Primary Trust

by Eboni Booth

Meet Kenneth, a 38-year-old bookstore worker who spends his evenings sipping mai tais at the local tiki bar. When he's suddenly laid off, Kenneth finally begins to face a world he's long avoided – with transformative and even comical results. Primary Trust is a touching and inventive play about new beginnings, old friends and seeing the world for the first time.

Primary Trust premiered off-Broadway at the Laura Pels Theatre on May 4, 2023. Directed by Knud Adams, the production starred William Jackson Harper and featured Eric Berryman, April Matthis and Jay O. Sanders.

Genres: Plays, Fiction, Drama, Theatre, School, Read For School

96 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2025

Reviews

[Alan (the Lone Librarian) Teder · Rating 3 out of 5]

You've Got A Friend in Me
A review of the Theater Communications Group eBook (February 4, 2025) of the Samuel French paperback (June 1, 2024).

KENNETH: This is the story of a friendship. Of how I got a new job. A story of love and balance and time. And the smallest of chances.

This is a case of where a likeable play on the page can be transformed into a thoughtful and delightful production on stage thanks to a talented cast, an elaborate stage design and an inventive director. I'd call this a 3-star on paper, but the production that I saw at Crow's Theatre (link includes a trailer video, photographs and a downloadable digital programme booklet) in Toronto yesterday kicked it up to a 4-star experience.

Primary Trust tells the story of Kenneth, who is somewhat of a lost soul who is set in his insular ways of working at a bookstore by day and being a voracious drinker of mai-tai cocktails at his favourite hangout of Wally's in Cranberry, New York at night. His sole friend is his drinking companion Bert. Kenneth's life is upended when suddenly the bookstore has to close. Kenneth finds his way to a new job at a local bank, Primary Trust by name, and new friendships.

The story sounds simple enough, but there are surprise reveals along the way which I won't spoil. Suffice to say that Kenneth's situation is the result of a childhood trauma and the plot of the play is Kenneth's journey away from that. The actor in the lead role has the task of earning the empathy of the audience, while the rest of the cast has to play multiple other parts along the way. The actors and staging of the Toronto production that I saw excelled in every way.


Durae McFarlane (Kenneth) takes his bow during curtain call at the conclusion of the Crow's Theatre production of "Primary Trust" in Toronto May-June 2026. Image source from own photo.

Soundtrack
There are several songs used as musical cues during the play, but its theme of friendship brought to mind Randy Newman's You've Got a Friend in Me (1995) which he originally wrote for the film Toy Story (1995). You can watch a performance of the song on Vimeo here or listen to it from the Toy Story soundtrack on Spotify here.

Trivia and Links
The visual palindrome montage used for the 2025 book cover is adapted from a copyrighted stock photo of the town of Columbus, Wisconsin which you can see here.

Playwright and actor Eboni Booth won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Primary Trust which premiered Off-Broadway in 2023.

[Jon Nakapalau · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very interesting take on imaginary friends and how we cope with loss. Kenneth (K) is a 30ish African American bookstore employee who has an imaginary friend named Bert (B). The nature of the relationship between K and B unfolds in a tiki restaurant that K frequents after work almost everyday. As other characters are introduced the 'insulating' position B plays in the life of K is both humorous and based on childhood trauma - a very hard perspective to pull off!

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just reviewed the list of works which won the Pulitzer Prize for drama and was surprised to discover I've seen 53 of them in performance. In a few weeks, this will make the 54th and - unless it plays much better than it reads - it will be keeping company with the lower 5. Honestly, given that it's 70% soliloquy (jazzed up somewhat by having one actor personify an imaginary friend), it would be less awkward as a radio production.

[david · Rating 3 out of 5]

A simple play written through a neurodivergent lens.

Or I believe it is.

A thirty-year old man’s attempt to navigate society (work, women, friendships) as best as he is able.

[Javier Fernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm sure that Bad Bunny's imaginary friend is more like Harvey than Bert.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

This, only the second play to be published by Booth, just won the Pulitzer Play for Drama 2024 - and I kind of despair to think this was the best they could find. It's not truly awful, and the reviews seem to indicate that it played much better than it reads, primarily due to a stellar cast in the initial production off-Broadway a little over a year ago (indeed, William Jackson Harper, who essayed the MC, is nominated for the Tony Best Actor Award this year for his work in Uncle Vanya).

I guess I just didn't buy into the main conceit, which is (and this isn't really a spoiler, as it is explained on the 2nd page of the play!) that the central character, Kenneth, a 38-year-old man-child, has an imaginary friend named Bert, who is the only one he can relate to or talk with. Because of his delayed social adjustment (he may or may not be neurodivergent - that isn't clear), which is further explained via an understandable childhood trauma, Ken's dialogue has rather an off-putting childishness to it.

