PRIMARY TRUST Enters Final Two Weeks of Performances at Roundabout Theatre Company

Roundabout Theatre Company will conclude the world premiere of Primary Trust by Eboni Booth, directed by Knud Adams on Sunday, July 2.

The cast includes Eric Berryman as “Bert,” Emmy winner William Jackson Harper as “Kenneth,” Obie winner April Matthis as “Wally’s Waiter & others,” Jay O. Sanders as “Clay & others,” and Luke Wygodny as “musician.”

At the time of closing, Primary Trust will have played 23 preview performances and 45 regular performances. Previews began Thursday, May 4, 2023 and opened on Thursday, May 25, 2023 at the Laura Pels Theater in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).

William Jackson Harper (“The Resort”) returns to the stage as Kenneth, a 36-year-old bookstore worker who spends his evenings sipping mai tais with his best friend Bert at a local tiki bar. When he's suddenly laid off, Kenneth is encouraged by a quirky waiter, played by Obie Award winner April Matthis (Toni Stone), to face a world he's long avoided – with transformative and even comical results. Directed by Knud Adams, Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust is a touching and inventive world-premiere play about new beginnings, old friends, and seeing the world for the first time.

An Emmy Award nominee for “The Good Place,” Harper was last seen on stage in 2017 in Zoe Kazan’s After the Blast opposite Cristin Milioti. Matthis returns to Roundabout following her Obie Award-winning turn in Toni Stone; she made her Broadway debut in The Piano Lesson in the fall.

The creative team for Primary Trust includes: Marsha Ginsberg (Sets), Qween Jean (Costumes), Isabella Byrd (Lighting), Mikaal Sulaiman (Sound), Luke Wygodny (Original Music), and Nikiya Mathis (Hair & Wig Design).

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

Primary Trust will play Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 7:30PM with Saturday matinees at 2:00PM and Sunday matinees at 3:00PM.

Underwriting support for Primary Trust is generously provided by Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence & Dr. Ryan P. Shelhamer and The Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater. 

Roundabout Theatre Company celebrates the power of theatre by spotlighting classics from the past, cultivating new works of the present, and educating minds for the future. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills that mission by producing familiar and lesser-known plays and musicals; discovering and supporting talented playwrights; reducing the barriers that can inhibit theatergoing; collaborating with a diverse team of artists; building educational experiences; and archiving over five decades of production history.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays and musicals on its five stages: Broadway’s American Airlines Theatre, Studio 54 and Stephen Sondheim Theatre, and Off-Broadway’s Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre.

Roundabout’s current and upcoming productions include: Primary Trust by Eboni Booth, directed by Knud Adams; The Refuge Plays by Nathan Alan Davis, directed by Patricia McGregor; Covenant by York Walker, directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene; I Need That by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel; Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley, directed by Scott Ellis; Home by Samm-Art Williams, directed by Kenny Leon; and Jonah by Rachel Bonds.