Six Characters in Search of an Author

The Father is a man about 50 years old. He is the Mother’s first husband and father of the Son. The Step-Daughter, the Boy, and the Child are his step-children. He is estranged from the Son and the Mother, having sent both of them away at different times. His unwitting sexual encounter with the Step-Daughter is the “nucleus” of the first act (39). He represents the emotions of remorse and shame, although the Step-Daughter questions the authenticity of his emotions. He defends his ideas in long monologues.

He often serves as the representative for the characters and spends much of Six Characters philosophizing about theater, authorship, and the reality of the characters. The characters are real, and he argues that the characters are “truer” than actors in a performance (5). When he interrupts the rehearsal, he often questions theatrical conventions and pushes for the characters to perform their own drama. His revisions to the drama often minimize his role in the tragedies, which frustrates and enrages the Step-Daughter.

The Step-Daughter is a “dashing” and “beautiful” 18-year-old woman (3). She is the daughter of the Mother and the other man, sister to the Boy and the Child, and the half-sister to the Son.