Eboni Booth’s “Primary Trust” reviewed

One never knows where inspiration will strike. Eboni Booth’s play, Primary Trust, is partly set in a tiki bar that is its protagonist’s favorite place on Earth. Although the story is set in New York, Booth mentioned in an interview that her inspiration for that bar was Damon’s, an almost ninety-year-old tropical-themed steakhouse known for their mai-tais, located in Glendale. Not only did this play get a Broadway production, but it also won the Pulitzer Prize in 2024. It’s a powerfully moving piece about trauma and how community can heal, and CTG’s new production at the Mark Taper Forum is excellent.

In a time before smart phones, 38-year-old Kenneth (Petey McGee) lives in Cranberry, NY, and works as a bookstore employee. He spends almost every evening at his favorite place, a tiki bar called Wally’s, drinking mai-tais with his only and best friend, Bert (Ugo Chukwu). Sure, Bert is imaginary, but Kenneth is reasonably content with his lot in life. That is, until the bookstore abruptly goes out of business and Kenneth has to find a new job. He must change his life, which means facing all the things he has been strenuously avoiding.

McGee gives a skilled and affecting performance as Kenneth, whose mild demeanor conceals deep sadness. His halting dialogue, trailing into silence when the character encounters a subject too painful to contemplate, ably identifies Kenneth as the walking wounded and garners the empathy of the audience. Chukwu is amiable as Bert, Kenneth’s coping mechanism, and Luke Wygodny’s musical performances on keyboard, cello and guitar are precise and effective. Rebecca S’Manga Frank is terrific as all the female characters in the piece, and she makes a rich comedic meal of an old lady counting out pennies at a bank. Finally, James Urbaniak is superb in several roles, but especially as bank manager Clay, not only getting every possible laugh from his performance but also bringing notable warmth and charm to his character.

Director Knud Adams stages the action, which often switches from present to past, with admirable clarity, although the pace is a bit slowed down by Kenneth’s frequent lapses into silence. Marsha Ginsberg’s set of Cranberry’s major buildings (Wally’s, the bank, a church) creates an effective sense of community, and Masha Tsimring’s lighting design creatively desaturates the color and brightness to match Kenneth’s mental state. Booth’s writing is clever and often very funny, but the play isn’t a comedy; it’s primarily a character study about a damaged person very slowly finding their way back into life. Kenneth states that he doesn’t believe in religion or God – he believes in friends, which is appropriate for a story which is really about empathy and kindness.

This is a lovely production at the Taper of Primary Trust, a story about a person who’s been going through dark times and finally, with the help of others, beginning to see the light again. Now if only the world could follow in its footsteps.

Primary Trust is presented by Center Theatre Group at Mark Taper Forum and plays through June 28, 2026. Tickets are available at https://www.centertheatregroup.org/shows-tickets/taper/2025-26/primary-trust/