Junk

by Ayad Akhtar

Genres: Cultural Heritage; Family Life

Synopsis

*Coming to Broadway this fall in the Lincoln Center Theater production starring Steven Pasquale*

From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Disgraced, a fast-paced economic thriller that exposes the financial deal making behind the mergers and acquisitions boom of the 1980s.

Set in 1985, Junk tells the story of Robert Merkin, resident genius of the upstart investment firm Sacker Lowell. Hailed as "America's Alchemist," his proclamation that "debt is an asset" has propelled him to a dizzying level of success. By orchestrating the takeover of a massive steel manufacturer, Merkin intends to do the "deal of the decade," the one that will rewrite all the rules. Working on his broadest canvas to date, Pulitzer Prize winner Ayad Akhtar chronicles the lives of men and women engaged in financial civil war: insatiable investors, threatened workers, killer lawyers, skeptical journalists, and ambitious federal prosecutors. Although it's set 40 years in the past, this is a play about the world we live in right now; a world in which money became the only thing of real value.

Release date: November 7, 2017

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Print pages: 176

Sample

“With The Invisible Hand, Ayad Akhtar solidifies the reputation he forged with Disgraced as a first-rate writer of fierce, well-crafted dramas that employ topicality but are not limited by it.… The prime theme is pulsing and alive: when human lives become just one more commodity to be traded, blood eventually flows in the streets.”

—Brendan Lemon, Financial Times

“Raises probing questions about the roots of the Islamic terrorism that has rattled the world for the last decade and more.”

—Charles Isherwood, New York Times

“A hand-wringing, throat-clenching thriller… that grabs you and won’t let go.”

—Jesse Green, New York Magazine

“Confirms the Pakistani-American playwright as one of the theater’s most original, exciting new voices.… In this tight, plot-driven thriller, Akhtar again turns hypersensitive subjects into thought-provoking and thoughtful drama. But here he also brings a grasp of money—big money—not to mention the market’s unsettling connections to international politics.”

—Linda Winer, Newsday

“Politically provocative.… A scary (and dreadfully funny) treatise on the universality of human greed.”

—Marilyn Stasio, Variety

“A tragically contemporary thriller.… There has been precious little activity on this front since Jerry Sterner’s Other People’s Money and Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money.… Mr. Akhtar makes up for this oversight with a vengeance.”

—Harry Haun, New York Observer

“A tense, provocative thriller about the unholy nexus of international terrorism and big bucks.… Akhtar… expertly decodes that vivid expression, ‘blood money.’…The Invisible Hand jolts along like a well-made caper flick.… But the taut plot is also a great setup for a fierce psychological match, and a useful colloquy on the American dollar as a force for good and evil.… A very telling, compelling play.”

—Misha Berson, Seattle Times

“Whip-smart and twisty.… Akhtar offers a hostage tale that balances violence, humor, and geopolitical critique, never losing its edge or letting us complacently root for one side.”

—David Cote, Time Out New York

“What’s the difference between a banker and a terrorist? Akhtar’s new play attempts to fathom this once unfathomable question as it sounds the depths of global events, relating market ‘corrections’ to the logic of jihad. But The Invisible Hand chews on other, equally compelling questions, too: What and whose interests ultimately shape our political and moral values? Under what circumstances will we stay true to convictions—and what does it take to corrupt them?… Akhtar’s musings come in the form of a suspenseful drama that could easily be a television film.… The Invisible Hand offers genuine insight into the future of the West, and it’s a brutal one to contemplate.”

—Tom Sellar, Village Voice

“The Invisible Hand has layers of delicious irony.”

—Amitava Kumar, The Guardian

“The best play I saw last year.… A quick-witted and shattering drama.… Disgraced rubs all kinds of unexpected raw spots with intelligence and humor.”

—Linda Winer, Newsday

“A sparkling and combustible contemporary drama.… Ayad Akhtar’s one-act play deftly mixes the political and personal, exploring race, freedom of speech, political correctness, even the essence of Islam and Judaism. The insidery references to the Hamptons and Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and art critic Jerry Saltz are just enough to make audience members feel smart.… Akhtar… has lots to say about America and the world today. He says it all compellingly, and none of it is comforting.”

