Six Characters in Search of an Author

PLAYS FOR PERFORMANCE

A series designed for
contemporary production and study
Edited by

Nicholas Rudall and Bernard Sahlins

LUIGI PIRANDELLO

Six Characters
in Search of
an Author

In a New Adaptation by
Robert Brustein and
The American Repertory Theatre Company

 

 

Ivan R. Dee

CHICAGO

SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR. Copyright © 1998 by Ivan R. Dee, Inc. Adaptation copyright © 1988, 1996 by Robert Brustein. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form. For information, address the publisher at 1332 North Halsted Street, Chicago 60622. Manufactured in the United States of America and printed on acid-free paper.

CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this edition of SIX CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR is subject to a royalty. It is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America and all countries covered by the International Copyright Union (including the British Commonwealth and Canada), and of all countries covered by the Pan-American Copyright Convention, and of all countries with which the United States has reciprocal copyright relations. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion pictures, recitation, public reading, radio broadcasting, television, video or sound taping, all other forms of mechanical or electronic reproduction, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are strictly reserved.

All inquiries concerning performance rights should be addressed to Samuel French, Inc., 45 West 25th Street, New York, NY 10010, in advance of anticipated production.

Copying from this book in whole or in part is strictly forbidden by law, and the right of performance is not transferable.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Brustein, Robert Sanford, 1927-

Six characters in search of an author / Luigi Pirandello : in a new adaptation by Robert Brustein and The American Repertory Theatre Company.

    p.   cm — (Plays for performance)

ISBN 0-929587-62-6 (cloth : alk. paper). — ISBN 0-929587-58-8 (paper : alk. paper)

1. Characters and characteristics in literature—Drama. 2. Authorship—Drama. I. Pirandello, Luigi, 1867–1936. Sei personaggi in cerca d’autore. II. American Repertory Theatre. III. Title. IV. Series.

PS3552.R845S5 1998

812′.54—dc21

97-24711

INTRODUCTION

by Robert Brustein

This text was prepared for the American Repertory Theatre’s production of Six Characters in Cambridge in the fall of 1996, the result of a continuing collaboration between the company actors and myself. The time and place are reflected in the adaptation, but the production has enjoyed a number of revivals, over a period of eight years, in various cities and with a variety of different actors, always adapted to changing conditions. This version, in other words, is meant to be liquid, spontaneous, improvisatory, adaptable—much like Pirandello’s concept of the drama. Directors and actors are encouraged to treat it as loosely as I have treated the original text.

In Pirandello, the six characters intrude on actors rehearsing his own play Mixing It Up. In our version, they walk in on a rehearsal of The King Stag, a popular play in the ART repertory. In your own production, the play being rehearsed by the actors should, if possible, be a vehicle familiar to your audiences—say, Our Town, or A Christmas Carol.