Kenneth is nothing if not as consistent and predictable as a Swiss watch.  Orphaned at age 10 and unmarried at age 38, he’s had only one job as an adult, working at an independent bookstore in Cranberry, New York, a fictional exurb of Rochester.  He’s never amounted to much or had much of an impact on those around him.

He also claims in 15 years never to have missed the daily happy hour, at Wally’s, a local tiki bar, except on some Sundays.  His steadfast order is two mai tais, and that drink exemplifies the rut of his life, as he has never even tasted a martini.  When each evening starts with a minimum of two mixed drinks, the imbiber probably qualifies as a drunkard.

What makes him particularly memorable to the bar staff is that he is always alone – in their observation, but not in his mind.  Kenneth is almost always able to invoke Bert, his alter ego and only friend.  But leading to questions of his mental stability, he sometimes speaks to Bert aloud.  However, the incessance of Kenneth’s aimless march through time is disrupted when Sam, the bookstore owner, announces that he must close the store, forcing Kenneth into an unfamiliar decision mode.

Playwright Eboni Booth’s treatise on loneliness, Primary Trust, won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Literature and is already the most produced dramatic play in the country in 2025-26.  Unsurprisingly, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley’s production, directed with verve and sensitivity by Jeffrey Lo, pushes all of the right buttons and makes for a thoroughly entertaining and thoughtful experience.  The acting ensemble could not be more powerful, and the staging is highly distinctive.

The cast is led by the redoubtable William Thomas Hodgson who captures Kenneth’s grief with hesitant communication and an inability to connect with others.  But the actor offers not just broadbrush strokes of the character, but nuanced and touching reflections as well.  While Kenneth seems simple of mind, he does love books, so his long-held job suited him well.  But despite interaction with customers, there is no translation to higher order socialization.   So when interviewing for a new job, his ineptness is total, and only the desperate need to fill vacancies on the part of the employer plays in his favor.

The protagonist’s good fortune in gaining unearned support from the time of his placement in an orphanage to getting the new job is reminiscent of Blanche Dubois’s comment in Streetcar Named Desire that she always relied on the kindness of strangers.  The title of both this play and the bank that Kenneth will work for are perhaps reinforcement of the notion that kindness, connection, and sense of community contribute to wellness and mutual benefit.  Also embedded in the play’s message is that sometimes unpleasant disruptions to ones comfort provide fresh opportunity.

Perhaps the biggest variation in Kenneth’s life has been the frequent turnover of bar maids at Wally’s, who he interacts with in a perfunctory manner until one with more compassion and substance, Corrina, comes along.  The depiction of the bar maids is hilarious.  Rolanda D. Bell is truly spectacular in creating distinctions among the over 20 characters that she plays, including men in different contexts.

In many of the bar maid sequences, she passes across the stage, taking an order from Kenneth, does a quick costume change in the wings and passes through in the opposite direction as another.  In one classic exchange, she plays two characters on stage simultaneously, switching her voice and affect along with the direction of her baseball cap to distinguish them.

Also acting multiple parts is Dan Hiatt, who performs two bosses and a waiter at a French restaurant.  He is as much a scream in his roles as is Bell in her comic turns.  He is forthright, cynical, overbearing, dismissive, and self-indulgent, tossing about grand gestures, yet in his roles as bosses, he does display generous humanity and takes an interest in the seemingly impassive Kenneth.

Throughout the action, Kenneth has conversations with himself, that is, with Bert, who gives guidance as best he can.  Kenny Scott is Bert, and though he plays him with great energy, his part lacks the range that the other three actors get to display.  However, lest you conclude that he is a lesser actor, note that Scott won the SF Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Performer in a Comedy last year, so he certainly has the chops and contributes admirably to this star alliance of actors.

A unique contribution to the context of Primary Trust is Christopher Fitzer’s striking scenic design.  A cartoon map of the center of town appears as a huge scroll that begins on the backwall, reaches across the stage, and flows over its front lip.  References to the two banks, two bars, and so on are even pointed out on the map. While the function elements of the bar and office staging are minimalistic, the framing creates a small-town feel that connects to the themes of the play. 

Primary Trust, written by Eboni Booth, is produced by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and plays at Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, CA through March 29, 2026.