Breakfast With Willy

Is too much choice just as detrimental to the human psyche as too little? With touches of both humor and pathos, Breakfast With Willy explores this timely question through the random collision of two worlds—youth versus maturity, privilege versus privation. Willy Winter is an elderly stock clerk in a Chicago grocery store. A one-time victim of Nazi efforts to "Germanize" Polish children, he has had few choices in life. One morning, before the store opens, Willy stumbles over Suzy Summer, a young graphic designer, lying on the floor of the cereal aisle. Suffering from the modern-day affliction of too much choice in life, Suzy had collapsed the night before while trying to select among the 143 different types of cereals. As Willy aids the confused and bruised Suzy, the unlikely pair share revelations that expose the stark contrast of riches and injustices in their lives—leaving each enraged, engrossed, and ultimately enriched. By the end of the play, the ever-pessimistic Willy finds new reasons to be hopeful, while the floundering Suzy discovers a deepened life purpose. What's more, she is finally able to choose a box of cereal and go home.