(Pittsfield, MA – August 21, 2024) – Barrington Stage Company (BSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Alan Paul, is pleased to announce casting for its regional premiere production of Primary Trust, by actress/playwright Eboni Booth (Theatre: Paris, Television: “We Were the Lucky Ones,” “Julia”). The play, which is the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama, will be directed by Jennifer Chang (Off-Broadway: What Became of Us; Regional: The Far Country).
The production, the final show of BSC’s 2024 season, will play Wednesday, September 18 through Sunday, October 13 at the St. Germain Stage, 30 Linden Street. Opening night is Saturday, September 21 at 8:00 PM. Tickets are available at barringtonstageco.com, or by calling 413-236-8888.
“We are so honored to close our 30th anniversary season with Eboni Booth’s brilliant Primary Trust, which deservedly won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama earlier this year,” said BSC Artistic Director Alan Paul. “This play, which is about connection at a time of societal change, will captivate BSC audiences with its sharp wit and profound insight into our shared human experience.”
The cast of Primary Trust will feature Kyle Haden (Regional: Chimerica, A Few Good Men; Television: “American Rust”) as Bert, C. David Johnson (BSC: Tribes; Broadway: The Children, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) as Clay/Sam, Hilary Ward (Regional: American Fast, Sense and Sensibility: Television: “Sharp Objects,” “All the Way”) as Corinna, and Justin Weaks (Off-Broadway: i need space; Regional: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Gloria) as Kenneth.
Kenneth, a 38-year-old bookstore worker, has a happy life filled with simple pleasures like Mai Tais with his lifelong best friend. But he is shaken from his routines after a sudden layoff. In finding a new job at a local bank, he starts to open up to others while also opening up moments from his past. The Observer says, Primary Trust “will restore your faith in theater’s elemental storytelling powers.”
Scenic design is by Baron Pugh. Costume design is by Danielle Preston. Lighting design is by Bryan Ealey. Sound design is by Salvadore Zamora. Production stage manager is Tyler Crow. Casting is by McCorkle Casting Ltd.
Primary Trust is sponsored in part by Reba and Bruce Evenchik, and Alyson and Richard Slutzky. Student matinees are sponsored by The Virginia and Harvey Kimmel Family Fund.
BIOGRAPHIES
Kyle Haden he/him (Bert). BSC Debut. Theater: Chimerica, Inside Passage (Quantum Theater); A Few Good Men (Pittsburgh Public); We Are Among Us (City Theatre); Othello (Chicago Shakespeare); A Raisin in the Sun (Guthrie , Arizona Theatre, Cleveland Play House, Kansas City Rep); Hamlet (Shakespeare Theatre); Defiance (Arvada Center); Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, Two Gentlemen of Verona (Colorado Shakespeare Festival); Richard III, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Twelfth Night (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Richard 3 (LaMaMa ETC). Film and Television: Where the Deer Sleep, “American Rust,”“The Onion.” BA Wake Forest University, MFA Columbia University. kylehaden.com @kylehadenofficial
C. David Johnson (Clay/Sam). BSC: Tribes. Broadway: The Children, The Present, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Off-Broadway: Corruption, Nantucket Sleigh Ride. Theater: Julius Caesar (Playmaker’s Rep); All the Way (Denver Centre); The Tempest (Shakespeare Theatre); The Lion in Winter (Palm Beach Dramaworks); The Play’s the Thing, Great Expectations, The Way of the World, Mary Stuart, King Lear, A Winter’s Tale (Soulpepper Theatre); The Pirates of Penzance, Inherit the Wind, Henry IV Part One, The Sound of Music (Stratford Festival); Peter Pan, Sleuth, Misery (Theatre New Brunswick). Film and Television: “Diggstown,” “Street Legal”(CBC), “The Blacklist,” “CSI: SVU,” “Law and Order,” “Soul Food.”
