Eboni Booth's Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Primary Trust' is the play we need to restore our souls

Kenneth (Petey McGee), the cardinal quality of Eboni Booth’s exquisite, heart-melting play “Primary Trust,” isn’t your emblematic look-at-me-now, throw-caution-to-the-wind protagonist.

A 38-year-old unmarried antheral who has worked successful a bookstore for the past 20 years, helium is decidedly a carnal of habit. During the day, helium sorts books and takes attraction of the bookkeeping for his boss, Sam (James Urbaniak). When evening falls, helium heads implicit to Wally’s, the section tiki restaurant, wherever helium drinks mode excessively galore mai tais during two-for-one blessed hour.

He has 1 friend, a antheral named Bert (Ugo Chukwu), who drinks with him regularly and offers gentle counsel erstwhile anxiousness gets the amended of him. There’s 1 happening astir Bert that’s important to note: No 1 other tin spot him but Kenneth. He’s an imaginary friend, but arsenic Kenneth is speedy to constituent out, he’s “the realest” happening successful his life.

Ugo Chukwu, left, and Petey McGee successful “Primary Trust” astatine the Mark Taper Forum.

(Knud Adams)

Bert (played by Chukwu with striking amiable spontaneity), is besides remarkably existent to the audience. Indeed, he’s a flesh-and-blood quality similar immoderate different successful this playful drama, acceptable successful Cranberry, a forgotten frozen suburb of Rochester, N.Y. The play, which takes spot successful the play predating smartphones, offers a microcosm of American life, not dissimilar the Grover’s Corners of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” earlier our brains were each rewired.

“Primary Trust,” which is receiving its L.A. premiere astatine the Mark Taper Forum, is simply a tonic for ailing spirits. The production, directed by Knud Adams, who staged the 2023 Roundabout Theatre Company satellite premiere successful New York arsenic good arsenic the 2024 West Coast premiere astatine La Jolla Playhouse, wherever I archetypal encountered and fell successful emotion with the play, invites theatergoers to instrumentality a interruption from their alienated lives and go portion of a community, whose motto is “Welcome Friend, You’re Right On Time!”

When Kenneth archetypal appears to present his opening monologue, helium enters done the audience, arsenic though 1 of america were walking onto the signifier to confide our story. Booth wrote “Primary Trust” during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the play speaks softly astir the hard subjects of marginalization, loneliness and difference.

Petey McGee, left, and Rebecca S’Manga Frank successful “Primary Trust” astatine the Mark Taper Forum.

(Jeff Lorch)

Spending evenings unsocial astatine Wally’s getting drunk and talking to himself surely doesn’t assistance Kenneth’s societal standing. But helium can’t assistance himself. He relies connected Bert to get him through, conscionable arsenic helium did erstwhile helium was a 10-year-old lad and the real-life Bert, a societal worker, came to his location to observe that helium was unsocial with the assemblage of his mother, who died of cancer, leaving nary 1 other to attraction for him.

Kenneth, who was enactment successful an orphanage, has remained an orphan ever since. Bert ne'er returned aft placing him successful a home, but Kenneth recovered different ways of keeping this hopeful, stabilizing beingness successful his life. Human beings are remarkably resilient and tin invent what they request adjacent successful conditions of unspeakable deprivation.

But prolonged deprivation makes it hard to imagination of a amended life. Kenneth doesn’t caput that he’s fundamentally friendless and disconnected. He is utilized to it and protects himself by burrowing deeper into his regular routine. But his information is shattered erstwhile Sam announces that he’s selling the bookstore to instrumentality attraction of his wellness and that Kenneth is going to person to find enactment elsewhere.

James Urbaniak, left, and Petey McGee successful “Primary Trust” astatine the Mark Taper Forum.

(Knud Adams)

Still reeling from the news, Kenneth has occupation getting a clasp of himself erstwhile helium meets up with Bert astatine Wally’s. Bert counts with him, a self-soothing method that usually works for Kenneth. But the imaginable of a occupation interrogation seems truthful acold beyond his capacities helium wonders if he’ll extremity up surviving connected the street.

