Primary Trust - Theaterworks Hartford

The 2024 Pulitzer-Prize winning play, Primary Trust, is receiving a highly satisfying production at Theaterworks Hartford, running through May 11.   The show is a deep-dive into an individual’s personal trauma and how it has affected his employment, relationships, self-confidence, and interactions with the world.  The strength of playwright Eboni Booth’s work is its realism and pacing.  Information and reveals unfold at steady, incremental pace.  Unlike many plays I’ve seen, Primary Trust does not unload a character’s background story and emotional framework at its climax.

Ricardo Chavira, Justin Weaks, and Hilary Ward in Primary Trust.  Photo by Mike Marques.

The play begins with Kenneth (Justin Ward) breaking the fourth wall and addressing the audience, giving background to his life and town à la the opening moments of the show Our Town.  His life in the small urban area is unassuming and follows the same daily routine for the past 20 years – work at the second-hand bookstore and then retire for Happy Hour at Wally’s, a old-style tiki-themed restaurant with his best friend, “Bert (Samuel Stricklen).”  They share stories, laugh, drink mai tais, and thoroughly enjoy each other’s company.  When the owner of the bookstore, where Kenneth works, suddenly announces he is selling, his world is thrown for a loop.  While he manages to quickly find employment at a local bank, the future is no longer predictable or secure.

 

This leads to a chain of events that includes a budding friendship with a Wally’s server, Corrina (Hilary Ward), an impactful connection with his new boss Sam (Ricardo Chavira) and, most importantly, his transformative relationship with Bert.  As the play concludes, Kenneth is a different person, with his life moving forward in a positive direction.  The pain and internal doubts remain, to some degree, but his continued changes and on-going development bode well for his future.

Justin Weaks and Samuel Sticklen in Primary Trust.  Photo by Mike Marques.

Ms. Booth has crafted a work that is skillfully layered, mixing audience directed monologues with the banalities of everyday life.  Each scene effectively builds on the play’s previous moments, slowly building a credible portrayal of an individual overcoming person demons and hardships.

 

Director Jennifer Chang capably mixes the various dramatic elements of the production into a rewarding whole.  She proficiently incorporates Set Designer Nicholas Ponting’s varied moveable set pieces to keep the show flowing with nary a pause.  Ms. Chang adeptly moves the action along, whether comedic or more penetrating in nature.

 

Much of the success of Primary Trust is due to the actor Justin Weaks.  He is on-stage for just about the entire 90+ minutes of the play and is able to command the audience’s attention with his sincerity, vulnerability, and emotional conflicts.  Samuel Stricklen’s Bert, expressively provides a counter-balance to that of Kenneth.  He is relaxed, confident, and well-balanced.  Ricardo Chavira, playing multiple roles but, primarily the banker Sam, injects a dose of comic relief into the production as does Hilary Ward in her multiple restaurant server roles.  Her principal portrayal, that of Corrina, is handsomely rendered, especially in her one-on-one interactions with Kenneth.

 

Primary Trust, playing at Theaterworks Hartford through May 11.  Click here for dates, times, and ticket information.