Ariana DeBose Pays Tribute to John Guare at 92nd Street Y

John Guare Before last night I had no idea of who John Guare was. I figured he was just another white man who had been privileged to receive all kinds of attention, success, wealth, and awards for being a white man. Last night I learned that he was the author of famous plays such as Six Degrees of Separation , House of Blue Leaves , Two Gentlemen of Verona , among others. Ariana DeBose was one in a cast of more than two dozen actors including Meryl Streep, Ben Stiller, and Amy Herzog, et al, who performed scenes from Guare's many plays. As far as I was concerned, she was the biggest star on the stage. She presented a reading from Landscape of the Body , which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. She also sang a song from the play. I wondered if many of the elderly white audience even knew who she was. If reminded, I'm sure they would recognize her as the Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story . But judging from the applause she received, it