Review of Primary Trust, Westport Country Playhouse
Playing through May 2 at Westport Country Playhouse, Eboni Booth's Pulitzer-winning play Primary Trust skillfully blends humor and heartbreak, hope and trauma to tell the story of a young Black man in a town near Rochester, NY, in the early 2000s. It's a touching story that stresses the importance of humane interaction, highlighting the value of empathy in building trust and friendship.
Kenneth (Alphonso Walker Jr.), Bert (Lance Coadie Williams), Wally’s Waiter (Jasminn Johnson) in Primary Trust, Westport Country Playhouse; photo by Carol Rosegg
Kenneth (Alphonso Walker Jr.) works in a bookstore and spends almost every evening downing two-for-one Mai Tais at Wally's Tiki Hut with his middle-aged friend Bert (Lance Coadie Wiliams). The running gag is the quick changeover of Wally's waitstaff all enacted by Jasmin Johnson with a range of personalities, from surliness to over-the-top enthusiasm, or, in the case of Corinna, an attitude genuinely friendly. The modular set by Jack Magaw, with lighting by Jonah Bobilin, projections by Michael Salvatore Commendatore, and sound/music by Andrea Allmond creates a welcoming home-away-from-home for Kenneth, that can morph at will into the bookstore, a bank, or even a much fancier, French restaurant for a more intimate evening later in the play.
Corrina (Jasminn Johnson), Kenneth (Alphonso Walker Jr.) in Primary Trust, Westport Country Playhouse; photo by Carol Rosegg
Kenneth partly tells and partly enacts his story, punctuated by a frequent cash register sound that stops and starts scenes, sometimes in mid-sentence. The device creates an odd disconnect that, as the story progresses, might evince mental issues, like ADD or other problems Kenneth faces. Fairly quickly, he lets us know that Bert, for all his companionable cheer and easygoing ways, is in fact imaginary. Or rather: Bert, we learn, is real, just not really present at Wally's with Kenneth, or in the town.
From that fact, much follows. Kenneth is likeable and very direct in how he presents the situations—some extremely harrowing—he has faced. Booth's play is a study in resilience and the small triumphs and setbacks in Kenneth's day-to-day life. People Kenneth counted on—his mother, his employer, the original Bert—don't remain; other people—Clay, his new employer, Corinna—arrive and add to his life. Walker, so engagingly forthright from the start, gradually makes us aware of Kenneth's simplicity and sadness. There's a quiet depth to the performance that becomes more moving as the play progresses. When Kenneth reveals the part Bert initially played in his life, Walker has us in the palm of his hand, sharing a moment that has become defining for him, and letting us feel it the way young Kenneth did.
Kenneth (Alphonso Walker Jr.) in Primary Trust, Westport Country Playhouse; photo by Carol Rosegg
As Bert, Lance Coadie Williams is a great asset. He's avuncular but—as fleshed out by Kenneth's imagination—he's also amusingly direct, a sort of embodied second thought. Theirs is a fascinating relationship. Greg Stuhr plays Sam and Clay, Kenneth's two decidedly different employers, with a shared sense of how much they care about Kenneth, though Sam, ailing and older, has to deal with his own problems; Clay, a former athlete, shares Kenneth's avidity for Happy Hours and is surprisingly supportive. Jasmin Johnson gives the Wally's waitstaff and the bank's customers broad comic touches, but her Corinna remains somewhat oblique as a character, not fully realized.
Sam (Greg Stuhr), Kenneth (Alphonso Walker Jr.), Bert (Lance Coadie Williams) in Primary Trust, Westport Country Playhouse; photo by Carol Rosegg
With much of the play presented through Kenneth's viewpoint, there's almost grounds for an interpretation that sees his success as perhaps imaginary, like Bert. But as presented, Kenneth is too clear-headed to be delusional. He knows why he relies on his fantasy of Bert and discovers he is able to be a capable worker and a capable friend—in real life. The stages by which his own strengths become clear to him provide the main drama, because there is always the possibility that Kenneth will come unglued—as he does in one intense scene at the bank. Booth's sensitive script and Logan Vaughn’s fluid direction combine to give an enduring sense of how just getting by can be a significant achievement. The primary requirement is trust, which Kenneth earns from others, from himself, and from us.
Primary Trust
By Eboni Booth
Directed by Logan Vaughn
Scenic Design: Jack Magaw; Costume Design: Ari Fulton; Lighting Design: Jonah Bobilin; Sound Design and Original Music: Andrea Allmond; Projection Design: Michael Salvatore Commendatore; Props Supervisor: Hannah F. Tarr; Stage Manager: Erin Giola Albrecht; Assistant Stage Manager: Savanha Moore; Production Assistant: Julia Cai; Assistant Director: Anissa Felix; Associate Set Design: Lindsay Mummer; Assistant Lighting Design: Niya John
Cast: Jasminn Johnson; Greg Stuhr; Alphonso Walker Jr.; Lance Coadie Williams
Westport Country Playhouse
April 14-May 2, 2026