"Superior Donuts"
The comedy “Superior Donuts” by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tracy Letts gets its West Michigan premiere when it opens tonight at Farmer’s Alley Theatre in Kalamazoo. Lorraine Caron met the director and two cast members at rehearsal and has this report:
Farmer’s Alley Theatre Executive Director Adam Weiner is directing the cast in “Superior Donuts.” He says playwright Tracy Letts has a real ear for dialogue.
[Adam Weiner] “He just gets how people talk these days and how people interact with each other.”
The story is set in modern day Chicago.
[Adam Weiner] “It’s basically an update of the American dream. And, how this unlikely group of people kind of form their own family in this donut shop.”
The character of Arthur is described as a 60-year-old, ex-hippie, draft evader who somewhat reluctantly now owns his late father’s donut shop. Veteran actor Michael Ray Helms plays him.
[Michael Ray Helms] “He has a little pride in the donuts he makes, but he doesn’t have much extra. People come in to the shop and he talks to them, but in the beginning he doesn’t have a lot going for him. And then, there’s a spark and something happens. He meets Franco and they develop a relationship and he sort of gets a revival, a rejuvenation.”
The character of Franco is described as a young, idealistic African-American. He’s being played by 21-year-old WMU student Anthony J. Hamilton. He remembers what went through his head when he first read his character’s lines.
[Anthony J. Hamilton] “Oh wow, there are a lot of parallels between his life and mine and this will be easy. And then I realized that Franco is a much younger 21 than I am and it’s been a challenge to tap into that youthfulness, but it’s a crucial part of the play.”
As Franco and Arthur start working together and get to know one other, each goes through changes.
[Weiner] “Both characters are kind of lost in a way. Arthur is kind of a ghost in his own shop and dealing with stuff that happened in his past. Even though Franco is so young, he’s got family issues that affect him. He uses his triumphs and struggles as material to write what he calls the next “great American novel” and he’s very excited about that. Arthur becomes the first person to read his novel. The paths of these two characters kind of collide and they redeem each other through the actions that happen in the play.”
“Superior Donuts” is a comedy by playwright Tracy Letts. This production opens Friday and runs through February 26th at Farmer’s Alley Theatre in downtown Kalamazoo.
Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age
Many of us have heard about what segregation was like in the South, but what about right here in Kalamazoo? The Portage District Library will host a panel discussion this Sunday on housing segregation in Michigan. The talk is one of the events in the area to mark Black History Month. WMUK’s Gordon Evans reports:
Sunday’s panel discussion at the Portage District Library includes Will Mae Pierson, the first African-American real estate agent in Kalamazoo. Donna Odom is Executive Director of the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society. She says Pierson will discuss some of the obstacles that African-American families faced in housing. Odom says people coming from the south thought they were finding a “safe haven.” But she says that often wasn’t the case.
Author Kevin Boyle will also join Sunday’s discussion by Skype. Boyle’s book Arc Of Justice, a Saga of Race, Civil Rights and Murder in the Jazz Age, won the 2004 National Book Award. It chronicles the trial of Ossian Sweet, an African-American doctor, who was charged with murder after he fought an angry mob in front of his house in a middle-class neighborhood in Detroit. Sweet was acquitted by an all white jury. But Boyle, a professor at Ohio State University, says the problem of segregation has remained.
Boyle says the acquittal was a victory for Sweet and other men charged. But he says it didn’t change the trend in segregated housing. Boyle says it took him a while to conclude that the story he was writing was “tragedy.”
Other Events:
Don’t miss the Cooper’s Glen Music Festival this weekend in Kalamazoo! WMUK staff will be there to help announce some of the artists. Click here for the lineup.
Elk Welcome will be celebrating their CD release with a performance at The Strutt Friday. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. Click here to see who else will be playing that night.
The musical “Food Prisons: A Musical on Eating Disorders and Body Image" will be premiering this Friday at the Dalton Center Recital Hall on Western Michigan University’s campus at 8 p.m.
If you would rather stay put in Benton Harbor this Friday, the Max Allen Band and Half Ton Blues Gun will be playing at the Livery at 9 p.m.
Kids can come hear stories and classical music at the Berlioz the Bear event put on by the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra Saturday at 10 a.m. The Burdick-Thorne String Quartet will be performing for kids ages three to six.
On Monday, cut a rug with Square Dance Kalamazoo. The square dancing group will be dancing and performing traditional square dance tunes at The Strutt at 8 p.m.
