“Welcome, friend: You’re right on time.”
This is the motto of Cranberry, a small town in upstate New York, 40 miles from Rochester and worlds away from the bright lights of Manhattan. It’s a motto that seems to mock shy, single Kenneth (Julius Thomas III), who spends his evenings exclusively at Wally’s, a tiki bar, where he exclusively drinks mai tais, exclusively in the company of his one friend, Bert (Frank Britton). Life is pretty good, though. Kenneth, almost 40, takes pride in his hometown—Cranberry even has two banks, he points out with a grin. His mother worked at one of them prior to her sudden death, when Kenneth was just 10.
Since his exit from the foster care system at 18, Kenneth has lived an unchanging life for 20 years: days working at the town’s used bookstore, nights at Wally’s with Bert. But the march of time intrudes on Kenneth’s static world when his chain-smoking, hard-swearing boss, Sam (Craig Wallace), announces he’s selling the shop and retiring to Arizona.
From almost the first scene, it is clear why playwright Eboni Booth’s Primary Trust won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize. A reflection of our own lonely, atomized time, it proves that drama need not be loud, set in extreme circumstances, or overwrought to be truly moving. The plot is simple: man loses job, man gets new job. The theme is even simpler, and in that simplicity Primary Trust finds its power—the staunch belief that kindness makes the world go round. And, sometimes, good things can happen too.
From the moment he takes the stage, Thomas commands it—no shock coming from the performer who played Hamilton in the eponymous musical’s 2022 national tour. Showcasing his range, Thomas commands it as Kenneth would—not Hamilton—with a quiet, anxious energy coupled with a genuine love for life, despite all its troubles. At its most raw, when Kenneth is at his lowest, Thomas’ performance inspires an anxious physical response—a churning stomach, a racing heart.
Concerning Britton’s avuncular Bert—to say too much would be to give away the show. Suffice to say that together, Britton and Thomas will draw tears from the audience.
Wallace, whose lovably curmudgeonly Sam reminded this reviewer of a former, late employer, also plays Kenneth’s new boss: grinning, ex-football player Clay, whose brimming corporate-jargon enthusiasm is undergirded by a tenderness for the vulnerable.
Yesenia Iglesias is a delight not only as Corrina, a waiter at Wally’s who becomes Kenneth’s second-ever friend, but as a bevy of other characters, which she rotates through at the cue of the offstage bell. Early on in the play, within the span of a minute or two, using only her voice and posture, Iglesias rotates through at least half a dozen different members of the Wally’s waitstaff, each with their own unique rendition of “Welcome to Wally’s!” Talk about high worker turnover!
About that bell, though—it punctuates the play, often several times in one scene. There are times when the purposes are clear—to show the passage of seasons, or, as mentioned above, to indicate a character change. Occasionally though, the bell seems to serve no purpose. What starts as a very effective device quickly loses its sheen. On the whole, though, the sound design and original music by Frederick Kennedy succeed. The inclusion of Tears for Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is unexpected, but it works.
Scenic designer Misha Kachman has surrounded the performance space with storefront facades that light up as Kenneth mentions or visits them. One particularly affecting moment is when Kenneth, walking along the river and reflecting on his life, appears on the town’s map as a single point of light within the grid.
Primary Trust is well worth seeing. But, for the record, this critic would like to leave a Signature Theatre performance with her mascara intact for once.
Primary Trust, written by Eboni Booth and directed by Taylor Reynolds, runs through Oct. 20 at Signature Theatre. Fall Arts Guide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. sigtheatre.org. $40–$90.