Seattle Rep: Primary Trust
Thursday, November 21st, 2024
Primary Trust by Eboni Booth, directed by Kaitlyn McIntyre
A screenshot from their website because I am horrible at remembering to take photos. I vow to be better moving forward!
Seattle Rep’s blurb:
“Kenneth has lived his entire life in the same small town. Every day he works at the bookstore, then shares happy hour Mai Tais with his best friend. And so what if his best friend is imaginary? Every day is the same, just the way Kenneth likes it—until he is laid off and his world is turned upside down. Thrown out of his comfort zone, Kenneth must find the courage to face his biggest fear: change. This 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner and intimate, offbeat new comedy by Eboni Booth tells a surprising story about one man’s leap of faith and the friends he makes along the way.”
Event Summary
Full disclosure: I’m a subscriber to Seattle Rep, and artistic director Damaso Rodriguez is a colleague from the way back machine. I’m a huge fan of his work and am jazzed to see where he takes the Rep. I loved his production of Skin of Our Teeth that opened the season.
As an event, Seattle Rep gets a gold star. It’s a warm and welcoming space, centrally located in Seattle Center, and the production values are always high. It follows all of the conventions of regional theatre, but manages to not feel dusty (as some similar places in other parts of the country can). This show was very good, a recent darling of the American Theatre. It’s accessible, sentimental, and makes audiences feel good. On the night I saw it, there were a very loud couple of “awwww” sounds as the lights went down. I can see why - the cast was fantastic, and this is just the kind of play that I think is speaking to where people are at right now. The world is a horrible place and we are inundated with news about what a dumpster fire we are all in - let’s escape and watch something that reminds us about our humanity. I might have approached some of the design differently if I directed it; the production went for a fairly flat, almost comic book style that I think was commenting on the 2-D nature of Kenneth’s worldview and allowed for seamless mobility between scenes, but I found it….well, a little flat. A minor quibble, the ample neon lighting gave me occasional depth. And darn were those actors charming!
Ticketing: $60-85 - as a subscriber, I get a bit of a discount and free exchanges
Attendance: I didn’t see an empty seat in the theatre (I was in the loge)
Personal Bias/Reason I went: I’m a subscriber this year, so I’ll be seeing all of the shows
Transparency/Communication
Like every theatre, Seattle Rep emails me maybe one too many times for my personal preference. They send marketing emails, plus a confirmation of every show, I choose to get my tickets emailed to me, they send a reminder email and a “know before you go” email. If I were not accustomed to attending theatre, I suppose all of the heads up would be great, as someone who worked as a full time theatre professional for longer than I care to admit to, I just wish there were an option to say “only send me tickets”. Alas, almost no place gives you an option to control how much the producers contact you about an event.
Event Goals
I bought a ticket to see a charming new play, and that is what I saw.
Reception
As mentioned, the audience audibly responded and gave a standing ovation (which has become depressingly standard, and I still refuse to participate unless I am truly moved in an above and beyond way, so I generally look like a grinch sitting in my seat at the end of shows. Especially this one, which was so heartfelt).
Value
Standard pricing for this type of event, even though it doesn’t even begin to cover the true costs!
Bottom line
If you’re in need of some good feels, it runs until Nov 27 (I promise I will see shows earlier in their run in the future).
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