Charleston Stage Company
Auditions
Superior Donuts
By Tracey Letts
Date and Time: 7:00 PM, August 29 & 30, 2010
Place: Capitol Theatre, 123 Summers St. Charleston,
WV
Performs: 7:30 PM, October 14-16, 21-23, 2010
Director: Debbie Haught, 304-552-6568
Sharp, funny, aggressively authentic and proudly ethnic, "Superior Donuts" centers on the unlikely friendship that develops between the disillusioned, aging hippie Arthur Przybyszewski. and college dropout Franco Wicks, a bright young man with big dreams and a large debt. But there's more to the story than the attraction of opposites. An examination of contrasting versions of the American dream (wealth, acclaim) and the challenge of sustaining a small family business in the wake of a corporate onslaught and a changing community, it also emerges as a rather telling portrait of a disengaged man who has never fully committed to a woman, a cause or the once flourishing and now floundering Uptown doughnut shop his immigrant parents established some 60 years earlier. Steppenwolf premiered this comedy about the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship.
CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
Max Tarasov – (49 years old) Russian. A recent refugee, Tarasov, owns a DVD store next door. This predatory racist-ranting Russian brings to mind the ambitious ex-peasant in The Cherry Orchard. He's confident in his ability to live the American Dream if he can grab Arthur's shop and expand his store.
Officer Randy Osteen, (49 years old) the friendly Irish-American beat cop who regularly stops by the shop with her partner; furnishes Arthur with a love interest (reluctant on his end, zealous on hers).
Officer James Hailey, (43 years old) "Star Trek"-fanatic African American patrolman
Lady Boyle, (72 years old) Irish American; the wize-crazy neighborhood wino, who depends on her free doughnut every morning before heading to either an AA meeting or a bar.
Arthur Przybyszewski [Shub–er–shef-ski] (59 years old) Owner of Superior Donuts; son of Polish and Russian immigrants; an ex-’60s radical who has gradually withdrawn from life. His marriage slowly withered, his ex-wife has recently died, and he has lost touch with his only daughter. (Knowledge of stage combat beneficial.)
Franco Wicks is an energetic 20-something African-American from the neighborhood with a brash tongue, a prickly intelligence and a few surprising secrets.
Luther Flynn, (49 years old) Irish/Italian-American loan shark. (Knowledge of stage combat beneficial.)
Kevin Magee, (28 years old) Irish-American thug.
Kiril Ivakin (35 years old) a large, intimidating Russian; a surprise visitor