Superior Donuts is the latest play from the mind of Tracy Letts. He has expressed violent anger and biting wit in his past works, but with this he takes a new direction, a little light comedy. The story is part drama, or more lament really, and comedy as the owner of a shoddy donut establishment and a new employee discuss life, change, and crippling isolationism.

The owner of Superior Donuts, Arthur Przybyszewski, is a former 1960s radical that has long let his zest for life outside of the donut shop wither away. His last connection to that world, his ex-wife, has passed away leaving him content on his own little island in the middle of a Chicago neighborhood, about to undergo gentrification.

The employee, Franco Wicks, is an intelligent young African-American that has explored life outside of the microcosm of the Uptown neighborhood and brings a surprising knowledge of a variety of subjects, from lesbians to the obesity epidemic among urban African-American populations. He talks his way into a job at the Superior Donuts and begins to draw out the reclusive Arthur.

The play laments the fading diversity of the neighborhood in a subplot well known to Chicagoans who know the neighborhood in the north part of the city, but ultimately is about the relationship between Arthur and Franco, as Franco questions Arthur’s island, bringing him once again into the world one argument at a time.

The Seats has Superior Donuts tickets for the Steppenwolf Production as the play moves from Chicago to New York and perhaps other cities in the future. The Seats has a terrific selection of these tickets for amazing prices for every show on the production schedule. Look at the seating chart for the venue as well and find the best value for your dollar.