Primary Trust by Eboni Booth opened at Crow’s Theatre on Friday night. The protagonist is Kenneth; a thirty eight year old African-American living in a suburb of Rochester, NY. Orphaned at ten, Kenneth has worked in the same second hand bookstore since he was eighteen and spends his leisure time drinking mai tais at Wally’s; a tiki bar. He’s accompanied by his friend Bert; who no-one else can see, who was his social worker in the first days after he was discovered with his dead mother in a kitchen cabinet and then dropped out of his life.

Kenneth’s idyllic (?!) existence is disrupted when his boss decides to sell up and move to Arizona. Kenneth must find a new job which, with the encouragement of Corrina; who works at Wally’s and is feuding with her room mate over how often to scoop the cat box, he does. He becomes a teller in a sort of McBank called Primary Trust run by Sam whose life revolves entirely around having briefly been a college quarterback decades before. This is the kind of bank that lives by cross selling. “Can I interest you in our cash back credit card” is the equivalent of “Would you like fries with that”. Kenneth is exceptionally good at cross-selling and wins an award despite a spectacular melt down with an elderly Caribbean lady when Bert seems to have disappeared. “Success” (and Corinna) seem to wean Kenneth from his dependence on Bert and he begins to envisage a new life.

It’s all very gentle, a bit whimsical and sometimes funny, occasionally very funny. Director Cherissa Richards and the cast clearly believe in it. Duree McFarlane is absolutely perfect as the awkward but goofily likeable Kenneth. Peter N. Bailey puts bags of energy into the strangely credible Bert and Ryan Hollyman is convincing as both the irascible bookstore owner and the nostalgic ex quarterback (as well as multiple members of Wally’s staff). Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah is charming as Corinna and briefly brilliant as an irascible elderly lady who can’t get her deposits done right (top marks for accent and mannerisms here!). Also, lurking in the background, is Danilo Reyes as Wally’s DJ although he’s actually controlling cues and playing accordion. The staging is slick and it runs for a seamless ninety minutes.

It’s gentle, it’s tender and it’s often funny but I did find it a bit bland. If it were a plate of food I’d be reaching for the hot sauce! Primary Trust continues at Crow’s Theatre until June 21st.

Photo credits: Dahlia Katz