When you think of Pulitzer Prize-winning plays, you might tend to think of big-scale, epic productions, such as Hamilton or Angels in America. But the reality is that the prize has often gone to smaller-scale, quieter plays as well. Such is the case with Eboni Booth’s 2024 winner Primary Trust, now onstage at Asolo Rep.

There’s not a large cast at work here, nor a story that sweeps across time and place. Rather, Booth’s play is set entirely in a fictional New York town called Cranberry, and it centers on a shy, lonely man named Kenneth (Anthony Cason), whose world is very narrow indeed: He spends every night sipping Mai Tais at a local tiki bar, has worked in the same bookstore for 20 years, has no family and just one friend.

But that little world is rocked when the bookstore owner (one of several roles played by Matt DeCaro) tells Kenneth he has to shut down and move to Arizona for his health. What’s Kenneth to do? Fortunately, one of the waitresses at his favorite bar, Corinna (Kayland Jordan), likes him well enough to suggest that he might try for a teller’s position at a local bank, Primary Trust. To his surprise (and frankly, to ours), he’s hired, and even does quite well with his new job.

That’s at least partly because the bank manager (DeCaro again) is kind enough to give him a break. Indeed, kindness is crucial in Kenneth’s story, and to all of human existence, it seems. Despite a traumatizing event in Kenneth’s childhood, despite the fact (spoiler alert) that his best friend, Bert (Kamal Bolden), is imaginary, there’s still hope for him to find some kind of happiness. As he tells us near the end of the not-quite-90-minute play, “Even though it hurts, love is very good” and “Even though we will lose everything in the end, it is the finding that is important.”

Those are universal messages, but in Booth’s play, the details matter; her choices are very specific, and director Chari Arespacochaga understands how to make the most of them and follow the play’s rhythms. She and the cast are aided by the musical stylings, as they say, of Peter Vitale, who’s a crucial presence here, whether delivering “Girl from Ipanema” wearing a tropical shirt at that tiki bar, or striking individual chords at key moments during Kenneth’s narration or dialogue.

I’ve never seen Anthony Cason in any performance before, but seeing him here, Kenneth feels like a role he was born to play. (William Jackson Harper, familiar to many from TV’s The Good Place, won an Obie for his performance off-Broadway in the part.) Cason just looks and moves as we would expect the character to do, with an awkward, insecure gait and mannerisms that make it clear to us from the start that he’s been through something terrible. Whether Kenneth is funny, sad, or angry, each emotion rings true, and we are totally caught up in his plight.

Bolden as Bert is a likable, calming presence, and DeCaro, in addition to his other roles, has a brief but funny bit as a very French maître d.’ FSU/Asolo Conservatory students Luke Choi, Angelle Mishon and Will Westray round out the cast playing various waiters, bank customers and so on, with Choi also hitting on an amusing moment in his bank scene.

Primary Trust is not an earth-shaking work, by any means, but in its own way, it will linger with you for quite some time after you leave the theater.

Primary Trust continues through Feb. 11 at Asolo Rep; for tickets, call (941) 351-8000 or go to asolorep.org.