Review: PRIMARY TRUST at La Jolla Playhouse

“Primary Trust,” now playing at La Jolla Playhouse, is a lovely and meditative playgoing experience. A tender and nuanced performance lead it and offers a portrait of the loneliness of living a life safe within self-drawn limits and how wonderful and sometimes painful it can be to open up your world to new experiences. “Primary Trust plays at La Jolla Playhouse through October 20th.

The play invites the audience to a moment in the life of Kenneth (Caleb Eberhardt), a man who quietly lives his life on routine.  Most days, he goes to work at the bookstore with his boss Clay (James Urbaniak), afterward to the neighborhood tiki bar Wally’s with his best friend Bert (James Udom), and then back home.  Soon, however, he finds that his carefully structured life is being transformed, whether he likes it or not.  The bookstore is being sold, he needs to find a new job, and there is a new waitress named Corrina (Rebecca S’Manga Frank) at Wally’s.

Written by Eboni Booth and directed by Knud Adams, this is a deliberately paced and quiet play about an inward transformation. As a child, Kenneth’s first and most impactful life lesson learned was that most change and people are not to be trusted.  As circumstances force him to open up, he finds that it allows for fun new experiences but also requires him to reconcile with why he has been living in a self-imposed emotional cocoon. It is a slow-burn show where the main action is introspection and an emotional exploration of love, life, and loss. 

As Kenneth, Eberhardt is wonderfully expressive and charismatic. He is the beating heart of the play while staying true to the character's unassuming nature. From when he first arrives until the end, the play feels more like a running monologue as Kenneth experiences these events, punctuated by appearances by the other performers. 

An equally talented cast supports Eberhardt. Udom is the fun and supportive best friend who supports Kenneth but also wishes he would expand his horizons. Frank is sweet as Corrina and a variety of other waitstaff and is the catalyst for many of Kenneth’s new experiences, including a new job and even a new restaurant. Urbaniak plays multiple bosses who try to help Kenneth, but he had the audience applauding as a waiter delivering some precariously full martinis.

Musician Luke Wygodny beautifully underscores the show throughout, though the recurring use of the bell starts to lose its effectiveness the further the show goes.

The scenic design by Marsha Ginsburg brings a miniature representation of the town to life, giving both the sense of the small town and how the character is growing beyond his current boundaries, both physically and emotionally. The lighting by Masha Tsimring illuminates the town and the buildings, adding further character to them and bringing the colder matte weather feeling to the theatre. Costumes by Sophia Choi reinforce the everyday reality of this story and the characters.

With its quiet and contemplative sentimentality, “Primary Trust” may not be for everybody. Still, those who see it may find themselves thinking about it long after departing the theatre.

How To Get Tickets

 “Primary Trust” plays at La Jolla Playhouse through October 20th. For information on tickets and show time, go to www.lajollaplayhouse.org.

Photo credit: Caleb Eberhardt as Kenneth in La Jolla Playhouse’s West Coast premiere of “Primary Trust.” (Rich Soublet II)

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