![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/tyler-dobrowsky-headshot.jpg\")
Tyler Dobrosky is co-artistic director of the Philadelphia Theatre Company. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Theatre Company)<\/p>\nConsidering how many evenings Kenneth and his best friend Bert spend ordering Mai Tai\u2019s at the local tiki bar, Bert doesn\u2019t drink much.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because Bert is invisible.<\/p>\n
But when the used bookstore where Kenneth works closes and he loses his job, Kenneth needs more than an invisible friend to help him land on his feet.<\/p>\n
He needs friends. He needs community. He needs kindness. And frankly, it\u2019s what we all need now, which is one reason that Tyler Dobrowsky, co-artistic director of the Philadelphia Theatre Company, chose \u201cPrimary Trust\u201d to open its 2025-2026 season.<\/p>\n
That, and it won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for drama \u2013 and is being produced in theaters all around the nation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was such a sweet play and is really openhearted. It\u2019s about the need for community and friendship. On the surface, it can seem like a simple play, but there\u2019s such depth to it. It\u2019s really a heart-forward play,\u201d Dobrowsky said.<\/p>\n
Tyler Dobrosky is co-artistic director of the Philadelphia Theatre Company. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Theatre Company)<\/p>\n
Play selection can be complicated. Dobrowsky said he reads about three or four plays a week, looking for the right mix for upcoming seasons. And actually, the first time he read \u201cPrimary Trust,\u201d it really didn\u2019t hit him.<\/p>\n
But then the agent representing playwright Eboni Booth asked him to take a second look.<\/p>\n
The same agent also represents Philadelphia\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright James Ijames.<\/p>\n
Ijames\u2019 new play \u201cWilderness Generation\u201d will stage its world premiere at the Philadelphia Theatre Company next April, directed by Tabai Magar, the theatre company\u2019s co-artistic director and Dobrowsky\u2019s wife. \u201cWilderness Generation\u201d is another family reunion drama set in the south, like Ijames prizewinning play, \u201cFat Ham.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Dobrowsky learned that \u201cPrimary Trust\u201d won the Pulitzer and was on stages everywhere, his feelings were even more mixed. Did he just want to jump on the \u201cPrimary Trust\u201d bandwagon because the play was popular? \u201cI\u2019m a contrarian,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/ptc-primary-trust-poster-artwork.jpg\")
The poster artwork for Primary Trust. (Courtesy of the Philadelphia Theatre Company)<\/p>\n
But the second reading won him over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was so moved by the play. I really responded to how the main character is searching for community and friendship and that felt, like, really sweet and important,\u201d Dobrowsky said.<\/p>\n
Dobrowsky also sent the play to director Amina Robinson to read. When she loved it as well, the deal was set.<\/p>\n
Busy September<\/p>\n
The timing is interesting, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrimary Trust\u201d opens Sept. 19, right in the middle of the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, with its 350-some different shows.<\/p>\n
Not great, Dobrowsky admitted. The \u201cPrimary Trust\u201d production dates had a lot to do with scheduling \u2013 when artists were available and when the theater wasn\u2019t being rented. Next year, he hopes Philadelphia Theatre Company can work more closely with Fringe in a more expansive partnership.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, though, the Philadelphia Theatre Company has teamed up with Cannonball, a subsidiary festival within the Fringe, to produce the Philadelphia Theatre Company Text and Dramaturgy Cohort.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/taibi-magar-headshot.jpg\")
Tabai Magar is the Philadelphia Theatre Company\u2019s co-artistic director. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Theatre Company)<\/p>\n
Five playwrights were chosen by Dobrowsky and Magar in consultation with producers at Cannonball. The playwrights received mentoring and other support from Dobrowsky and Magar as they prepared their offerings for the Fringe festival, using Cannonball\u2019s venues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe selected five artists to work with over the summer and give feedback, guidance and advice,\u201d Dobrowsky said. \u201cMost importantly, we gave them rehearsal space and a printer\u201d for their scripts.<\/p>\n
For Dobrowsky and Magar, the collaboration was invigorating, he said, and a break from the myriad of less-glamorous aspects of running a theater.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was truly a lot of fun,\u201d he said. \u201cAll of their projects seemed really interesting, and we were interested in these particular artists. They have different backgrounds and are at different levels of their career and advancement.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Tabai and me, we\u2019re still a little new to Philly. This allowed us to know artists that we wouldn\u2019t have known otherwise,\u201d Dobrowsky said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/primary-trust-set-design-by-david-p-gordon.jpg\")
An image of the set design for Primary Trust, by David P. Gordon. (Courtesy of Philadelphia Theatre Company)<\/p>\n
FYI<\/p>\n
\u201cPrimary Trust,\u201d<\/a> Philadelphia Theatre Co.,<\/a> Sept. 19-Oct. 5, Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St., 215-985-0420<\/p>\n Works supported by Cannonball 2025\u2019s Philadelphia Theatre Company Text and Dramaturgy Cohort:<\/p>\n \u201cA Journey of Hardship & Suffering \u2013 a work in progress showing,\u201d<\/a> a clowny comedy of errors inspired by a true story of a 19-century Alaska wilderness expedition. Mosquitoes included. Sept. 12 at 6:30, Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake, 302 S. Hicks St.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Worlds\u201d<\/a> by Taj Rauch from Wherehouse. An immersive, interactive show, an experimental narrative using soundscapes and data clouds. Sept. 12 and 18 at 8 p.m., Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m., Sept. 28 at 2 p.m., Icebox Project Space Gallery, 1400 N. American St.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Super Conductor\u201d<\/a> by August Hakvaag, about scientific progress, workers\u2019 rights and physics. Sept. 13, 1 p.m., and Sept. 28, 5 p.m., Proscenium at the Drake, 302 S. Hicks St.<\/p>\n