A quirky... reflective work that’s as tenderhearted as it is spryly comic and as poignant as it is ultimately uplifting.
— LA Times

REGIONAL PREMIERE

Primary Trust

Mar 4-29, 2026

Lucie Stern

By EBONI BOOTH
Directed by JEFFREY LO

Kenneth, a 38-year-old bookstore clerk, spends his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar. However, when sudden unemployment jolts him from his comfort zone, Kenneth begins to face a world he has long avoided. Thanks to the unexpected kindness of those he meets along his journey, he begins to shatter the barriers of his solitude, awakening to the vibrant world around him for the very first time. A tender, insightful, and humorous narrative.
2024 Pulitzer Prize winner for Drama

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Special Events & Accessible Performances

Join TheatreWorks for a pre-show discussion with TheatreWorks Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli and an artist from the production. In this free event, peer behind the scenes and learn more about the process of bringing this production to life.

  • Thursday, March 5, 2026 @ 6:15 – 6:45 pm (in the lobby)
  • Wednesday, March 11, 2026 @ 7:30pm
  • Wednesday, March 18, 2026 @ 7:30pm
  • Wednesday, March 25, 2026 @ 7:30pm
  • Sunday, March 15, 2026 @ 2pm
  • Sunday, March 22, 2026 @ 2pm
  • Thursday, March 19, 2026 @ 7:30pm
  • Sunday, March 22, 2026 @ 2pm

Photos: Kevin Berne, 2026

Cast

WILLIAM THOMAS HODGSON*

WILLIAM THOMAS HODGSON, he/ him (Kenneth) has performed with TheatreWorks in Calligraphy, Mrs. Christie, Miss Bennet, and Georgiana & Kitty. Acting credits include Every Brilliant Thing (CenterREP), An Octoroon (Mixed Blood Theatre), The Mountain Top, I Am My Own Wife (Oakland Theater Project), Cyrano (Aurora Theatre Company), Shrek The Musical (Sierra Repertory Theatre), It Can’t Happen Here (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (La Jolla Playhouse), The Glass Menagerie (San Francisco Playhouse), and 6 years as a company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. William earned an MFA from the University of California, San Diego. He is Co-Artistic Director of the Oakland Theater Project.

KENNY SCOTT*

KENNY SCOTT, (Bert) His past TheatreWorks productions include A Distinct Society and King James, for which he won the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Principle Performer in a Comedy. Other regional productions include Aurora Theatre Company (Paradise Blue), Cal Shakes (Lear), Marin Theatre Company (Two Trains Running), Crowded Fire (Limp Wrist, Inked Baby), NCTC (Mystery of Love and Sex), The Forum (Sarafael). He is also a company member with both the Oakland Theatre Project (Hamlet, Mother Courage) as well as Shotgun Players (The Claim, The Light).

ROLANDA D. BELL*

ROLANDA D. BELL, (Corrina/ Others) Born & raised Oakland CA, Rolanda has taken the career route as a storyteller for the last 15 years and she is excited to make her TheatreWorks debut. Rolanda’s work & accomplishments include: BATCC nominee for her role in OTP production of A Thousand Ships, Berkeley Rep Theater School as a director for 2024 High School Theater Festival & 2023 RHE Artistic Fellow recipient. Recent Theater Credits include: A Thousand Ships (Oakland Theater Project), Shipping & Handling (Crowded Fire Theater), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shotgun Players), POTUS (Berkeley Rep), Is God Is (Oakland Theater Project) and Paradise Blue (Aurora Theater). As her resume continues to grow you can see more of her work in original film Blindspotting, Netflix Original film All Day & A Night & voice actor in deleted scenes for PIXAR Animation films LIGHTYEAR & Inside Out 2. Rolanda is SAG-AFTRA & represented by JE Talent. @rolandadene

DAN HIATT*

DAN HIATT (Clay/Sam/Others) has appeared at TheatreWorks many times over the years. Favorites include: Gem of the Ocean, They Promised Her the Moon, The 39 Steps, Upright Grand, and The Pitman Painters. His Bay Area credits include: Cult of Love, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, Dinner With Friends (Berkeley Rep); Father Comes Home from the Wars, The Birthday Party, Vanity Fair, The Rivals (ACT); Hamlet, Uncle Vanya, Titus Andronicus (California Shakespeare Theatre); The Real Thing, Anne Boleyn (Marin Theatre Company); The Arsonists, and Wittenberg (Aurora Theatre Company). Dan has performed at many regional theaters including Huntington Theatre, Seattle Rep, Yale Rep, Shakespeare Theatre D.C., Theater Calgary, Pasadena Playhouse, Ford’s Theatre, and Arizona Theatre Company.

