Not too long ago in a small town off Highway 27.

JENNA
A woman stuck in her life as an unhappily married waitress in a small town. Finds some happiness and expression through her meticulous baking of pies and her friendships with her coworkers, Dawn and Becky. Lives her life paycheck-to-paycheck, day by day, and wants nothing more than to get away and start fresh, unbeknownst to her destructive husband, Earl.

BECKY
The oldest of the three waitresses. Irreverent, irascible, been there, made it back, and somehow kept her forward and sometimes wicked sense of humor with excellent comedic timing.

DAWN
The youngest of the waitresses. Thick glasses, hair parted 14 centimeters to the left — eccentric is the nice way to say she’s slightly unusual, and not so slightly OCD. She sets the tables, painstakingly ensuring each salt and pepper-shaker is equidistant from the napkin holder.

DR. JIM POMATTER
Handsome, endearing, and neurotic. Has a warm, if clumsy, matter. Jenna’s gynecologist with whom an unexpected extramarital affair is born. Has a quirky sense of humor and a big heart, despite the fact that he’s contributing to the affair.

EARL
Jenna’s husband. Peaked in high school, handsome in a gruff way, but that face is clouded with broken dreams, drowned with cheap beer. Just enough narcissism mixed with stupidity, to be a potent Molotov cocktail that can explode into unexpected anger one second and then turn into a sobbing mess the next.

CAL
A chef at the diner. A “Salt of the Earth” guy’s guy surrounded by gals. Brash, impatient, unsentimental, but somehow charming.

OGIE
Strange, yet oddly lovable. Becomes slightly obsessed with Dawn (in a hilarious yet endearing way) after she goes on a 5-minute date with him. Quirky, incredibly persistent, and odd, yet kind.

JOE
The owner of the diner where Jenna, Dawn, Becky, and Cal work. A seemingly old, curmudgeonly man who has a soft spot for Jenna (and her pie), warm at heart. A sarcastically funny and no-nonsense guy with a keen ability to read people.

Sara Bareilles, born December 7, 1979, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist who first gained fame for her self-described “piano-based pop soul” music, typified by the hit singles “Love Song” (2007) and “Brave” (2013). She later found success in the theater, especially as the lyricist and star of Waitress (2015).  Bareilles’s first official release, the self-produced Careful Confessions (2004), was met with a mostly positive critical response. Its notable singles include “Gravity,” which she had begun writing while at UCLA. Her first album for Epic, Little Voice (2007), was a huge success, eventually selling more than one million copies. The recording was especially noted for the hit single “Love Song,” a tongue-in-cheek rebellion against record labels requesting specific content from artists. In addition to clever lyrics, the album was praised for its catchy hooks. The success of Little Voice led to a sold-out tour.

In 2013 Bareilles moved from Los Angeles to New York City. The previous year she had been approached by theater director Diane Paulus about a musical adaptation of the 2007 film Waitress. The dramedy starred Keri Russell as an unhappily married pregnant woman who begins an affair with her doctor. Bareilles ultimately wrote the music and lyrics for the stage production, which opened in 2015 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bareilles also performed in the lead role. The production was a surprise hit, and it transferred to Broadway in 2016. Her score was nominated for a Tony Award, and Bareilles recorded What’s Inside: Songs from “Waitress” (2015). The filmed stage performance titled Waitress: The Musical was filmed when Broadway was “opening up” after the COVID-19 pandemic pause and Bareilles returned to the stage to portray Jenna. Waitress was the first show to reopen on Broadway following the COVID-19 shutdown of Broadway. The show was filmed between September to December 2021 and is available to stream on Max, Amazon Video, Apple TV, and Hulu.

Adrienne Shelly, born June 24, 1966, was an American actress, film director, and screenwriter. She gained recognition for her roles in independent films, particularly Hal Hartley’s The Unbelievable Truth (1989) and Trust (1990). Trust was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Shelly guest-starred in a number of television series including Law & Order, Oz and Homicide: Life on the Street, and played major roles in over two dozen off-Broadway plays, often at Manhattan’s Workhouse Theater. In 2005, she appeared in the film Factotum starring Matt Dillon. During the 1990s, Shelly segued toward a career behind the camera. She wrote and directed 1999’s I’ll Take You There, in which she appeared alongside Ally Sheedy. She won a U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Film Discovery Jury Award in 2000 for direction of the film, and Prize of the City of Setúbal. Her final work was writing, directing, co-set- and costume-designing, and acting in the film Waitress, starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. The film was purchased hours later by Fox Searchlight Films, and went on to critical acclaim and box-office success. Shelly’s daughter, Sophie, has a cameo at the end of the film. Shelly was also active in the theatre scene in New York. She wrote and directed plays for Naked Angels and Alice’s 4th floor, acted in off-Broadway shows, served as the creative director of the Missing Children Theater company for five years, taught acting at One on One Productions in Manhattan, and led a workshop at NYU in acting, directing, and writing.

Tragically, Shelly was found dead in her Manhattan office on November 1, 2006 at the age of 40. After her death, her husband Andy Ostroy established the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, a nonprofit organization supporting women filmmakers. The foundation provides scholarships, production grants, finishing funds, and living stipends in collaboration with institutions such as NYU, Columbia University, and the Sundance Institute. A documentary about Shelly’s life titled Adrienne directed by Ostroy is available to stream on Max. For more information about the Adrienne Shelly Foundation, click here.

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