‘It does what I hope to do as an artist: Make the world smaller and bring us together, showcase empathy, and just putting yourself in [Kenneth’s shoes]. I hope people can do that.’ — Kyle Haden on Primary Trust
By SHARON EBERSON
Pittsburgh Public Theater’s season finale will be the end of the Downtown producing company as it has been known for 51 years, so it had to be asked:
While preparing to open Primary Trust on March 25 — within days of the announcement that the Public and Pittsburgh CLO would merge under a new model, starting in January 2027 — is the future weighing heavily on their minds?
Director Kyle Haden, on a phone conferencing call that included Primary Trust lead Monteze Freeland, went first.
“I’m focused on making great art, and we have such a great team of collaborators — the cast, the crew, the folks that work there. So for me, it’s just, let’s do what we always do, which is try to tell a really great story.”
(Haden image: Tony Moux)
Haden, who had acted as the Public’s Artistic Consultant from August to December of 2025, after Marya Sea Kaminski left as Artistic Director, continued, “I’ve been excited about bringing this to Pittsburgh, and it’s really nice to just be able to walk into a room and focus on making art. That’s how I’m approaching it.”
“I definitely agree,” said Freeland, making his return as a performer while currently the Artistic Director of Alumni Theater Company in Homewood. “It’s hard to not hear, read, see, feel all the things in the world at large, and in our local ecosystem as well. But as Kyle said, it is such a privilege and a joy to create art, art that has a meaning that doesn’t feel like fluff, art that is so specific that I think it will touch a universal audience in many ways. … I think you said it the other day in rehearsal, Kyle: ‘We’re grateful to be in the room and just do the thing that we were called to do.’ ”
Primary Trust, the 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winner by Eboni Booth, is about a 38-year-old man named Kenneth (Freeland), whose predictable life of working at a small-town bookstore and drinking Mai Tais at a tiki bar is upended when the store closes, forcing him to confront his isolation. With an imaginary friend at his side, Kenneth dares to step out of his comfort zone and accept helping hands reaching out to help him in his struggles.
Among the multifaceted Freeland’s works as a playwright is the musical Kalopsia, created as a part of the New Hazlett Theater Residency program, about a young Black man who faces trauma by escaping into a fantasy world.
Reminded of some similarities, Freeland said, “Oh, I relate a little too much with every page turn. I didn’t quite know how much it would be so parallel to some aspects of my life. The character’s 38, and I have been 38 not too long ago,” he paused for a chuckle.
“Also,” Freeland continued, “Kenneth is a person who likes a routine to sort of thwart any type of negativity that the world may throw his way. And I can be that way, too. I’m so superstitious at times, and I’m trying to get rid of that. … I’ve made a decision to really learn from the lessons of this play and lean on my community, to understand what community means to me, to be an active member of the world, not just through the work that I do, but just as a human.”
Freeland, who has been a frequent director for Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, and at the Public (The Coffin Maker), is onstage for all but “one blip of a second” in Primary Trust. Although the work may seem daunting, Freeland said it is nice to have someone as “capable and kind” as Haden at the helm.
“I enjoy being an actor because you can come into the room and not know everything from the onset, and you have this discovery every single day. And so it’s been great to exercise this muscle again — and yes, it’s nice to not be the person that has to figure out the problems.”
Haden has wanted to bring Primary Trust to Pittsburgh since 2024, when he portrayed Bert, Kenneth’s loyal and imaginary friend, in one of the initial regional premieres of the play, at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. (Bert will be played by Malic Maat for the Public.)
When he heard that Kaminski had programmed the play for the Public’s current season, Haden was ready for it.
“It does what I hope to do as an artist: Make the world smaller and bring us together, showcase empathy, and just putting yourself in [Kenneth’s shoes],” Haden said. “I hope people can do that.”
The play about one man’s struggles with loneliness, grief, and mental health, and the impulse of his smalltown neighbors to offer a helping hand, resonated with Barrington audiences.
Haden could easily envision how that would play well in Pittsburgh.
“It’s a message I think just everybody sure needs, but I thought it would resonate with certain people in the city thinking about how to be present in the moment,” the director said.
The play is also about friendship, which has Freeland playing best friends with one of his best friends, in Maat.
“Sometimes, and I know we’re a lot, we’re a big duo,” Freeland said. “I know it’s like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito [in the movie Twins]. We cover a lot of energy and a lot of pizzazz, and it’s just been a joy to be able to create in this specific way with him.
“He’s been an anchor in my life,” said Freeland, noting that when he was injured in a nasty fall a couple of years ago, Maat “was the first person who went and picked up my prescriptions and came to the house, and he was the only person I would let see me during that time.”
The all-local cast also includes veteran Pittsburgh stage actors and educators Sam Turich and Bria Walker-Rhoze, each playing multiple roles. Haden directed Turich in The Devil Is a Lie for Quantum Theatre, when Turich was named PG Performer of the Year, and Walker-Rhoze currently is an Associate Professor of Acting at Carnegie Mellon University, where Haden’s work includes Artistic Producer of ColLABo, a production development incubator.
The creative team includes Antonio Troy, a 2020 graduate of CMU’s BFA Scenic Design program, costume designer Alethia Moore Del Monaco (Two Trains Running at the Public), Kathy Matthews (hair and wig design), Bryan Ealey (lighting designer), and Chris Lane (sound designer).
The mix of local performers and several out-of-towners on the creative team fits the description of the play, as Haden likes to explain it, much in the same way playwright Booth has expressed what her work conveys.
Beyond the idea of a lonely man with an imaginary friend who loses his job, “It is about forming community, and trying to figure out what that’s like. It sounds so simple, but I think the journey is so compelling. .. I’m not really a crier in life, but I cry. It feels like every day, it just hits a chord for me, that idea of people who don’t have community, and how they find it for themselves.”
Freeland said that having this work in his life has been “a joy, at a moment where we’ve come out of isolation from the pandemic, and yet there’s still remnants of it that live inside of us, and inside of our culture. But it’s time to live.”
“You don’t know how long we have,” Haden said. “And this play is about, let’s just live it up.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Primary Trust is at the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown, March 25-April 12, 2026. Tickets: Visit https://ppt.org/production/100484/primary-trust or call 412-316-1600.
Note: The Public has added three parking options: $95 Curbside Valet (premium close‑access parking with concierge perks); $70 Valet + Shuttle Service (curbside convenience with an easy shuttle run); and $45 Self-Park + Shuttle Service. Advanced reservation required at bit.ly/PPTValet.
Categories: Feature Stories, Our Posts, Show Previews
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