I guess in production, this can be worked around, but it was a non-starter through most of the play for me. Plus - half of the play is in direct address to the audience, which I never seem to like ('show me, don't TELL me!') Maybe if I get the chance to see it in production, I will be more generous - and pleasantly surprised!

[OK, this is probably going to be an unpopular rant and get me accused of being a racist: but in the past 10 years, 9 out of 10 of the Pulitzer Drama winners have been POC or other minority playwrights; 12 out of the 20 finalists, were also minority playwrights. Now far be it from me to suggest that something OTHER than quality has been the criteria for the selection committee this past decade - some of these, such as the musical Hamilton, were certainly deserving, but ... Maybe they are just trying to make up for the first 100 years of the award, 96% of which went exclusively to white men.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmVYq...

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/th...
https://www.thedailybeast.com/review-...
https://nystagereview.com/2023/05/25/...
https://nystagereview.com/2023/05/25/...
https://observer.com/2023/05/review-i...
https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/r...
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/...

[Jaka · Rating 5 out of 5]

I ready this play for class, my professor said she tries to have the class read whichever play wins the Pulitzer that year. Wow I mean it’s obvious why Primary Trust won. It’s so brilliant, such a moving depiction of grief and loss and love and loneliness and friendship. I just finished reading it and I’m sitting here sobbing. I wish I had gotten to see it on stage at Roundabout I just know William Jackson Harper must’ve been phenomenal as Kenneth.

[Aaron Piccirillo · Rating 4 out of 5]

“‘Work was good. I had my high solution numbers and no one seemed to have discovered Bert. It was better than I could’ve imagined. But I felt quiet and lonely.’”

love me a good character study and i really enjoyed the idea that the show is based around. a really interesting look at friendship and opening yourself up to other people and the world around you. i also enjoyed how the show played with time and what was real and what was imaginary. i wish that there was a little bit more because the ending came kind of quickly and i just wanted some more time with the characters. i can tell that it’s a much better show to watch than to read but i still enjoyed it a lot.

[Zane Danton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw this at mark taper in LA but I have no other way to document seeing something so here I am. Fantastic show the main actor is brilliant. Such a hilarious script yet so depressing yet so inspiring all the same. It closes in a week if you’re in la and reading this go!

[Kate Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly beautiful play (Pulitzer 2024) I wished I’d seen when it was in Chicago last year. It takes up race and class with straight-ahead directness but is never didactic. The problems of the main character, Kenneth, seem organic to any person orphaned as a child, but especially a Black kid who loved his only parent (his mother) with every piece of himself. Kenneth is incredibly likable and at moments uplifting, a feat in itself given his long-standing struggle with the character Bert. I hope to see it staged.

[Rachel Pollock · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent script! I hope to see a performance of this show someday.

[Steph Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

yeah plays can be gentle and good and things can all go right for the protagonist and maybe that's a revolutionary narrative

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Terrific play that I wish I could have seen professionally live when I had the chance.

There's so much Eboni packs in between lines that could really sparkle when seen live.

[Emma Pop · Rating 5 out of 5]

so sweet, big fan of not having to punish your mentally ill characters

[Manon Scart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a touching play on how one can deal with loss and loneliness and the beauty of finding one’s community.

[kaylyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

i randomly picked this up at dog eared books in sf because one of the employees blurbed it saying "there are so rarely plays about kindness, and i promise you none of them are as gorgeous as this one." and every word rang true. this was lovely, delightful, emotional, and heartfelt. adored this play! is 2025 the year of plays for me??

[Jacqueline Masumian · Rating 3 out of 5]

This little play is an interesting character study of a traumatized child who becomes a man with an imaginary friend named Bert. But is it worthy of the Pulitzer Prize it received? Not in my opinion. I read this script because I had seen a not very good production of the play and had to read the script to understand what the heck was going on.

[Zachary Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Welcome friend, you're right on time."

It's a cliche at this point, but some plays are so so much more enjoyable on stage than on the page. This is very much one of those instances. As many other reviewers pointed out, the protagonist being a 38-year-old man with nobody but an imaginary friend to keep him company is a hard sell on the page, but I totally believed this premise while watching a performance.

Loneliness has a million different looking manifestations (which is pretty much the take away point of Edward Hopper's oeuvre), and I think Primary Trust did a fantastic job showing how crushing it can be. Especially now I think it is important for people to be reminded that loneliness is not a terminal illness, but something one can arise from.

