About the Play:

Superior Donuts is a full-length dramatic comedy by Tracy Letts. The play brings to life the dynamic and troubled relationship between Arthur, a Polish baby-boomer who owns a run-down donut shop and Franco, the young African-American man he hires to help him but who has ideas of his own about how to turn things around. Superior Donuts is a clash of cultures and generations, making sparks fly with drama and wit.

Superior Donuts takes place in the heart of one of Chicago's most diverse communities. Despondent donut proprietor Arthur Przybyszewski runs the shop that has been in his family for sixty years. The son of Polish and Russian immigrants and an '60s radical, Arthur has pretty much withdrawn from life. Franco Wicks, a troubled 21-year-old black writer from the neighbourhood, has talked his way into a non-existent job at the donut shop. Franco wants to modernize the shop, while Arthur is more content to spend the day smoking weed and reminiscing about his Polish immigrant father. The heart of this cross-racial, cross-generational comedy is the budding relationship between Arthur and Franco as they circle each other, and the gap between youth and age, idealism and experience, black and white.

Superior Donuts was first staged in 2008 by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, opened on Broadway in 2009, premiered in London in 2014, and premiered in Canada in 2017 at The Coal Mine Theatre in Toronto, Ontario. The play has been performed in regional, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 2 women, 7 men

What people say:

"Superior Donuts, a gentle comedy that unfolds like an extended episode of a 1970s sitcom, is a warm bath of a play." — The New York Times

"Superior Donuts is a soulful play, full of humor and humanity… drawn with deep affection. Letts is a writer whose words are alive with poignancy and wit." — Variety

"A sticky, sweet and satisfying play." — Daily Mail

"[Letts] never fails to impress and surprise with his finely wrought characters and sharp dialogue…a wonderfully affecting look at a vanishing world and the healing power of friendship." — CurtainUp

"…a funny and moving evening of theater…as fresh and tasty as a doughnut right out of the oven." — BackStage

"It is a meditation on Chicago’s old soul ... a witty, seductive, live-wire and greatly entertaining dark comedy that you just don’t want to end." — Chicago Tribune

"A source of comic bliss." — Los Angeles Times

About the Playwright:

Tracy Letts is an American playwright and actor who received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play August: Osage County. He is a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, where August: Osage County premiered.