Pulitzer-winning and -written plays come to New Orleans | Entertainment/Life

Pulitzer is the name of the week in theatrical circles as two local companies delve into a Pulitzer Prize winner and a Pulitzer-penned play.

One show is a regional premiere that looks at life from a lonely point of view. The other show, written by a quartet of New Orleanians, is being revived in a Jefferson Parish space that is undergoing a bit of a revival as well.

‘Primary Trust’

For its main stage show this season, Crescent City Stage will head to the Contemporary Arts Center, 900 Camp St., on May 7-24 to take a closer look at a man who is facing some major life changes.

Eboni Booth’s “Primary Trust” is the story of Kenneth, a man who leads a simple life that gets upended when he loses the only job he’s ever known. From his daily mai tais with Bert to a letting the world in, the story is a mix of humor, heartbreak and the unexpected.

“New Orleans is a city that has always known how to hold grief and joy in the same breath,” director Michael A. Newcomer said. “‘Primary Trust’ speaks directly to that spirit. It’s a story about a man learning to step outside the safe, familiar walls he’s built around himself and discover that connection, friendship, and belonging are still within reach.

“Eboni Booth has given us a quiet masterpiece, and I am proud to bring it here for New Orleans to experience.”

Veteran Crescent City Stage players Jarrod Smith (“Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson — 2B” and “Bard at the Batture”) and Doug Spearman (“A Doll’s House”) play is Kenneth and Bert. The cast also includes Nicole Collins, Mark Cosby and Steve Gilliland.

The show is at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Sundays. A gala opening May 8 will include small bites and beverages before and a post-show toast with the cast. Also, the galleries of the CAC will be open for pre-show viewings each night.

Tickets start at $35. Visit crescentcitystage.com.

‘Cherries Jubilee’

For five friends who met when they attended Tulane University, a sweeping journey through their lives is the recipe for stage magic at Westwego Performing Arts Theatre.

Joyce Pulitzer, Harriet Nelson, Lynne Goldman and Marcy Nathan wrote the play that was originally produced 25 years ago at Southern Rep Theatre for a three-month run.

Directed by Gary Rucker, the show starts in the 1960s as the five meet out of high school. Over the years, they gather to go over life’s events — both good and bad.

“If you like ‘Steel Magnolias,’ you’ll love this show, because it is very homegrown and it’s, I think, very autobiographical,” said Rucker, creative and managing director for the West Bank operation of Jefferson Performing Arts.

The 40-year-span of the show sees “some of them have been divorced, some of them have grandchildren, so you’re just gonna watch the relationships of these women evolve over time.”

Michael Vaughn, co-director, echoes much of the same sentiments.

“Regardless of when the show was written, the heart of its storytelling still feels remarkably current,” said Vaughn. “At its center are six women whose friendships, humor and honesty reflect experiences audiences continue to recognize today.”

An advantage for Rucker is having the playwrights close by during rehearsals for the production and having a chance to get to know them, particularly Pulitzer.

“When I met Ms. Joyce, she’s like this little old lady, and you sit down and you start talking to her, and she cracks me up,” he said. “She’s so genuinely funny and loves theater, and the process and is just such a fan of it all. It’s really wonderful watching her watch our rehearsals because she’s just enamored of it.

“It’s contagious, her love for it.”

Getting in on the contagion are Savannah Chiasson, Lorna Dopson, Michaela Brown, Lauren Smith, Lauren Gathier and Dana Panepinto.

“The cast is a group of very talented women who have been willing to share their own personal stories with one another, and that spirit of trust and connection has really become the true heartbeat of the show,” said Vaughn.

Rucker said when he was first approached to read the show, he did so as a courtesy.

“I read it and I’m like, ‘Ow, wow. It’s actually really good.’ I was pleasantly surprised,” he recalled.

“I’m really excited to be able to put it on the main stage in Westwego,” he said, adding Pulitzer’s support has been exceptional.

“She’s such a sweet lady, and she’s so supportive of it, and she’s been very good about kind of letting us tell the story our way, which is incredible cause I’ve worked with a lot of playwrights who are like, ‘No, do it this way,’ but she’s been really wonderful.”

The fruits of the collaboration will be onstage at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sundays on May 8-17 at 177 Sala Ave. in Westwego. Tickets start at $42. Visit jpas.org.

Onstage this week, April 30-May 5

“GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS:” 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday; Evangeline Theater, 2635 N. Causeway Blvd., Mandeville. Desperation is the name of the game for a quartet of competing real estate agents with jobs on the line in David Mamet’s Pulitzer Prize-winning story set in the early 1980s. Tickets start at $27. evangelinetheater.com.

“GOD OF CARNAGE:” 7:30 p.m. Thursdays to Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, plus student performance 10 a.m. May 7, 2 p.m. May 16, through May 17; Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré, 616 St. Peter St. Star power drives this show about adults behaving like children with Julie Lake, Conrad Ricamora, Marie Lovejoy and Joshua Mark Sienkiewcz as two sets of parents of 11-year-old boys who had a dust-up on the playground. What begins as an earnest attempt to keep things calm descends into an emotional evening. Tickets start at $35. Visit lepetittheatre.com.

“THE LARAMIE PROJECT:” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday; 30 by Ninety Theatre, 880 Lafayette St., Mandeville. The brutal death of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard and the subsequent attention on the tragedy form the heart of a work that features a relatively small cast playing dozens of roles in this theatrical experience penned by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project after more than 200 interviews. Advisory for themes, language and the sometimes graphic descriptions of the violence perpetrated on Shephard. Tickets start at $17. 30byninety.com.

“LAST NIGHT AT THE RUE BAYOU:” 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sunday; Storyville Music Hall, 1104 Decatur St. Local musicians and performers highlights a final evening at the club before a corrupt parish commissioner attempts to seize Miss Elean Durand’s legendary “juke joint at the crossroads between the living world and the spirits of the bayou.” Tickets start at $64 and include two drinks and a “locally sourced taste of New Orleans.” ruebayoumusical.com.

“SHREK THE MUSICAL:” 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday; Slidell Little Theater, 2024 Nellie Drive. In the story, an ogre is none-too-happy about his swamp being invaded by fairytale misfits and really dislikes a certain smart-mouthed donkey. The exodus of characters from the Kingdom of Duloc has been prompted by Lord Farquaad, who finds out he needs to marry a princess to become a king. And then there’s Fiona, a formidable crown-wearing captive in a dragon-guarded castle with her own secrets. Tickets start at $25. The theater is at 2024 Nellie Drive. slidelllittletheatre.org.