6 characters in search of an author.

I can't believe that I almost didn't go to see this show. It was SO AMAZING! It completely blew my mind, and was disturbing, and brilliant all at the same time!

Read on only if you really want to hear the explination of the plot. It does get kind of complicated... (which is why i LOVE it!)

The 6 Characters of the show come and interrupt a film crew that is making a documentary about assisted suicide for the mortally ill in Denmark. They want the producer of the film to tell their story for them so that they can be done, and stop reliving the story that they were written into. While they stage the Character's story, they address the issues of what it means to be a character and how actors have the ability to portray them and the liberties that they can take in their 'realistic' portrayal. After their story is finally portrayed, the Characters corner the Producer and question her validity as a person. Is she a person? Is she a character? How do you prove that you are real? All of these questions are addressed as the Producer tries to explain that of course she is a real person, and not a character. However, she then begins to realize that she doesn't have proof, and she is now ignored by the others from her working team. She even goes back stage as a camera follows her on her journey to realization that she is just a character acting on the west end. She even goes into the next theater and walks across the production that they are doing which happens to be LES MISERABLES! I was kind of excited! As she tries to end her life and get out of the character that she realizes that she has become, it becomes evident that the entire show up until that moment was also a film. The show starts over again, but the producer is forced to relive her past role against her will. During the "reliving of the film" the directors are commentating on how they focused on different aspects of the film of the play that we are watching, when those ruddy Characters burst into their world too! Then the stage is over run by producers who want to produce the show 6 Characters in Search of an Author, and the original Producer is still there trying to prove that she isn't just a character, but a real person. Then the Characters show up once more, and kill the producers so that they can stop the unrelenting cyclical life that they lead. Then it goes back in time to when the original Author of the play that I was watching was having a hard time finishing the play. He says how he just can't seem to end it, and as he walks off the stage, one of the 6 Characters walks over and writes down an ending in the book. Only then does the Producer realize that she now can end her story, and therefore end the play that we are watching.

AH! LOVE IT! So complicated, but SO INTERESTING!
Important questions asked:
How does one define him/herself?
How do you prove you exist?
What does it mean to exist?
What defines a character?
What is the relationship between a character and an author and the viewer and who decides what roles the other can or should play?
Is there fate, are we all destined to live a certain life written by a 'higher being'?

Those are just a couple of the fun questions to ponder after seeing this show.

It just makes me want to sit down and write at least a 20 page paper.

Yes. i AM that odd.. :)

GOTTA LOVE IT! Plus, The Emperor from Star Wars is in it!