Mai tais all around! Goodman Theatre launches 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.
FULL COMPANY OF Primary Trust (in alphabetical order)
In the Owen Theatre
By Eboni Booth
Directed by Malkia Stampley
Christiana Clark…Corrina/Wally’s Waiter/Bank Customers
Charles Andrew Gardner…Bert
Mike Przygoda…Onstage Musician
Namir Smallwood…Kenneth
Fred Zimmerman…Clay/Sam/Le Pousselet Bartender
Understudies for this production include Daniel Ajak, Victoria Angelica Cruz, Sam Hyson, Christopher Meister and Keith Surney.
Creative Team
Associate Director…Ericka Ratcliff
Set Designer…Lex Liang
Costume Designer…Yvonne Miranda
Lighting Designer…Heather Gilbert
Sound Designer and Composer….Brandon Reed
Composer…Mike Przygoda
Casting is by Lauren Port, CSA. Lena Romano is the Dramaturg. Pat Fries is the Production Stage Manager.
ABOUT GOODMAN THEATRE
Chicago’s theater since 1925, Goodman Theatre is a not-for-profit arts and community organization in the heart of the Loop, distinguished by the excellence and scope of its artistic programming and community engagement. Led by Artistic Director Susan V. Booth and Executive Director John Collins, the theater’s artistic priorities include new play development (more than 150 world or American premieres), large scale musical theater works and reimagined classics. Artists and productions have earner two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards and nearly 200 Joseph Jefferson Awards, among other accolades.
The Goodman is the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in August Wilson’s “American Century Cycle.” Its longtime annual holiday tradition A Christmas Carol, now in its fifth decade, has created a new generation of theatergoers in Chicago. The Goodman also frequently serves as a production and program partner with national and international companies and Chicago’s Off-Loop theaters.
Using the tools of theatrical practice, the Goodman’s Education and Engagement programs aim to develop generations of citizens who understand and empathize with cultures and stories of diverse voices. The Goodman’s Alice Rapoport Center for Education and Engagement is the home of these programs, which are offered for Chicago youth—85% of whom come from underserved communities—schools and life-long learners.
Goodman Theatre was built on the traditional homelands of the Council of the Three Fires: the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi Nations. We recognize that many other Nations consider the area we now call Chicago as their traditional homeland—including the Myaamia, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac and Fox, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, Kickapoo and Mascouten—and remains home to many Native peoples today. While we believe that our city’s vast diversity should be reflected on the stages of its largest theater, we acknowledge that our efforts have largely overlooked the voices of our Native peoples. This omission has added to the isolation, erasure and harm that Indigenous communities have faced for hundreds of years. We have begun a more deliberate journey towards celebrating Native American stories and welcoming Indigenous communities.
Goodman Theatre was founded by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, an important figure in Chicago’s cultural renaissance in the early 1900s. The Goodman family’s legacy lives on through the continued work and dedication of Kenneth’s family, including Albert Ivar Goodman, who with his late mother, Edith-Marie Appleton, contributed the necessary funds for the creation on the new Goodman center in 2000.
Julie Danis is Chair of Goodman Theatre’s Board of Trustees, Lorrayne Weiss is Women’s Board President and Kelli Garcia is President of the Scenemakers Board for young professionals.