[Bearhands · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really loved the language, tone, pacing, and underlying depth to this play. Kenneth is a sad, three-dimensional, and deeply interesting character in the way that Booth presents him. Kenneth's operating system is disrupted in a big ways and Booth sensitively and creatively explores how these quakes do and don't transform Kenneth. Unfortunately, I was saddened that the ending came about so abruptly and by my feeling in a bit of undercooking. I felt there was more arc to complete in the final 12-17 pages that wouldn't necessarily have led to resolution but something on more of a footing. Overall though, I appreciated the opportunity to dive into this often beautiful and smart play.

[Natalie T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2024 Pulitzer Prize winning Best Play is an inventive, compassionate, moving work, full of intriguing characters that are recognizable in their struggles and foibles: folks just trying to keep body and soul together and the rent paid. Eboni Booth captures the heroism in everyday folk: the humor, the coping rituals, the way an outstretched hand can change a life forever, the caring community that is the only safety net we have.

In an age infatuated with AI, PRIMARY TRUST celebrates the human being: each one unique, ever-changing, and to be cherished.

[wade · Rating 5 out of 5]

A first rate play deserving of all the plaudits it has gotten. The story is about personal growth as Kenneth (the Protagonist) has suffered a lot in his life including the death of his mother and has learned to cope by going to the same bar every night and drinking Mai tais. He sits in a corner and talks to his imaginary friend Bert. After years of being friendless except Bert a waitress encourages him to get a new job at a bank where he seems to overcome his mental struggles and branch out.

[Drew Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad book. But a necessary one.

Eboni Booth's Pulitzer winner explores the solitude that births itself from trauma, and a man's desire to reconcile that with an upheaval in his life as a bookstore worker in a small town. Earnest and heartfelt, I found this to be a hauntingly good metaphor for the cold indifference of life during the Pandemic. How did we cope with such forced isolation as a species built on the concepts of sociability? How are we still recovering? How will this trauma be handed to our next generations, who didn't experience it first-hand?

[Crash Solo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good character on a personal journey, but I’m not a fan of long stretches where the main character just tells the audience what happened or what’s happening. Structure was fun, with lots of fits and starts and trying again, and a production could have a lot of fun with the music and tones marking the separations. Bert’s exit was kind of a “okay?” But i wasn’t sure it would be such a clean break like that, after so long. Ultimately it felt like I was reading a rough sketch of a play that was still getting work done.

[Chloë Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting exploration of friendship and relationship building and theimpact of childhood trauma but like i am also like missing something ?? like it feels like there were bits i didnt get to or that i wish i learned mroe about the characters? i feel like this is a show that greatly benefits from staging because a lot of the time skip moments fall flat when set on the page alone. i do think that kenneths character was well done and the text overall was well paced? idk i just wanted more. 3.25 stars good plot

[pastareadsplays · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very surprised how empty I found this. Twee direct address and montages? A wholesale Harvey “homage” (ripoff)? I’m sure William Jackson Harper nailed the monologue in the middle, and it is well written, but one heartbreaking cathartic speech does not make up for a script that otherwise reads like a Tyler Joseph Ellis TikTok parody. Maybe I totally missed something, maybe I’m crazy, but almost from jump I felt I was being punked.

[Tatiana Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is seriously one of my all time favorite plays. i saw it live twice and cried like a baby both times. when i bumped into the script book at a bookstore i bought it SO FAST!! I’m finally reading it now and ken’s narration is no less powerful on the page as it was performed live. i ugly cried through the last three pages it was almost impossible to see what i was reading. just an amazing piece of art and a beautiful story that touches you in your heart and soul.

[Andrew Autry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the script and really enjoyed it. The frequent time jumps (which even occur after just a single line) can make it a bit confusing to follow on the page, but I understand that this structure is meant to be experienced on stage rather than simply read. Despite that, I found it both hilarious and deeply heartbreaking.

[Himali Kothari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kenneth, a neurodivergent person, creates an imaginary friend, Ben, after suffering a traumatic event in his childhood. Ben stays with him well into his adulthood. At 38, when the familiar starts to change, Kenneth must find a way to survive. But, will he also be able to let go of Ben and accept a real life support system?

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit stunned that this won the 2024 Pulitzer for Best Drama. The story of Kenneth, 38, who loses his job at a bookstore, after it is sold. He spends a lot of time drinking mai tai's and talking to his imaginary friend Bert. Orphaned at 10, Kenneth has had a difficult life, and his life begins to change when he meets Corrina, who suggests he get a job at a local bank.

[Kaydaly · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG!!

This was an assignment for my class, but I've havent put it down since I've read it! It's such an amazing story about embracing new things, accepting change, and letting go of the things that we cherish but need to say goodbye to. I highly recommend reading the play, and if anyone knows where I can watch the play. PLEASE! Let me know.