Hilary Ward she/her(Corinna). BSC debut. Theater: American Fast (City Theatre); Sense and Sensibility (South Coast Rep); Ripe Frenzy (Ojai Playwrights Conference); Macbeth, King Lear (Classical Theatre of Harlem).Film and Television:“Sharp Objects,” “All the Way,” “NCIS,” “Law & Order,” “Castle,” “Station 19,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Fosters,” “Bull.” MFA: UCSD/La Jolla Playhouse. Principal performer and/or voice in over three dozen national ad campaigns. Member: Television Academy, SAG-AFTRA, AEA. @imhilaryward
Justin Weaks (Kenneth). BSC debut. Off-Broadway: i need space (The New Group). Regional: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Arena Stage); There’s Always the Hudson, BLKS, Describe the Night, Gloria (Woolly Mammoth Theater, Company Member); Long Way Down, Watsons Go to Birmingham-1964, Bud, Not Buddy (Kennedy Center); Pipeline, Curve of Departure (Studio Theatre); The Venetian Twins (Shakespeare & Co). BA Greensboro College. @keithweaks
Eboni Booth (Playwright) is a writer and actor from New York City. Her plays include Primary Trust (Roundabout Theatre, Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Outer Critics Circle Award) and Paris (Atlantic Theater). For television, she has written for Hulu’s “We Were the Lucky Ones” and HBO Max’s “Julia.” As an actor, Eboni has appeared in productions at Playwrights Horizons, LCT3, Manhattan Theatre Club, Ars Nova, WP Theater, Page 73, Soho Rep., Clubbed Thumb, and more. Eboni is a resident playwright at New Dramatists, and the recipient of a Dramatists Guild Horton Foote Award, a Steinberg Playwright Award, a Helen Merrill Award for Playwriting, and a John Gassner Award. She is a graduate of Juilliard’s playwriting program and the University of Vermont.
Jennifer Chang (Director) is a director, writer, and actor based in Los Angeles. Select directing credits: What Became of Us by Shayan Lotfi at Atlantic Theater Company, The Far Country by Lloyd Suh at Berkeley Rep, King of the Yees by Lauren Yee at Signature Theatre DC (Helen Hayes nom., Best Production, Best Ensemble), The Heart Sellers by Lloyd Suh at Milwaukee Rep (World Premiere), On Gold Mountain LA Opera at The Huntington, Vietgone by Qui Nguyen (LADCC Award for Direction). New Play/ Musical Development: Center Theatre Group, The Geffen Playhouse, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Pasadena Playhouse, Ashland New Plays Festival, O’Neill Playwrights Conference, New Harmony Project, Sông Collective, Black and Latino Playwrights’ Conference, Theatre Mu, Chance Theater, Boston Court, PlayOn!, East West Players, Artists at Play. Writing: The Devil is a Lie premiered with Quantum Theatre (OnStage Best of 2023), Beatrice Terry Residency for Drama League, Geffen Writers’ Room 23-24, Dear Margaret Sanger with Inara George and Larry Goldings (semi-finalist O’Neill). Member: SDC, AGMA, SAG-AFTRA, AEA. SDCF Fichandler Award Finalist, APAFT Award for Direction. Director’s Lab West, Drama League New York Fellowship, Classical Directing Fellow at The Old Globe. Associate Professor UCLA School of TFT. More info: changinator.com.
ABOUT BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY
Barrington Stage Company (BSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Alan Paul, is an award-winning theatre located in Pittsfield, MA, in the heart of the Berkshires. Co-founded in 1995 by Julianne Boyd, BSC’s mission is to produce top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to engage our community with vibrant, inclusive educational outreach programs. Alan Paul succeeded Ms. Boyd as the company’s Artistic Director in 2022.
BSC attracts over 60,000 patrons annually and has gained national recognition for its superior-quality productions and comprehensive educational programming, including the award-winning Playwright Mentoring Project, the Musical Theatre Conservatory, Youth Theatre, KidsAct! and other initiatives. The company has become integral to the economic revitalization of downtown Pittsfield.
BSC’s reputation for excellence began with a smash revival of Cabaret that moved to Boston in 1997 for an extended run. The theatre’s prominence grew with the world premiere of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin (BSC 2004; Broadway 2005-2008, winner of two Tony Awards). Other notable productions include the world premiere of Christopher Demos-Brown’s American Son (BSC 2016; Broadway 2018); Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session (BSC 2009; Off-Broadway 2010-2012); Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden & Adolph Green’s On the Town (BSC 2013; Broadway 2014, four Tony Award nominations); Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company, starring Aaron Tveit (2017); and West Side Story in honor of Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins’ centenaries (2018).
BSC develops and commissions new work with two programs: PlayWorks, which supports the creation of new plays, and the Musical Theatre Lab, which develops new musicals. Since 1995, BSC has produced 45 new works, 22 of which have moved to New York and major US regional theatres.
BSC is the recipient of 15 Berkshire Theatre Awards for the 2023 season, including Outstanding Production of a Musical for its production of Cabaret, directed by Alan Paul, and the Sally and Robert Sugarman Award for a world premiere of a New Play or Musical for The Happiest Man on Earth, by Mark St. Germain.