mr. ossie davis. now, your host, mr. jose ferrer. in as you like it, shakespeare observed this wide and universal theater presents more woeful pageants than the scene wherein we play in. "all the world is a stage "and all the men and women merely players. "they have their exits and their entrances and one man in his time plays many parts." always, there has been a certain fascination in relating the real world with the theatrical world in defining life in terms of art or art in terms of life. the creation of the playwright's world begins with an empty stage. this stage represents the artist's blank canvas, the musician's instrument before a single note is played. it was the bare stage that caught pirandello's imagination and became the catalyst for six characters in search of an author. he himself wrote that he wanted an audience to feel they had just happened to enter an auditorium and stumbled on to a rehearsal. they see unplanned events take place and develop accidentally into a play performance. at this given time in this given s