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Masthead
A CurtainUp Review
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Tracy Letts, Yasen Peyankov, Jane Alderman, Michael Garvey, Cliff Chamberlain, Michael McKean, Robert Maffia, Kate Buddeke, Front Row: Jon Michael Hill, James Vincent Meredith and Tina Landau
(Photo: Alex Simmons)
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Letts told reporters that he began work on Superior Donuts as soon as he had finished August: Osage County. As he explained during a press preview event I was eager to do something different, to work in a different mode." His idea of a culture clash in a donut shop is certainly different.
Developed by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Superior Donuts is a comedy-drama set in the heart of Chicago's uptown neighborhood, which Letts calls " racially diverse and uncomfortable." Although the play is not based on an actual donut shop, the playwright says "a lot of people will tell you they know where the shop is."
Tina Landau directs a cast of Steppenwolf veterans led by Michael McKean, who plays Arthur Przybyszewski, the donut shop owner. Other characters include Arthur's only employee, Franco Wicks (Jon Michael Hill), a black teenager who wants to improve the shop; and Kevin McGee (Cliff Chamberlain making his Broadway debut), an Irish-American who works for a bookie and is friends with Luther Flynn (Robert Maffia).
The actors spoke enthusiastically about the play and their parts. . . Cliff Chamberlain, who has been living in Chicago for the past six years, claims to know "gritty, tough, smart" men like McGee but he expressed the hope that people will find his character complicated and "not pure evil." He is confident that Letts' script will help him achieve this goal. As he put it "Tracy writes complicated characters. He's the best." He declared himself to be a big fan of not only Letts but also Tina Laundau and Steppenwolf. "Any Chicago actor would be interested in working with those three".
Yssen Peyankov talked about his character Max Tarasov, Przybyszewski's next-door-neighbor, a "Russian entrepreneur" who owns an electronics store he is trying to expand and explaining how he constantly bugs Arthur to sell him his shop. It turns out that Letts wrote the part specifically for the Bulgaria-born actor. Did this cause any opening night anxiety? "I felt pressure before the show," Peyankov admitted. "Can you imagine blowing this off, a part that was written for you?" Another challenge also involved Peyankov's state of mind. When the show opened his wife had just given birth to his first child, which meant he had to "balance the show's dark edge" with the happiness in his personal life.
Letts insisted that despite this dark edge Superior Donuts is quite funny, "more overtly comedic"i than August. It's also a much shorter play so, as Letts said with a grin "people will get out an hour and a half earlier."
Although Letts was born in Oklahoma (August: Osage County takes place in that state), he's been living in Chicago for the past twenty years, and as many people feel about the big cities they live in, he admits to having a "love/hate" relationship with his home. Chicago. One of the things he finds troublesome about the city is the way it has become depersonalized by the takeover of chain stores. Not surprisingly, he finds it especially regretful that there are no more independent donut shops in the city.
Having met Studs Terkel before he died Letts told us that he wanted to emulate Chicago personalities. He believes Superior Donuts "feels very authentic." But he hopes the play will have resonance outside Chicago. This fall he will find out just how a New York audience will react.
South Pacific
In the Heights
Playbill 2007-08 Yearbook
Leonard Maltin's 2008 Movie Guide
