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San Diego Uptown News | Feb. 18-Mar. 3, 2011
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North Park musi- cian sparks big time
By Erin Goss SDUN Music Reporter
"Superior Donuts" chronicles an unlikely friendship between Arthur Przybyszewski (Robert Foxworth) and Franco Wicks (Anthony B. Phillips). The show continues until March 6 at the San Diego Rep. (Photo by Daren Scott)
‘Superior Donuts’ and acting chops arrive in San Diego
By Charlene Baldridge SDUN Theatre Critic
Set in a rundown shop in a rundown neighborhood of Chicago, San Diego Rep’s production of Tracy Letts’ comedy “Superior Donuts” is superior in many ways. One might quibble that it’s not as profound as Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning “August: Osage County” or “The Man From Nebraska,” as frightening as “Bug,” or as gro- tesquely comedic as “Killer Joe,” but the “Donuts” peers every bit as deeply into human imperfec- tions as the others.
Besides that, it is keenly cast
and directed by Artistic Director Sam Woodhouse upon a set by Robin Sanford Roberts that literally reeks of doughnuts, un- spoken loneliness and potential for love among the denizens of its multi-ethnic microcosm. American born to Polish immigrants 60-year-old Arthur Przybyszewski (Robert Fox- worth) arrives at his doughnut shop to find it’s been vandal- ized. Max Tarasov (Dimiter D. Marinov), a Russian émigré who owns the electronics shop down the street, is there with the cops, sports-loving Randy Osteen (DeAnna Driscoll) and her black partner, James Bailey (Keith Jefferson), and the neighborhood bag lady, Lady Boyle (Kathryn Herbruck). Eventually Arthur is alone in the shuttered shop, which has a help wanted sign in the window. Help appears in the form of an upbeat lad named Franco Wicks (Anthony B. Phillips), a dis- arming college dropout with secrets and “The Great
American Novel” tucked in his backpack. The play explores the developing friendship that blossoms between the open Franco and the closed-off Arthur and the threat presented by Franco’s past. The underlying, unspoken theme is America, the land of opportunity, and what that still means. Foxworth is perfectly cast as the curmudgeonly
Arthur, a Vietnam-era draft evader disdained by his own father. To see Arthur’s meta- morphosis, so quietly effected by this consummate actor, is a true privilege. At the other end of the spectrum, his explosion, choreo- graphed by master fight director James Newcomb, is awesome, in- volving a fight with thugs played by Stephen Morgan-MacKay and Tyler Herdklotz. Brian Abraham, an immense presence, broke my heart with his inarticulate, newly- arrived Russian. It is a treat to witness Phillips’
virtuosic physicality and ease as he plays the talkative, almost glib Franco. As Tarasov, Mari- nov is also wondrous physically and adept at limning a volatile, and not always likable, character. Typical of playwright Letts, each
of the characters is miles deep. And yet, each play is distinctly different. “Superior Donuts,” his love letter to Chicago, may be the most enjoyable of all seen thus far. It certainly provides a tasty evening in the theater. “Superior Donuts” continues at 7 p.m. Tuesdays-
Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays, through March 6, Lyceum Space, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Horton Plaza, 79 Horton Plaza,
sdrep.org or 544-1000.u
(l to r) The band: Ryan Kimble, guitar and pedal steel; Will Fears, bass; Dead Dave Standard, harmonica; Jonathan Pruett, vocals and guitar; Billy Mcowen, guitar; and Mike Roberts, drums. (Courtesy of Jonathan Pruett)
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When one thinks about San Diego, sandy beaches, taco stands, and surf culture are prob- ably the first things that come to mind. Southern alternative country music is probably last. Yet that didn’t dissuade musician Jonny Wagon who set out from Tennessee for sunny California with only one goal in mind: to make hearty, Southern-inspired, Americana.
The musician, whose real name is Jonathan Pruett, a birth name that has long since been forgotten by everyone except his mother, originally settled in San Francisco. Upon arrival, Pruett struggled as a musician. “I lived out of my car for nine months because it was the middle of the
dot.com era, and I would show up to see an apart- ment and there would literally be
country music love Behind the Wagon’s frontman gets real on San Diego and what inspires him to keep on keepin’ on
15 dudes in suits and ties looking at the same place. Of course they were going to give it to that guy,” he said.
Eventually, the Tennessean
realized the foggy city wasn’t exactly what he was looking for and relocated in a direction more familiar to him: South. “I was bartending at the Hard Rock and met some kids and they said to move down to San Diego—it’s where you want to be. It’s just something about us people from the South, we dream about California, we see it in the movies, and our idea of it isn’t re- ally San Francisco—it’s Southern California. You know, its bikinis and everybody on the beach.” While it’s unlikely that San Diego accurately resembled Wag- on’s Hollywood-infused dreams of the city, he fell in love with the place nonetheless, eventually set-
see Wagon, page 23
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