly Scallion. John (pictured to the left in The Man Who Came to Dinner at Company of Fools) works in Idaho with Demi Moore, Pat was in E. R. with Noah Wyle, and Sam and Kelly were in Miss Rose White with Kyra Sedgwick. Demi and Noah were in A Few Good Men with Kevin, and Kyra is married to Kevin and appeared with him in Murder in the First. So, if you’re a Richmond actor and you’ve appeared with John, Pat, Sam or Kelly, you also have a Bacon Number of 3.

To a certain extent, my wife and daughter, set designer Terrie Powers and Hannah Miller, have you all beat. When Miss Rose White was filming in Richmond, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick and their child (children?) all lived in a rented home by Byrd Park. When Hannah was a baby, Terrie used to take her to the Byrd Park playground. One evening Terrie came home very excited, because she and Hannah had just spent the entire afternoon playing in a Byrd Park sandbox with Kevin Bacon and his son. Terrie was a huge Kevin Bacon fan, but just like I had done years before with Arthur Miller, she never let on that she knew who he was. So they sat there for a couple hours playing and talking as two parents. If she’d done the “fan thing,” he probably would have left.

All reports are that Mr. Bacon himself is not particularly into the celebrity game. When interviewed about the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, he good-heartedly replied, "I felt as if I was the brunt of some massive joke at my expense: 'Can you believe this loser can be connected to Marlon Brando and Katharine Hepburn?'"

A "loser" he certainly is not.

On a final note, if you’re a fan of The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick (and if you aren’t, you should be), you’ll know that Kyra’s dad is now being played by Barry Corbin (pictured below and to the right), who was with us here in Richmond as a special guest star last October for Virginia Arts & Letters Live at the Empire. So if you performed in that iteration of VALL, your Bacon Number is now a 3.

All those who want to accept the challenge of discovering the other Richmond actors with Bacon Numbers of 2—I know there must be some—please do so in a comment to this blog.

--Bruce Miller

Barksdale Vets Provide Fireworks in Idaho

Most of you know about Company of Fools, the regional theatre in Hailey, Idaho founded a dozen or so years ago by former Richmonder Denise Simone, current Richmonder Rusty Wilson (he was “former” during his Hailey years but now he’s back), and Denise’s old college buddy, Bruce Willis. Yes, that Bruce Willis.

Willis provided the initial funding, but Denise, Rusty and several Richmond pals provided the blood, sweat and tears. And believe me, its all about the b, s and t.

Then, about eight years ago, Barksdale’s former Artistic Director, John Glenn, moved to Hailey with his partner, R. L. Rowsey, who had been serving as Associate Artistic Director at TheatreVirginia. John and R. L. became part of the four-person leadership in Hailey. And when Rusty moved back to Richmond a couple years ago to become theatre director at St. Christopher’s School, Denise, John and R. L. settled into a Muriel, Pete and Nancy lifestyle that has continued to advance the Company of Fools to new heights.

This summer, two more Barksdale All-Stars are joining the team to launch the Fools’ first Summer Fools Festival—three shows running in rep during five weeks in July and August. Debra Wagoner (she of the amazing voice – and wife of Odd Couple director Joe Pabst) and Aly Wepplo (who recently stole hearts as the signing sister in Smoke on the Mountain – yes, that is signing, not singing – right after marrying grown-up Patrick at the end of Mame) are starring with John Glenn in The Spitfire Grill, a feel-good musical that Music Director R. L. Rowsey describes as “Appalachian Broadway.”

Many of you may have caught the wonderful Richmond premiere of this new musical a few years back at Swift Creek Mill.

As much as we miss Debra and Aly in Richmond this summer, we’re thrilled to see them join other beloved Richmond theatre alum at Company of Fools. Not since the founding of the Renaissance Theatre in Bon Air and the Wedgewood Dinner Theatre in Toano (both in the late 50s and early 60s) have so many former Barksdale artists gone off to start and then nurture another theatre in another place.

We always wish the Company of Fools well, and we send special good thoughts their way this summer as Debra and Aly prepare to open during the Fourth of July celebrations in The Spitfire Grill. We love the fact that Barksdale artists are continuing to spread artistic sparks nationwide. We look forward to welcoming Debra and Aly back home later this summer. Until then, break a leg one and all!

http://www.companyoffools.org/

--Bruce Miller

Hiatus in Hanover

The question I’m being asked most frequently this week is, “Why is Barksdale taking such a long break at the Tavern.” And every time someone asks it, it’s easy to hear the concern in their voice.

Please be assured that nothing is going wrong. In fact, everything is going right. It’s quite true that Smoke on the Mountain closed this past Saturday, April 28, and that The Odd Couple will not open until Friday, June 29. That’s a break of two months—pretty unusual for a resident theatre.

But the reason for the hiatus could not be more “usual” in the nonprofit sector. We’re taking a two-month break from Hanover Tavern because of money.

You see, Hanover Tavern is itself a nonprofit organization, and Barksdale Theatre is a separate nonprofit organization. From 1953 until 1990, Hanover Tavern was owned by Pete and Nancy Kilgore and Muriel McAuley. The Tavern was their home, both literally and artistically. They raised their children and their pets there, and they worked tirelessly and selflessly to save the historic Tavern for future generations.

In 1990 they made a difficult decision. They realized that the 18th Century Tavern that they loved needed millions of dollars of work if it was to remain standing into the 21st Century. They also realized that their job was making great theatre, and that they wanted to turn the responsibility of raising the millions that were needed over to a broad-based community foundation.

And so they sold their beloved Tavern to the Historic Hanover Tavern Foundation. They used the proceeds of the sale to fund a meager retirement account—the only pension they ever received from their lifetime of work at Barksdale Theatre. In 1993, Pete, Nancy and Muriel retired after 40 years of exemplary service. And in 1996, they lent their support as Barksdale Theatre, under the staff leadership of new artistic director John Glenn and the Board leadership of Carrie Galeski, Ted Linhart and Neil November, moved theatrical operations to the beautiful new space at Willow Lawn that we occupy today.

When Barksdale returned to the Tavern in January 2006, we did so as a rent-paying tenant. We are one of three major tenants of the Tavern. The other two (our partners, so to speak) are:
· the Historic Hanover Tavern Foundation, which not only owns the Tavern but also presents numerous historical programs and interpretations year round, and
· Michelle’s Restaurant.

As the Historic Hanover Tavern Foundation seeks to fulfill it’s fiduciary responsibilities for the Tavern’s finances and future, it works with its two partners (Barksdale Theatre and Michelle’s) in an attempt to maximize earned revenues. Let’s face it, 18th Century Taverns may be cool, but they're not inexpensive to maintain.

One of the things that the Foundation has learned is that a major revenue source for the Foundation and Michelle’s is the income received from weddings and wedding receptions held at the Tavern during the months of May and June. Due to sound issues, plays cannot be presented in the theatre at the same time that weddings or wedding receptions are taking place elsewhere on the property.

And so the Tavern has asked Barksdale Theatre to forego theatrical programming during the months of May and June, so that they and Michelle’s can maximize the revenue they receive from springtime weddings. We are happy to oblige.

So, during the next 60 days, please come visit us at Willow Lawn for Intimate Apparel, or visit our sister company, Theatre IV, for The Wizard of Oz at the Historic Empire Theatre. And plan now to join us on or after June 29 for The Odd Couple at Hanover Tavern.