JONATHAN ERMAN

JONATHAN ERMAN (Musician) first appeared at TheatreWorks as the onstage pianist in Cabaret. He has played for numerous productions since then, including Ragtime, Into the Woods, The Secret Garden, Sweeney Todd, Tuck Everlasting, and Sense and Sensibility. He was music director for the plays Old Money and Finks, and the New Works Festival presentations of The Four Immigrants: An American Musical Manga, Out In The Streets: The Music of the Shangri-Las, and Through the Wilderness to the Stars. He was a member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus for five years and appeared in their Emmy Award-winning production of Sweeney Todd in Concert.

JOSEPH ALVARADO

JOSEPH ALVARADO (U/S Clay/ Sam/Others) is thrilled to be making his TheatreWorks debut. On stage, he most recently played Henry Y. Huang in Yellow Face with Shotgun Players. Other cherished credits include playing Jack in Aunt Jack at New Conservatory Theatre Center, Resten in The Language Archive at Masquers Playhouse, Atung in The Chinese Lady at The Pear Theatre and Bobby in Company at City College of San Francisco. On the big screen, he appears as the villainous Stanley Weaver in an independent feature film, Sweet Nothing. He was born, raised and still lives in San Francisco and shares his home with his 19-year old cat, Malcolm.

RON CHAPMAN*

RON CHAPMAN (U/S Kenneth, Bert) is an artist who believes in the power and necessity of storytelling. He last appeared as Rev/Pap in Fat Ham at San Francisco Playhouse. He is delighted to be working with TheatreWorks for the first time.

NADJA MARK

NADJA MARK (U/S Corrina/Others) makes her TheatreWorks Silicon Valley debut in Primary Trust. She was cast as Squeak in The Color Purple (Pittsburg Theatre Company). Regional credits include The Colored Museum (Griot Theatre), Emilia (The Western Stage), Little Shop of Horrors (Enchantrix Theatre), and Cinderella (African-American Shakespeare Company). She has also performed in Twelfth Night (Hoffman Playhouse) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Inherit the Wind (Pacific Repertory Theatre). Film credit includes Thirsty Fundraiser (dir. Emily Abt). Mark trained with American Conservatory Theater and Cliff Osmond Actors Studio and trains with L. Peter Callender.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

CREATIVE TEAM

JEFFREY LO, Director

JEFFREY LO (Director) is a Filipino-American director and playwright, and TheatreWorks’ Associate Producer of Casting and Literary Management. Directing credits include TheatreWorks’ A Driving Beat, HPV, Miss Bennet, Tiger Style!, Little Shop of Horrors and The Language Archive, as well as, The Glass Menagerie, Chinglish and The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin at San Francisco Playhouse, Vietgone, The Great Leap and Hold These Truths at Capital Stage, and Bald Sisters and Between Riverside and Crazy at San Jose Stage. As a playwright, his play WRITING FRAGMENTS HOME had its world premiere at Hillbarn Theatre. Mr. Lo does work nationally promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in the arts. He is a Graduate of the multicultural Arts Leadership Institute and a proud alumnus of the UC Irvine Drama Department. 

JeffreyWritesAPlay.com

CHRISTOPHER FITZER, Scenic Designer

CHRISTOPHER FITZER (Scenic Designer) is an award–winning freelance scenic designer in the Bay Area and the Properties Director for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. At TheatreWorks, he has designed A Driving Beat, King James, Mrs. Christie, Little Shop of Horrors, It’s a Wonderful Life, They Promised Her the Moon, Marie & Rosetta, and The Santaland Diaries. His other design credits include productions at American Conservatory Theater, Center REP, San Francisco Playhouse, Aspen Opera Theater, World Literature Today’s Puterbaugh Festival, Capital Stage, Sacramento Music Circus, San Jose Stage Company, Hillbarn Theatre, Woodminster Summer Musicals, Oklahoma City Theatre Company, Flat Rock Playhouse, Oakland Theater Project, Los Altos Stage Company, The Douglas Morrisson Theatre, Palo Alto Players, and Foothill Music Theatre. He holds a B.F.A. in Theatrical Design from the University of Oklahoma. 

