The Lehman Brothers' American Dream

Henry, Mayer, Emanuel. Taken individually, the three names don't mean much. Together, the Lehman Brothers bring to mind the most disastrous financial bankruptcy in history. The whirlwind of family affairs, from the brothers' arrival in America to the bankruptcy in 2008, are told by playwright Stefano Massini in Lehman Trilogy, directed by Luca Ronconi at Piccolo Teatro through 15 March. The play will be presented at Bocconi on 26 February (in room N03) at an event organized by Campus Life with the Director of Piccolo Teatro, Sergio Escobar, the author of the play Stefano Massini, and the actorsFabrizio Gifuni and Massimo Popolizio. The event will be moderated by Bocconi faculty member Severino Salvemini.

In Lehman Trilogy, Ronconi transposes the three chapters of the original text in two separate parts. A story of alternating sequences of events is produced, "a disruption of the American dream, of the country that gives to those who provide proof of talent, creativity, self-sacrifice, but which is also able to overturn fortune and destiny in an instant," as the director himself writes. That's not all: "In Henry, Mayer and Emanuel's story, which describes the move from textile commerce during the first years to their arrival in finance," adds Severino Salvemini, "the issue of intangibility is evident, marking the repositioning of an industrial economy to a post-industrial economy." More than a play, Lehman Trilogy "presents itself as an actual treatise on economic history."

Admission to the event is free but seats are limited.