{"id":2006162,"date":"2025-09-08T11:43:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T11:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2006162"},"modified":"2025-09-08T11:43:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T11:43:21","slug":"forward-theaters-primary-trust-makes-a-case-for-kindness-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/forward-theaters-primary-trust-makes-a-case-for-kindness-entertainment\/","title":{"rendered":"Forward Theater\u2019s \u2018Primary Trust\u2019 makes a case for kindness | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

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At a recent\u00a0theater talkback<\/a>, someone in the audience asked the assembled actors an existential question. When the world seems bleak, how do you go on?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do for a living is a fight against that,\u201d one actor said. The very act of telling stories onstage is a rebuff to tyranny, rooted in treating each other with respect, he said. \u201cThat\u2019s all this art form is.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kenneth (James Carrington) drinks mai tais with Bert (Terry Bell), served by a Wally’s waiter (Lachrisa Grandbrry) in “Primary Trust.”<\/p>\n

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\u201cPrimary Trust,\u201d Eboni Booth\u2019s intimate, Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy, has attracted\u00a0theater<\/a>\u00a0companies<\/a>\u00a0around<\/a> the\u00a0country<\/a> because of this core idea: a turning toward, rather than turning away from, someone who is struggling.<\/p>\n

Staged in the Overture Center Playhouse by\u00a0Forward Theater through Sept. 21<\/a>, \u201cPrimary Trust\u201d makes a case for kindness on the most intimate scale.<\/p>\n

Kenneth, played by James Carrington, is a 38-year-old bookstore clerk with a childlike innocence and a meticulous routine. Every day in his small town, Kenneth goes to work, drinks mai tais at Wally\u2019s with his friend Bert, and goes home.<\/p>\n

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Kenneth (James Carrington) drinks mai tais with Bert (Terry Bell) in “Primary Trust.”<\/p>\n

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In this way, he stays in control. Kenneth is safe. He is also deeply lonely.<\/p>\n

Bert (Terry Bell), we quickly learn, is imaginary, a human-size coping mechanism Kenneth has cultivated for 28 years. When the bookstore closes, Bert cheerleads Kenneth through his interview at a bank and helps him memorize the employee handbook. (Can the other characters see Kenneth talking with Bert? It\u2019s not always clear.)<\/p>\n

As Kenneth narrates his own story, \u201cPrimary Trust\u201d requires careful balance of Kenneth\u2019s interior life with that of the people around him, and director Mikael Burke doesn\u2019t always find it. Some pacing seems tentative, and a chiming bell, indicated in the script to show the passage of time, can feel jangling and intrusive.<\/p>\n

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Kenneth (James Carrington) works at a bookstore owned by Clay (Sam D. White) in Forward Theater’s “Primary Trust.”<\/p>\n

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More challenging is Carrington\u2019s Kenneth. Orphaned young, this character shields himself from the outside world \u2014 he\u2019s afraid to be known. Other (real) characters approach Kenneth as though he\u2019s awkward and reserved, but Carrington isn\u2019t. His nerves don\u2019t show.<\/p>\n

This geniality makes Kenneth\u2019s isolation feel like a coincidence, rather than a deliberate locking away of his heart. His angry outburst, late in the play, feels out of the blue and out of character.<\/p>\n

Still, \u201cPrimary Trust\u201d has heart, embodied most vividly by Lachrisa Grandberry. Grandberry plays all of the servers at \u201cNew York\u2019s oldest tiki hut,\u201d including Corrina, whom Kenneth tentatively befriends.<\/p>\n

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Corinna (Lachrisa Grandberry) and Kenneth (James Carrington) share martinis at a fancy French place in “Primary Trust,” produced by Forward Theater. Karen Brown-Larimore designed the costumes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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She\u2019s a joy to watch, with a warm stage presence and absolute commitment to every \u201cWelcome to Wally\u2019s!\u201d bit. Veteran performer Sam D. White rounds out the cast as Kenneth\u2019s various bosses, bringing a paternal aspect to Clay, his manager at the bank.<\/p>\n

Chris Dunham designed the insular, pre-smartphone world of Cranberry, New York, to resemble a pop-up storybook, while lighting designer Maaz Ahmed uses quick spotlights to alternate between Kenneth\u2019s mind and the rest of the world. Sound designer Joe Cerqua wrote folklike interludes for scene changes, interspersed with synth-pop versions of \u201cThe Girl From Ipanema\u201d and \u201cEverybody Wants to Rule the World\u201d at the tiki hut.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Kenneth (James Carrington) and Corinna (Lachrisa Grandberry) make a connection in “Primary Trust,” produced by Forward Theater and directed by Mikael Burke. Chris Dunham designed the set.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cPrimary Trust\u201d makes a gentle, hopeful start to Forward\u2019s 17th season. As Kenneth\u2019s world expands he\u2019s met with kindness and patience, even when it\u2019s unearned. \u201cI get angry too, sometimes,\u201d Corrina says. \u201cAnd sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

That steady belief in friendship feels like a salve for the soul. This, Booth suggests, is how we go on.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Lindsay Christians<\/a>\u00a0is the food and culture editor at the Cap Times. She earned a master’s degree in theater research from UW-Madison and has been a member of the American Theatre Critics\/Journalists Association since 2007.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Email story ideas and tips to Lindsay at\u00a0lchristians@captimes.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please consider supporting Lindsay\u2019s work by becoming a\u00a0Cap Times member<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0sponsor<\/a>. Sustaining local journalism in Madison depends on readers like you.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source captimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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