ChristopherFitzer.com

BECKY BODURTHA, Costume Designer

BECKY BODURTHA (Costume Designer) is a local Bay Area costume designer. She recently designed Tiger Style! at TheatreWorks. Other local designs include Gift of Nothing (Marin Theatre), Froggy (Center Rep), Bald Sisters (San Jose Stage), Drowning in Cairo (Potrero Stage) and Cabaret (Center Rep). Other credits: Constellations (Wilma), The Strangest (East 4th Street), Among the Dead (Theatre Ma-Yi), Passover (Cherry Lane), The Wong Kids in the Secret of the Space Chupacabra, Go! (Theatre Ma-Yi), Livin’ La Vida Imelda (Theatre Ma-Yi), and This Lingering Life (HERE Arts). International credits include Betrayal, Anna in the Tropics (Repertory Philippines), Movement for Humanity and Africa’s Hope for the Ubumuntu Festival in Kigali, Rwanda. Alongside her professional design work, she teaches design at Stanford University. MFA - University of Iowa. www.beckybodurtha.com

STEVEN B. MANNSHARDT, Lighting Designer

STEVEN B. MANNSHARDT (Lighting Designer) has designed the lighting for over 100 productions at TheatreWorks during the past 30 years, having won numerous awards for his design work. His regional design credits include the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven; ACT Theatre in Seattle; American Repertory Theater in Cambridge; the Studio Arena Theatre in Buffalo; the Magic Theater in San Francisco; and the Pasadena Playhouse. Mr. Mannshardt taught lighting design at Santa Rosa Junior College for 14 years and currently teaches lighting design, stage management, scenic art, and production at San José State University. Mr. Mannshardt also runs an international charity helping to support the educational and career needs of impoverished children and adults in Nepal. www.wwep.org

GREGORY ROBINSON, Sound Designer

GREGORY ROBINSON, (Sound Designer) IATSE USA 829 Sound Designer’s creative works have been featured in local, regional, and national theatre, radio and television advertising; short film; and documentaries. Featured also in an Emmy Award–winning documentary, an HBO Special, and has been recognized by the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle, with the ‘Excellence in Theatre Award’ for Water By The Spoonful, and nominations for Proof, Two Trains Running, Fannie: The Music & Life of Fannie Lou Hamer, and King James. Gregory has designed and composed music for many TheatreWorks productions over the years. He’s recently Designed Sound & Composed Music for: Paradise Blue (Penumbra Theatre), Two Trains Running (Hartford Stage), King James (TheatreWorks), Wine In The Wilderness (Penumbra Theatre), Every Brilliant Thing (Center Stage Rep), Re-Memori (Penumbra Theatre), Two Trains Running (Marin Theatre Company); Designed Sound for: Salt/ City/Blues (Syracuse Stage), Fannie, The Music And Life Of Fannie Lou Hamer (TheatreWorks); Composed Music for: Paradise Blue (Aurora Theatre).

ROXIE JOHNSON, Hair & Wig Designer

ROXIE JOHNSON (Hair & Wig Designer) is proud to be collaborating on Primary Trust with TheatreWorks. She regularly collaborates with Sonoma Arts Live, Westedge’s Opera Festival and Livermore Valley Opera. She most recently designed wigs and makeup for Marjorie Prime (6th Street Playhouse) and Cosi Van Tutti (Livermore Opera). Her upcoming projects are Scrooge the Musical for Sonoma Arts Live and Romeo and Juliet for 6th Street Playhouse, as well as teaching the Special Effects Makeup and Wig class this Spring at Santa Rosa Junior College.

LAURA HICKS PERREAULT, Stage Manager

LAURA HICKS PERREAULT (Stage Manager) has been a Bay Area Stage Manager for 3 years after moving here from Alabama. At TheatreWorks, she has been the Assistant Stage Manager for Heart Sellers, Being Alive, Tiger Style!, and Steel Magnolias. Elsewhere in the Bay Area, she has been the Stage Manager for Plaza Suite (Hillbarn Theatre), Private Lives (A.C.T.), and 1984 (Aurora Theatre). She was the Resident Stage Manager with Red Mountain Theatre in Birmingham for several years, where she was the Stage Manager for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Holiday Spectacular, and their Performing Ensemble program. Additional Stage Manager credits include You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Virginia Repertory Theatre), 1776 (Virginia Repertory Theatre), The Velveteen Rabbit (Virginia Repertory Theatre), Glory Denied (Opera Birmingham), and The Tragedy of Carmen (Opera Birmingham).

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