Where were you in 2008? Do you remember those rocky days when the stock market imploded, led by the collapse of the powerful Lehman Brothers investment firm?
As painful as that might have been for you, it is a story worth hearing again, as told in the epic Tony Award-winning play, The Lehman Trilogy. It traces the emigration of a trio of German brothers — Henry, Emanuel and Mayer — who came to America in the mid-1800s and began a business peddling dry goods that gradually morphed into a company trading in financial instruments.
Over the course of three generations, the firm kept growing, until the early days of the 21st century, when risky subprime mortgages and a housing market crash led to the firm’s bankruptcy. The play is a look at how the pursuit of the American Dream turned to uncontrolled greed, a morality tale told as gripping drama, delivered now by the Maltz Jupiter Theatre in a production that opens this Thursday.
Staging it will be Maltz veteran Peter Flynn (Born Yesterday, Other Desert Cities), who did not hesitate when offered to direct the towering work. Explaining its appeal to him, he says, “There’s something about these three brothers that started with such integrity and such mercantilism, that not only got so big it was uncontrollable, but it brought down the globe, entirely, financially. These three brothers ultimately were responsible for global financial ruin.
“It’s my favorite kind of theater. It’s what I call ‘rough magic’ theater, where you take three people on a very basic set and have them create everything and everyone from what they have on them or around them,” he said.
There are only three actors in the cast, yet they are called on to play multiple roles over a time span of 160 years. “And so to watch these very versatile actors become men, women, old, young, where a ledger sheet becomes a bouquet of flowers or a bar table becomes a carriage. As an audience member, I could watch that all day,” says Flynn.
Casting is always a crucial part of a production’s success, but particularly with the demands of The Lehman Trilogy, the director feels. Asked what he needed, he says, “I was looking for people who are really good with language. Superior skill in heightened text. People who are really good at creating character. A high level of improv. And then fundamentally, really collaborative people.”
To play Henry Lehman, the eldest brother, he called on David Studwell, with whom he had worked at New York’s Hangar Theatre, where Flynn served as artistic director. To Studwell, The Lehman Trilogy is a richly personal story. “I think the thing that really strikes me about it is the family component,” he says. “One of the things you take away from the play, I hope, is the familial understanding and competition that is referred to — Henry the head, Emanuel the arm and Mayer the guts. And because they’re family, they have a level of trust and a level of understanding. And a willingness to fight, but at the same time coalesce and come together and make smart decisions.”
Jeremy Rishe, who begins the play as Mayer Lehman, the youngest brother, says he enjoys the quality of the writing by Italian novelist and playwright Stefano Massini, a former actor. “Because of that, it’s a very actor-friendly text,” he says. “I love how the play is told in a beautifully fantastical way. These are real people, but the play is sort of a fable. I like the melding of reality with the theatrical poetic magic that Peter referred to.”
Rishe also relates to the immigrant saga of the Lehmans. “As I watch it, I think, that can be my family,” he says. “That’s what my great-grandfather did. He got off the boat in New York, looked around and thought, ‘Now what?’”
By now, The Lehman Trilogy has played around the world, translated into 24 different languages and embraced by audiences far from any connection to Wall Street. Still, as sharp and theater savvy as Maltz theatergoers are, they are more used to musicals than a heady text like this. Does that concern Flynn?
“I’m not worried, but I’m curious. I’m not worried because I love this piece of theater. I could sit with the 10 percent of people that I know are going to get it right off the bat and stay for the three-plus hours and be grateful that they had this experience with us, first of all,” he said. “The rest of them, I’m curious to see what happens, but it’s not a worry.”
“And there’s also something very theatrical about this play,” adds Rishe. “Even though it’s a lot of words, I don’t think it’s a cerebral experience to see this play come to life. It is a very human experience.”
“Yes, it’s a smart play that deals with some complicated issues, but it does not get into the weeds with the minutiae of investment banking,” Studwell offers reassuringly. “And I think calling it a fable is a great thing too, because it sort of says come in and sit by the fire and let us tell you an amazing story that you are going to find really, really compelling.”
THE LEHMAN TRILOGY, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, 1001 E. Indiantown Road, Jupiter. From Thursday, Feb. 20-Sunday, March 2. $74-$99. Call 561-575-2223 or visit jupitertheatre.org.