Theatre, film, television and music star Michael McKean will reprise his role as donut shop owner Arthur Przybyszewski in the Broadway premiere of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's new American play Superior Donuts, by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning ensemble member Tracy Letts, directed by ensemble member Tina Landau. Mr. McKean originated the role during Superior Donuts' sold-out, world premiere at Steppenwolf last summer. Full casting will be announced shortly.
Superior Donuts, Steppenwolf's new American play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning ensemble member Tracy Letts will follow Letts' Tony Award-winning play August: Osage County into The Music Box Theatre (239 West 45th Street), beginning performances on Wednesday, September 16, 2009, with an official opening on Thursday, October 1, 2009.
Directed by ensemble member Tina Landau, Superior Donuts makes its Broadway debut direct from its sold-out world premiere at Steppenwolf last summer. August: Osage County closed its run at The Music Box on Sunday, June 28, 2009.
Tickets for Superior Donuts will go on sale through Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200 beginning on Friday, June 26, 2009 and The Music Theatre box office will open on Wednesday, August 19, 2009.
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, and Jerry Frankel, the producing team behind Steppenwolf's August: Osage County.
Michael McKean most recently appeared on Broadway in the critically acclaimed 2008 revival of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming, for which he received a Drama Desk award for Best Ensemble. His other Broadway credits include the 2006 Tony Award winning revival of The Pajama Game, Accomplice (Theatre World Award) and Hairspray. Off-Broadway: Woody Allen's A Second Hand Memory. London: Love Song. TV: Series regular on Laverne & Shirley, Dream On, Sessions, Tracy Takes On, Saturday Night Live, Primetime Glick. Guest appearances include Friends, The X Files, The Simpsons, Law & Order, Smallville, Alias, Boston Legal. Film: This is Spinal Tap (also co-wrote), Clue, Coneheads, The Brady Bunch Movie, True Crime, Jack, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, Joshua, The Grand, many more. Composed music for several of the above and co-wrote (with Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy) the Grammy-winning theme to A Mighty Wind and the Oscar-nominated "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow," written with wife Annette O'Toole.
Tracy Letts (Playwright) received the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his critically-acclaimed play August: Osage County, currently playing on Broadway at The Music Box Theatre following sold-out runs at Steppenwolf in 2007 and the
National Theatre in London in 2008. Mr. Letts is also the author of Man from Nebraska, which was produced at Steppenwolf in 2003 and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize; Killer Joe, which has been produced in Chicago, London and New York; and Bug, which has played in New York, Chicago and London.
Tina Landau (Director) most recently directed The Tempest and
Tracy Letts' Superior Donuts at
Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she is an ensemble member, as well as The Time of Your Life (also Seattle Rep, A.C.T.), The Diary of
Anne Frank, The Cherry Orchard, and
Charles Mee's Berlin Circle and Time to Burn, among others. She recently directed the world premieres of Tarell McCraney's In the Red and Brown Water at the Alliance and McCarter Theaters,
Paula Vogel's A Civil War Christmas at
Long Wharf Theatre and the Off-Broadway premiere of McCraney's Wig Out! at the
Vineyard Theatre. Tina's work as a writer and director include Of Thee I Sing (
Paper Mill Playhouse), Beauty (
La Jolla Playhouse), Space (Steppenwolf, NY's Public Theatre,
Mark Taper Forum), Stonewall (En Garde Arts), 1969 (Actors Theater of Louisville), Floyd Collins with composer
Adam Guettel (
Playwrights Horizons,
Prince Music Theatre, Old Globe, the Goodman) and Dream True with composer
Ricky Ian Gordon (Vineyard Theater). Other directing credits include Iphigenia 2.0 (Signature), A Midsummer Night's Dream (McCarter/PaperMill), and the Broadway revival of Bells Are Ringing. Ms. Landau teaches at Yale School of Drama and is the co-author, with Anne Bogart, of The Viewpoints Book.
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.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
