Grief is born out of trauma and thrives in loneliness. Playwright Eboni Booth creates a devastating inner world of grief in Primary Trust and builds a shell of a world around her main character Kenneth (Namir Smallwood). It is a brilliant journey with Kenneth as he loses the security of the familiar that has cosseted his feelings since losing his mother at the age of 10. That world starts to crack with the inevitable changes to the town of Cranberry, New York, which is right outside of Rochester. Malkia Stampley directs Primary Trust.
Smallwood is brilliant in the role of the introverted and possibly neurodivergent Kenneth. He has worked at Sam's Bookstore since he was 18 and every day without fail, he meets his best friend Bert (Charles Andrew Gardner) at Wally's Tiki Bar for mai-tais and friendship. Kenneth tells the audience that Bert is his imaginary friend but also quite real because he is there for him and has been by his side since his mother died. Gardner plays the epitome of a best friend, imaginary or real. He is there to carry Kenneth home when he is hammered on mai-tais and listens as Kenneth recreates the same memories every evening. Smallwood brings subtlety to Kenneth. His emotions don't swing but his portrayal of grief and rage are palpable. He brought some audience members to tears.
Gardner imbues his character with an ephemeral presence that is too good to be true and therefore, we know he is imaginary. Kenneth and Bert are symbiotic and it is difficult to fathom how Kenneth got to adulthood without him. The undoing starts when Sam (an excellent Fred Zimmerman) tells him that he is selling the bookstore to the developers who are changing the landscape of Cranberry. He needs expensive medical care and a different climate.
Zimmerman plays that regular guy who could be from Chicago. He smokes constantly and curse words roll off his tongue as easily as good morning. I could imagine that bookstore teeming with dust and the smell of tobacco and paper. He describes his favorite Stephen King books with rapid-fire dialog about kids in the corn and rabid dogs. He also plays Clay the bank manager who hires Kenneth for his first job other than the bookstore. He tells Kenneth that somehow, he reminds him of his brother who has a traumatic brain injury.
Booth's dialog is direct and unsentimental, which makes the audience laugh about a brain injury. Primary Trust is a window to the interior life of people that everyone knows. The plot is linear with surprising realism that can feel like a sucker punch. Booth was awarded the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this play and it was well-deserved. Booth encapsulates everyday America and our disconnected popular culture. It is oddly homogeneous like a clothing fad but it is a lifeline for people like Kenneth who is more like everyone than perhaps we would like to admit.
Christiana Clark puts in a star performance playing at least five different servers, some bank customers, and Corrina who becomes Kenneth's first real friend. Clark is skilled in over-the-top performance without chewing the scenery. She is tender and caring in quiet moments with Kenneth as a supportive and empathetic friend. Clark brings Wally to life wearing Carmen Miranda's headpieces and then playing a slacker who can barely look at the customers.
Adding the cherry to Wally's carnival confection is the onstage musician Mike Przygoda. He adds a carny atmosphere with an electric lounge piano one minute and guitar in the next. Yvonne Miranda's costume design adds a special sauce to Primary Trust. I felt that woven banana boat hat expecting to hear "Day-oh!" any minute from Przygoda's perch upstage.
Lex Liang's set design is spot on, and part of each character is zen in simplicity. They look like city buildings with windows in miniature. The actors should look like giants but director Malkia Stampley navigates the actors as part of the landscape, so you can feel and smell the bookstore. Most hilariously, you can also feel and smell Wally's Tiki Bar which is described as having carpet and specials named "Ooga Booga" and servers with way-out personalities.
The centerpiece of Liang's set design is the backdrop that appears to be a landscape architect's drawing of Cranberry, New York. You see beautiful green spaces, ponds, and buildings, but when you pull your vision back it is a 3-D portrait of Kenneth. It looks like a pointillist collage that can shift in meaning.
There is not one false step in Primary Trust. This is what makes theater great and bodes well for the future. Booth belongs to a stellar universe of playwrights like Lynn Nottage and Suzan-Lori Parks who are bringing new life to the theater. They write with a cultural representation that is natural and not forced. There are fully fleshed characters that can infuriate you one moment and make your face hurt from laughing the next. A great play can make you examine your trauma and unhealed grief bringing forth empathy. Kenneth's journey is funny and heartbreaking. There were moments so painful that I wanted to look away but could not.
I highly recommend Primary Trust. You should make time to see it, bring a friend, and be prepared to have something put on your mind and heart. This is ultimately a story about connections that are broken and how we can help reconnect as life inevitably changes.
Primary Trust is playing through November 3 in the Owen Theatre at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Tickets are $30-$66. Running time is 80 minutes.
For more information on this and other plays, see theatreinchicago.com.
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