THE LEHMAN TRILOGY to Open A.C.T.'s 2020–21 Season

On the heels of sold-out runs at The National Theatre, in London's West End, and at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City-and following a limited Broadway engagement-The National Theatre and Neal Street Productions' critically-acclaimed, smash-hit production, The Lehman Trilogy, will open American Conservatory Theater's (A.C.T.) 2020-21 season. The Lehman Trilogy will perform a strictly limited four-week engagement at A.C.T.'s Geary Theater (415 Geary St., San Francisco) beginning Friday, September 11 through Sunday, October 11, 2020.

A.C.T.'s complete 2020-21 season lineup will be unveiled at a special event on Monday, March 16 at 7 p.m. at the Geary Theater, coinciding with the public on-sale for season subscriptions. Only 2020-21 season subscribers and donors at the Director level and above will be guaranteed priority access to tickets to The Lehman Trilogy. Single tickets will go on sale to the public at a later date. To sign-up for priority access for The Lehman Trilogy and A.C.T.'s 2020-21 season, visit www.act-sf.org/lehman.

"We are thrilled to kick off our 2020-21 season with this epic tale of family and finance in pursuit of the American Dream," said A.C.T. Artistic Director Pam MacKinnon. "A massive hit in London and New York City, The Lehman Trilogy will be a San Francisco Bay Area must-see event when it lands at our beautiful Geary Theater."

The story of a family and a company that changed the world, told in three parts on a single evening, The Lehman Trilogy is written by Stefano Massini, adapted by Olivier Award-nominated Ben Power, and directed by multiple Olivier Award, Tony Award ® and Oscar Award winner Sam Mendes (The Ferryman, "Skyfall", "1917").

Weaving together nearly two centuries of family history, this epic theatrical event and New York Times Critics' pick charts the humble beginnings, outrageous successes, and devastating failure of the financial institution that would ultimately bring the global economy to its knees. On a cold September morning in 1844 a young man from Bavaria stands on a New York dockside. Dreaming of a new life in the new world. He is joined by his two brothers and an American epic begins. One hundred and sixty three years later, the firm they establish-Lehman Brothers-spectacularly collapses into bankruptcy and triggers the largest financial crisis in history. The Lehman Trilogy, "a ticket worth selling your gilt-edged securities for" (New York Times), is the quintessential story of western capitalism, rendered through the lens of a single immigrant family.

The Lehman Trilogy features set designs by Es Devlin, costume design by Katrina Lindsay, video design by Luke Halls, and lighting design by Jon Clark. The composer and sound designer is Nick Powell, the co-sound designer is Dominic Bilkey, with music direction by Candida Caldicot and movement by Polly Bennett. The associate director is Zoé Ford Burnett. Casting to be announced.

The world premiere of Stefano Massini's The Lehman Trilogy opened at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan in 2015. It turned out to be Artistic Director Luca Ronconi's final production before his death. A long-term admirer of Ronconi's, Sam Mendes was inspired to begin planning an English adaptation for Neal Street Productions.

Ben Power was commissioned by Neal Street Productions to create a new version of this epic play, using a literal English translation by Mirella Cheeseman. This production opened at The National Theatre on July 4, 2018, before its North American premiere at the Park Avenue Armory where it garnered huge critical acclaim. The New York Times called it a 'magnificent play... [a] genuinely epic production out of London, directed with surging sweep and fine-tooled precision by Sam Mendes...with a design team that understands the value of simplicity in doing justice to complex matters.'

The Lehman Trilogy subsequently opened May 11, 2019, for a 16-week sold-out West End run at the Piccadilly Theatre. A limited Broadway engagement of The Lehman Trilogy, presented in association with Scott Rudin Productions, begins previews at the Nederlander Theatre on March 7 with an opening night on March 26, 2020. Following the San Francisco engagement, The Lehman Trilogy will play a limited-engagement at The Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from October 15-November 28, 2020.

A.C.T.'s production of The Lehman Trilogy, in memory of Nancy Livingston Levin, is made possible by Ray and Dagmar Dolby Fund; Frannie Fleishhacker; Priscilla and Keith Geeslin; Fred M. Levin in honor of Nancy Livingston Levin, The Shenson Foundation; and Ms. Mary Miner.

Photo Credit: Mark Douet

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