On Stage: “Primary Trust”

Primary Trust

Admittedly, we all fall prey to screen and digital distractions, but “Primary Trust” at the Westport Country Playhouse — once again — illustrates the enduring power of live theater, transporting the audience into an experience that transcends the restrictions of solitary viewing.

Eboni Booth’s 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning one-act play confronts the current and all-too-prevalent epidemic of alienation and loneliness. Set in the fictional town of Cranbury, New York, not far from Rochester, it revolves around 38-year-old Kenneth, the narrator, who experienced an emotional childhood trauma from which he’s never recovered.

In order to cope, he’s invented Bert, an imaginary friend who is always at his side, working at a second-hand bookstore, then sipping mai tais during the perpetual Happy Hour at a tiki bar called Wally’s.

But when the bookstore abruptly closes, fragile Kenneth is set adrift. Only the helpful kindness of strangers sets him on a path to becoming a teller at the Primary Trust bank and — for the first time — making real friends. It’s all about cultivating human connections.

Often addressing the audience directly, soft-spoken Alphonso Walker Jr. embodies lonely Kenneth with immediacy and vulnerability, while Lance Coadie Williams, Greg Stuhr and Jasminn Johnson turn their supporting roles into indelible cameos.

One discordant note that’s impossible to ignore is the ka-ching sound of an old-fashioned cash register, an overused device author Eboni Booth uses to indicate a surreal reality switch and/or the passage of time.

Astutely directed by Logan Vaughn, nothing — except that loud, disrupting sound — mars the simplicity of the often-lyrical narrative unfolding on Jack Magaw’s scenic design, weaving an artistic fusion and collaborative connection with production designer Michael Salvatore Commendatore, costumer Ari Fulton, lighting designer Jonah Bobitin and sound designer Andrea Allmond.