Tony Award Winner ‘The Lehman Trilogy’ Comes to Santa Barbara’s New Vic

Ensemble Theatre Company presents The Lehman Trilogy, a quintessentially American story of the Lehman Brothers financial empire’s rise and fall.

Originally a five-hour docudrama by Italian playwright Stefano Massini, it  has been adapted by Ben Power to a tighter (2.5-hour) saga of American riches and ruin. Director Oánh Nguyễn calls the play, which tells the story of the Lehman Brothers’ business ventures from humble roots in the mid-1850s to becoming “too big to fail” in the aughts, incredibly binge-worthy. “As a Vietnamese refugee, I can relate to the obstacles that come with striving for a better future and seeking a sense of safety and acceptance,” he says. “The experiences of the Lehman family mirror this journey, guided by a determination to not just succeed — but to excel beyond all expectations.”

In this three-actor play, each performer plays a multitude of “voices from the past,” while the 2008 Lehman associates await the news of a potential government buy-out that would save the company.

Actor Chris Butler notes that great plays talk about big concepts through small stories. The rise and fall of the Lehman family business is specifically a story about Jewish immigrants, but on a bigger scale, the play is about American capitalism. “Coming to the play as a Black American, I think a lot about the Langston Hughes poem ‘Harlem,’” says Butler. “’What happens to a dream deferred?’ I think this is an example of the opposite. What happens when your dreams are forwarded? What can happen when you actually attain those things? How can those dreams be twisted and spin out of control? Build, build, build; grow, grow, grow. That’s what we’ve become obsessed with as Americans.”

The Lehman Trilogy, told in three acts, takes the audience on a journey that questions the disquieting reality of the unspoken ambition necessary to achieve the “American dream.”

See this dramatization of the catastrophic headlines at the New Vic Theatre (33 W. Victoria St.) April 6-21. For more information and to purchase tickets, see etcsb.org.