superior donuts
Twisted Americana.
That has, for a while now, been the perfect description of most everything mounted by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company. They are, in my mind, a creative nexus beyond compare. I’d be doing a disservice by describing them further than twisted Americana, which I use in the most positive sense.
Even when it comes to a story about a donut shop in Uptown.
Tracy Letts, author of the Tony Award Winning (yay Chicago!) August: Osage County, has penned another magnificent glimpse into the lives of a handful of characters that live in my very own hometown.
FULL DISCLOSURE: I absolutely adore anything Chicago flavored. I’ve lived here all my life and take great pride in my city. I gravitate to books, plays, movies, documentaries, and just about anything else with Chicago as the main subject. I’ve called myself a Chicagoholic before, so my bias in loving Superior Donuts may have something to do with that. END FULL DISCLOSURE
***SPOILER ALERT*** ***YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED***
The scene, a donut shop in uptown. At lights up there is a counter with a few stools, some donuts, broken glass on the floor and the word pussy scrawled on a wall. There has just been a break-in. Two cops and the shop owner asses the damages and attempt to figure it all out.
In the first 30 seconds you are instantly, and I mean instantly, transported to Chicago’s Uptown. The accents, the sounds, the set with the incredible Chicago tile flooring, and a cast of extraordinary actors all sweep you up in the daily grind of a small nook in The Windy City.
The playbill for the show contains an interview with Letts by Martha Lavey, artistic director of Steppenwolf. When asked what the inspiration for Superior Donuts was, he sums up his passion for Chicago in one brilliant stroke:
I was interested in exploring what my city means to me.
Superior Donuts shows you how Chicago feels through the eyes of the young, the elderly, Black folks, Polish-American folks, Russian folks, Chicago cops, and the everyday ways of the city. Owning a small business among the big corporates, digging into the lives of regular strangers, and facing personal histories are all a part of the story on stage. Drenched in local references, full of inside jokes about neighborhoods (you could hear the natives in the audience knowingly snicker), the play is a worthy piece of Chicago / American theater for the history books.
I might have to see it again.
The show ends, and this isn’t a huge spoiler, with the main characters sitting down to get to know each other. That struck such a deep chord in me because essentially, that’s what Chicago is all about. It wants you to get to know it. And as you do, you realize that you can never really fully know it, which is the true charm of the Chicago and ultimately what keeps people here.