Asolo Rep Unveils Cast and Creative Team for Pulitzer Prize–Winning PRIMARY TRUST

Asolo Repertory Theatre has announced the cast and creative team for PRIMARY TRUST, with performances January 7–February 11, 2026 (previews Jan. 7–8; opening night Jan. 9).

Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Eboni Booth's absorbing, funny, and ultimately profound play centers on Kenneth, a middle-aged man living a carefully ordered life in small-town America. He spends his days working at a quiet bookstore and his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar with his closest companion. But when Kenneth suddenly loses his job, he is forced to confront a world—and the possibility of human connection—he's long avoided. A deceptively ordinary story about the extraordinary courage it takes to open oneself to friendship, change, and hope.

“I have great admiration for Eboni Booth's quiet play that resounds with insight and hope,” says Producing Artistic Director Peter Rothstein. “It is a deceptively simple play about the complexity of human relationships and the resilience of the human spirit.”

Cast

The principal cast features Kamal Bolden (Bert; The Apollo/The Flea: Hang Time; Billie Holiday Theatre: Reparations; National Black Theatre: Hands Up); Anthony Cason (Kenneth; Broadway: Oklahoma!; Soho Rep: Is God Is); Luke Choi (Waiter, Bank Customer, Townsperson; FSU/Asolo Conservatory); Matt DeCaro (Sam, Clay, Le Pousselet Bartender; Asolo Rep: The Great Society, The Little Foxes, The Crucible, Sweat, Rhinoceros); Kayland Jordan (Corinna, Waiter, Bank Customer; Utah Shakespeare Festival: A Raisin in the Sun, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Macbeth, Antony & Cleopatra); Angelle Mishon (Waiter, Bank Customer, Townsperson; FSU/Asolo Conservatory); Peter Vitale (Composer/Musician; Playmakers Rep: Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing); Will Westray (Waiter, Bank Customer, Townsperson; FSU/Asolo Conservatory).

Understudies include Angelle Mishon (Corinna); Bernell J. Lassai III (Bert); Frank Oden (Clay and Sam); Will Westray (Kenneth). For Waiters, Bank Customers, and Townspeople: Mya Barber, D'zyre Jones, Charlie Lavaroni, Armando González, Lia Rodriguez

Creative Team

Directed by Chari Arespacochaga (Roundabout Theatre Company's Directors Group: Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Kinky Boots, Rent, In the Heights, The Motherf**ker With the Hat, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee); Original Music by Peter Vitale (Playmakers Rep: Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing); Scenic Design by Joey Mendoza (Recent work: Jane Anger (with Michael Urie), Export Quality, Constellations, Kisapmata, and We Aren't Kids Anymore); Costume Design by Jen Gillette (Notable productions include: Bud, Not Buddy(Kennedy Center), Cunning Little Vixen (Manhattan School of Music), Porgy and Bess (Hattiloo Theatre)); Lighting Design by Alan C. Edwards (Asolo Rep: Beautiful, Intimate Apparel, Chad Deity. Broadway: Associate to Jennifer Tipton on The Testament of Mary); Sound Design by Matthew Parker (sound and special effects at The Flat Rock Theatre in North Carolina on shows including: I Hate Hamlet, the world premiere of Gilligan's Island: The Musical and others in the 1992 season); Hair, Wig & Makeup Design by Michelle Hart (Asolo Rep: Come from Away, All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914); Stage Management by Sam Allen (Off-Broadway: The Brothers Size (The Shed)); Assistant Stage Management by Matthew Rohan (Asolo Rep: Jesus Christ Superstar, Ken Ludwig's The Three Musketeers, Chicken & Biscuits, Looking for Ithaca: An Odyssey (TYA Tour)).

Tickets

Sarasota Awards - Live Stats

Best Musical - Top 3

1. CABARET (The Sarasota Players)

23.2% of votes

2. SYNCOPATED AVENUE (Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe)

21.5% of votes

3. JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (Asolo Repertory Theatre)

11.7% of votes

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