Cygnet Theatre in Liberty Station is staging “The Lehman Trilogy” by Stefano Power, adapted by Ben Power and meticulously directed by Kim Strassburger. “The Lehman Trilogy” has been produced in many theatres and country’s far and wide, but this reviewer cannot imagine it being as fine a work as is being done at Cygnet’s Dottie Studio Theatre.
The play is a living, breathing rhythmic tale or ode, if you will, as told by three actors, Jacob Caltrider, Steven Lone and Bruce Turk, playing no less than 70+ characters spanning over 160 years, who not only tell their story but are the story. To do this the audience must give itself over three hours to watch it unfold.
‘Trilogy’ winds through the historical timeline of a family of Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe specifically Bavaria in search of the American Dream.
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| Bruce Turk as Henry Lehman |
The first brother to step foot on American soil is the eldest, Henry (Bruce Turk). He settles in Alabama and opens, what we might call now, a dry goods store; bolts of fabric, nick -knacks, sundry’s and determination. He is followed by Emanuel (Steven Lone), a go getter and finally, the third is Mayer (Jacob Caltrider). Henry is referred to as the ‘head’ Emanuel, ‘the arm’, holding things together and Mayer, the ‘potato’ because of his smooth skinned face and the fact that he can smooth disagreements over.
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| Steven Lone as Emanuel |
Over the years the three will eventually change the way America does business, run the Stock Market, own cotton mills, plantations, tobacco farms, munitions factories, face fires in the south, live through the Civil War, the crashing market, and will rebuild. They will sit on boards of major industries, marry into wealth have children, train the next generation, observe their Jewish traditions until it is no longer acceptable in the world they built.
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| Jacob Caltrider as Mayer Lehman |
“The Lehman Trilogy” is about family honor. It’s about a legacy to pass to our children. It’s a history lesson. It’s about greed /love /passion/ loss. It’s about ambition and how it can break a family just as much as it can build a family. It is about so much more, and as this epic unfolds, it is told with bravado, boldness and panache.
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| Bruce Turl, Jacob Caltrider and Steven Lone |
To that end the three actors so perfectly match their character or the character they might be at the time, with easy transition, subtle movements, facial expressions, on a table, with an umbrella, at a board meeting, making their first business sign, on a box or a stack of boxes or while moving about the stage and still keeping to their own parameters in the Black Box Theatre.
Keeping this balance, director Kim Strassburger has managed to bring to the fore the discipline, humor, precise movements without flaw. No doubt she is captain of her ship and it serves her well. Brava!
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| Steven Lone, Jacob Caltrider and Bruce Turk |
Props (Bonnie Durbin) are at a minimum; three tables, three chairs, about five or six storage boxes that can be moved or used as needed, a cigarette lighter, a blanket.
Matthew Herman’s set design is simple lit by Sammy Webster’s LED lights overhead, blaring spot lights emphasizing, and softer ones often less blinding.
Blake McCarty’s projections circle the rectangle stage with images of New York skyline, The Stock Market, fires raging. Jeanne Rieth designed the turn of the century costumes.
George Ye designed the sound scape.
Todd Salovey acted as the cultural consultant and Vanessa Dinning, the dialect consultant.
Mazal Tov to the entire cast and crew.
Enjoy.
See you at the theatre.
When: Runs through April 26. 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, 1 and 7 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays
Where: Cygnet Theatre’s Dottie Studio Theatre, 2880 Roosevelt Road, Arts District Liberty Station
Tickets: $68 and up
Phone: 619-337-1525
Press: Karli Cadel
Online: cygnettheatre.com
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