Many things people Kenneth arsenic different, including a halting mode of speaking that sometimes seems similar neurodiversity and different times similar post-traumatic shock. Booth doesn’t diagnose Kenneth, who relies connected intoxicant to get him done the nights. She treats him compassionately, seeing him arsenic a idiosyncratic with an unusually hard background, and wants america to subordinate to him arsenic though, fixed akin atrocious luck, we could easy beryllium successful his position.

Race is portion of Kenneth’s story. He’s 1 of the fewer Black men successful a predominantly achromatic town. He doesn’t cognize wherefore his parent near the Bronx to instrumentality a occupation astatine a slope successful a frigid obscurity and rise him without support. Kenneth alludes to immoderate radical incidental that happened to him astatine a dairy farm, but that’s not the communicative helium wants to archer here.

James Urbaniak, from left, Ugo Chukwu, Petey McGee and Luke Wygodny successful “Primary Trust” astatine the Mark Taper Forum.

(Jeff Lorch)

An onstage instrumentalist (Luke Wygodny), sitting down a keyboard with his backmost to the audience, dings a doorbell erstwhile there’s a infinitesimal that shifts thing successful Kenneth’s interior weather. It’s an audible mentation of the melodramatic intermission that is wielded to specified versatile effect by Anton Chekhov, Harold Pinter and Annie Baker. The doorbell ne'er means the aforesaid happening doubly but simply suggests feelings excessively large to delve into astatine this time.

Wygodny has written archetypal euphony to subtly travel Booth’s fable, lending the affectional subtext astatine points a penumbra of cello. Adams conducts “Primary Trust” arsenic if it were a score, treating the play arsenic a creation alternatively than arsenic a modular enactment of signifier realism — the close prime for a portion that beautifully deploys repetition (“but that’s different story,” “pardon my French,” “sky is blue, what you gonna do?”) and zestfully embraces its storytelling freedom.

The acceptable by Marsha Ginsberg presents a exemplary of Cranberry, with its downtown buildings miniaturized successful the benignant of an big playhouse. The power of “Our Town” is evident successful the play’s existential overview. But there’s an acquisition sweetness reminiscent of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” and the frolicsome theatricality occasionally evokes the cheeky charm of “Avenue Q.”

Petey McGee, from left, Ugo Chukwu and Rebecca S’Manga Frank successful “Primary Trust” astatine the Mark Taper Forum.

(Knud Adams)

Two of the actors, some of whom were successful the La Jolla Playhouse production, presume aggregate roles. Ubraniak plays not lone Sam but besides Clay, the manager of Primary Trust, the slope that takes a accidental connected Kenneth, offering him a teller slot. Rebecca S’Manga Frank plays Corrina, an amiable caller waitress astatine Wally’s who tips Kenneth disconnected that determination mightiness beryllium an opening astatine 1 of the banks, arsenic good arsenic a litany of different walk-on roles, including further waitstaff astatine Wally’s and slope customers who trial Kenneth’s composure.

“Primary Trust” isn’t a emotion story, though Kenneth and Corrina person a portion unneurotic astatine a section French restaurant, wherever Urbaniak arsenic an ostentatiously Gallic bartender gingerly shuffles 2 martinis to their array arsenic though fearful of spilling a azygous driblet of precious fluid. It’s a communicative astir friendship, oregon however different radical tin marque an tremendous quality by simply taking a infinitesimal to announcement the alien everyone other overlooks.

McGee accentuates Kenneth’s somber shading to a grade that risks sentimentalizing the character. I appreciated the restraint exercised by Caleb Eberhardt, who trusted the assemblage to discern what it needed to discern astir Kenneth erstwhile helium played the relation astatine La Jolla Playhouse.

But the vulnerability that McGee brings to Kenneth yet won maine over, and I recovered myself rooting erstwhile again for this underdog, whose communicative is simply a testament to the powerfulness of empathy to marque this harrying satellite a kinder and much welcoming place.