A small donut shop calling itself “Superior” has been in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood for ages, and it shows -- not just because it’s just been vandalized. The time is end of 2009. The neighborhood is ready for gentrification, and Russian immigrant wheeler-dealer Max wants to buy the place to expand his electronics business. Owner Arthur Przybyszewski doesn’t want to sell.
With his long ponytail, old rock-concert shirts under long, mismatched plaid ones, and baggy jeans, Arthur is a ‘60s to ‘70s relic of political protests, draft dodging to Canada and Grant Park beatings by police. With a failed marriage and a daughter who wouldn’t know him, Arthur proclaims, “Donuts are my life!”
Into that life comes Franco, a young black man looking for work and anxious to bring new “healthy alternative” products -- and life -- into the shop. He also turns out to have written a novel that, like a debt he owes, is seminal to the drama of change in both his and Arthur’s future.
The action is predictable; as in many ‘60s to ‘80s city dramas, hoods threaten small-business owners, and we get victims of addiction to gambling or drugs or sex or someone close who’s the addict. However, the central characters here are involving. Arthur isn’t just another one of those ex-hippy whiners, and he defies being typed. His likeability may be enhanced by the outstanding performance of the absolutely natural Jerry Zezas. I was astonished to learn that he has never before performed nor has he studied acting or any other phase of theater, but then, he never seems to be acting.
Though Max is stereotypical, Neil Levine makes him as affable as he is believable. As Franco Wicks, Brandon Michael Butler contrasts rightly with all his elders and garners sympathy for all he does and what happens to Franco. It’s almost conceivable that he could write a great American novel.
Two officers -- one white, one black -- are the kind of people that police should be, as Margie Spies and Brandon Michael Fleming portray them. Having the latter show himself as a “Star Trek” fan is one of author Letts’ better ideas. Steven O’Day as the criminal boss may be becoming typecast, but that may also be because he acts the villain well. Jeremy Guerrero convinces as his young enforcer, as does Dan Cavanagh as Max’s strong man. Lynne Buhle’s tipsy drop-in supplies relief, comic and otherwise.
Kelly Wynn Woodland’s direction is adequate, though there are moments when she blocks as if the staging were proscenium. She directs very well, though, transitions from realistic action to Arthur’s direct-to-the-audience reminiscences and explanations.
Peter Ivanov’s fight choreography is better in direct clashes than in the use of battering “aids.” Good lighting and sound help throughout, and scenery sets the condition of the shop.
Warnings about language were hardly necessary, as the typical conservative Venice audience I observed seemed to find the scatology mild compared to that on television and in movies today, about which I’ve heard a great deal lately.
