Photos: PRIMARY TRUST Begins Rehearsals at the Goodman Theatre

Goodman Theatre will launch the 2024/2025 Season in its 350-seat flexible Owen Theatre with a newly minted Pulitzer Prize-winning play. The Chicago-premiere production of Primary Trust by Eboni Booth——helmed by BOLD Artistic Producer Malkia Stampley, in her Goodman directing debut—is now in rehearsal toward an October opening.

The all-Chicago cast is led by Namir Smallwood with Christiana Clark, Charles Andrew Gardner, Mike Przygoda and Fred Zimmerman. Primary Trust appears October 5 — November 3 (opening night is Monday, October 14 at 7pm. Tickets ($20 - $65; subject to change) are available at GoodmanTheatre.org/Primary or by phone at 312-443-3800. Goodman Theatre is grateful for the support of the Goodman Women’s Board, Bold Theater's Women's Leadership Circle, Conagra Brands Foundation and The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust.

“I’m thrilled to begin rehearsals with this absolutely perfect company! We have an abundance of talent riches in this city, and as I spent time meditating on this play, I truly saw Namir Smallwood as Kenneth. For him to be just as excited as I was about this play, it all just felt divine,” said director Malkia Stampley. “On one level, we have an amazing story by Eboni Booth, who brilliantly reminds us that I am you and you are me. On another level, I think many of us are dealing with grief, loneliness, transition and self-discovery—especially as we continue to emerge from the pandemic. This is a story that says we are all in this together. I think we need that now more than ever.”

Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, playwright Eboni Booth sets Primary Trust in “Cranberry, New York—a medium-sized suburb of Rochester (in) a time before smart phones.” 38-year-old Kenneth is a longtime bookstore worker who is perfectly content with his after-work routine: a mai tai—or two—at the local tiki bar. But when his employer decides to close the store, Kenneth must also turn the page and choose a new direction—including some daring steps into a world he has evaded.

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