Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) May 26, 2026 Actor Ugo Chukwu doesn’t demur when he describes Eboni Booth’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Primary Trust as “perfect.”
“I think Primary Trust is a perfect play,” he says. “Not THE perfect play. But the way it’s structured, the way it’s written, the way the story develops — it gives you everything you need. It leaves no stone unturned. It seems simple in its storytelling, but it’s not.”
The Bronx-born Chukwu was part of the play’s world premiere at Roundabout Theatre Company in 2023, understudying both lead roles and ultimately performing several times as Kenneth, the play’s narrator and emotional anchor. Now he’s back, this time as Bert, Kenneth’s best friend, confidant, and cheerleader, when Primary Trust opens at the Mark Taper Forum on May 27.
The role of Bert is unusual. Invisible to the other characters in the world of the play, Bert is seen and heard only by Kenneth and the audience. It might sound like an acting puzzle, but Chukwu had very little difficulty finding his way into the role.
“He wears many hats for Ken — best friend, coach, cool uncle, whatever he needs to be,” Chukwu says. “For me, being a teaching artist, working with youth, has really helped me tap into that. And just being a sounding board for my friends for many years, listening to whatever they’re going through, offering advice…” He pauses. “It’s actually reminded me that there’s more empathy I could give in this world.”
That work as a teaching artist — a distinction Chukwu is careful to draw — has been a through-line in his career alongside his stage work. “A teaching artist is not a teacher who teaches art,” he explains. “They’re an artist who happens to teach.” He works with New Victory Theater in New York, visiting schools to prepare young audiences for upcoming productions, building lesson plans around everything from circus arts to clowning to straight dramatic performance.
His relationship with Primary Trust and its playwright runs deep. Chukwu and Booth have moved in overlapping New York theater circles for years, both alumni of the Flea Theater’s resident company (the mission of the company is to support and invest in experimental art by black, brown and queer artists). He was in early readings of her work long before the play found its way to Roundabout, and he was in a rehearsal room for another project when word came down that Booth had won the Pulitzer.
“The artistic director was sitting there looking at her phone, and we were like, is she ready? Is she watching?” he recalls, laughing. “And she goes, ‘I think Eboni won the Pulitzer for Primary Trust.’ And we were like — wait, what?” A beat. “And then we celebrated, and then we got ready for our run-through.”
The play tells the story of Kenneth, a lonely Black man in a small, predominantly white upstate New York town, who spends his nights drinking mai tais at the local Tiki bar, and is now facing the terrifying prospect of change after losing his long-time job.
Race is present in the world of the play without being its explicit subject, and Chukwu is thoughtful about what that balance means, and why it matters that the production is cast with Black actors.
“It’s a different reckoning,” he says. “A different type of energy as to how you’re addressing certain things. It doesn’t stop the play’s universality — it doesn’t create a barrier. But the actors in it are Black, and we’re bringing our truthful selves, our experiences. And our experiences color how we tell the story.”
It’s not a play that would work with color-blind casting, a concept he finds insufficient. “You’re not actually reckoning with it,” he says. “Color conscious casting means being aware of the bodies and the identities that are in the space with you, and working together to honor the faces in the room while still telling the story that needs to be told.”
What continues to surprise audiences about Primary Trust, Chukwu says, is exactly what drew him to it in the first place, its refusal to go where you expect it to.
“You don’t see it coming,” he says. “As someone who’s been in this theater world for many years, as an audience member, as a reader, you expect certain tropes, certain devices. This play doesn’t do that. It’s almost redefining what a theatrical surprise can look like.” He remembers lingering in the Roundabout lobby after performances, watching friends file out stunned. “They’d just say, wow. I just didn’t expect that.”
The move to the Mark Taper Forum’s thrust stage brings a different relationship between actors and audience than the traditional proscenium setup at Roundabout, but Chukwu is energized by the challenge.
He’s also candid about his feelings on the broader Los Angeles theater scene, which he navigates regularly given that his wife, playwright Monet Hurst-Mendoza, is a Pasadena native.
“There is a theater scene here,” he says, choosing his words with the diplomacy of someone who spends a lot of time on both coasts. “I just think New York has an advantage in terms of community building. The transit, the geography — it’s just easier to fall in, run into friends, see a show and grab food after.” In LA, he acknowledges, it takes more intention. “But with that intention comes a bigger appreciation when people do gather, it becomes more festive. More meaningful.”
For now, his attention is squarely on the Taper and on Bert — a character who exists, in some sense, as pure warmth and devotion.
“There’s so much love and kindness in this play,” he says. “And that’s really unusual these days.”
Primary Trust begins opens May 27 at the Mark Taper Forum, running through June 28. For tickets call 213.628.2772 or https://www.centertheatregroup.org/shows-tickets/taper/2025-26/primary-trust/#buyTickets
