Snow falls, the Chicago wind whistles when the door opens at Superior Donuts, a cozy, if down and out mom & pop shop run by Arthur Przybyszewski (Michael McKean) with a counter and homey stools in Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts' new play. You know what time period you are in when Starbucks vies for coffee control of the neighborhood. Hanging on to such an old fashioned coffee shop, a traditional haven for cops and hoodlums alike is but one of the themes of this bittersweet slice of American life. This play offers a glimpse of American issues: race, deracination, immigration, inner city violence, hope, as a set of quirky types come and go: Lady (Jane Alderman), an alcoholic senior with wanderlust, Officer Randy Osteen (Kate Buddeke), a redhead with a crush on Arthur, and Officer James Bailey (James Vincent Meredith) who has an obsession with Star Wars. When the play opens, the shop has been vandalized and a young man, Franco Wicks (Jon Michael Hill) with writerly aspirations and a manuscript approaches Arthur for a job. Arthur's ex has just died and he's not sure he wants to sell the place to Max Tarasov (Yasen Peyankov), an émigré from Russia with a secret weapon. You could say a whole lot happens in due course, some of it violent, but mainly you get to know these characters played lovingly by this superb ensemble cast. While Superior Donuts feels small compared to Letts' epic scale “August: Osage County,” its impact is understated. Franco's book is called, “America Will Be,” and that thought lingers.
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