Tracy Letts Chats with LA Times About the August: Osage County 'Hollywood A-List' Film, Superior Donuts & More

The LA Times reports this weekend about the many current projects of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts, who chatted with the paper during rehearsals for the national tour of August: Osage County earlier this summer. 

Letts tells the paper about how he's approaching the tour as compared to the Broadway production, all about his next Broadway project - Superior Donuts and about how the Hollywood A-List are circling around the film version of August: Osage County, for which he's just turned in the second draft. Click here for the full interview. 

"Superior Donuts" will begin previews at the Music Box Theatre beginning Wednesday, September 16, 2009, with an official opening set for Thursday, October 1, 2009.

The full cast from the original Chicago production of Steppenwolf's new American play "Superior Donuts" will reprise their roles when the play makes its Broadway debut.

The Broadway cast includes Steppenwolf ensemble members Jon Michael Hill, Yasen Peyankov and James Vincent Meredith with Jane Alderman, Kate Buddeke, Cliff Chamberlain, Michael Garvey, Robert Maffia and Michael McKean.   "Superior Donuts" is written by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning ensemble member Tracy Letts and directed by ensemble member Tina Landau.  The play enjoyed a sold-out, world-premiere at Steppenwolf Theatre Company last summer.
 
"Superior Donuts" follows Letts' Tony Award-winning play "August: Osage County" (which had also its sold-out, world-premiere at Steppenwolf) into The Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street). Tickets for "Superior Donuts" are on sale through Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.  The Music Theatre box office will open on Wednesday, August 19, 2009.  "Superior Donuts" will perform Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m., Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m.
 
Arthur Przybyszewski owns a decrepit donut shop in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.  Franco Wicks, a black teenager who is his only employee, wants to change the shop for the better.  This provocative comedy, set in the heart of one of Chicago's most diverse communities, explores the challenges of embracing the past and the redemptive power of friendship.
 
The Steppenwolf production of "Superior Donuts" is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler and Jerry Frankel, the producing team behind Steppenwolf's "August: Osage County."
 
Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon.  The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work.  Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of 42 artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation.  For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org.