—Philip Boroff, Bloomberg Businessweek

“Compelling.… Disgraced raises and toys with provocative and nuanced ideas.”

—Jesse Oxfeld, New York Observer

“A continuously engaging, vitally engaged play about thorny questions of identity and religion in the contemporary world.… In dialogue that bristles with wit and intelligence, Mr. Akhtar… puts contemporary attitudes toward religion under a microscope, revealing how tenuous self-image can be for people born into one way of being who have embraced another.… Everyone has been told that politics and religion are two subjects that should be off-limits at social gatherings. But watching Mr. Akhtar’s characters rip into these forbidden topics, there’s no arguing that they make for ear-tickling good theater.”

—Charles Isherwood, New York Times

“A blistering social drama about the racial prejudices that secretly persist in progressive cultural circles.”

—Marilyn Stasio, Variety

“Terrific.… Disgraced… unfolds with speed, energy, and crackling wit.… The evening will come to a shocking end, but before that, there is the sparkling conversation, expertly rendered on the page by Akhtar.… Talk of 9/11, of Israel and Iran, of terrorism and airport security, all evokes uncomfortable truths. Add a liberal flow of alcohol and a couple of major secrets suddenly revealed, and you’ve got yourself one dangerous dinner party.… In the end, one can debate what the message of the play really is. Is it that we cannot escape our roots, or perhaps simply that we don’t ever really know who we are, deep down, until something forces us to confront it? Whatever it is, when you finally hear the word ‘disgraced’ in the words of one of these characters, you will no doubt feel a chill down your spine.”

—Jocelyn Noveck, Associated Press

“Offers an engaging snapshot of the challenge for upwardly mobile Islamic Americans in the post-9/11 age.”

—Thom Geier, Entertainment Weekly

“Disgraced stands among recent marks of an increasing and welcome phenomenon: the arrival of South Asian and Middle Eastern Americans as presences in our theater’s dramatis personae, matching their presence in our daily life. Like all such phenomena, it carries a double significance. An achievement and a sign of recognition for those it represents, for the rest of us it constitutes the theatrical equivalent of getting to know the new neighbors—something we had better do if we plan to survive as a civil society.”

—Michael Feingold, Village Voice

“Ninety minutes of sharp contemporary theatre at its argumentative, and disturbing, best.”

—Robert McCrum, The Guardian

THE RAIDERS:

ROBERT MERKIN—Early 40s. “Bob.” Junk Bond Trader at Sacker-Lowell, an investment bank. Merkin is an unusual combination of charismatic leader and behind-the-desk functionary. On the strength of unparalleled focus and remarkable intellectual gifts, he has emerged as the financier of the age.

RAÚL RIVERA—Mid-30s. Lawyer for Sacker-Lowell. Of Cuban extraction. Wry, playful, ruthless.

ISRAEL PETERMAN—Late 30s. “Izzy.” A corporate raider. Sacramento-born. Intense, rough-hewn, tenacious. Eager to propel himself—by whatever means necessary—to the front ranks of American business.

BORIS PRONSKY—Late 40s. An arbitrageur. Makes money off rumor and intrigue. All facade, no substance. The proverbial little man in a big man’s body.

MANAGEMENT AND ITS ALLIES:

THOMAS EVERSON, JR.—50s. “Tom.” Chief Executive of Everson Steel and United, the erstwhile manufacturing behemoth and still-member of the Dow Industrial Average. The steel business has fallen on hard times, and Everson Jr. continues to see through the diversification of the company begun under his father’s regime. Though not quite the brilliant businessman his father was, Everson Jr. makes up for it with heart and in loyalty.

MAXIMILIEN CIZIK—Late 40s. “Max.” Investment Banker at Lausanne & Co. Adviser to Everson. Urbane, measured, sophisticated. Born in Prague, but brought up in America. Lausanne & Co. is a leading advisory investment bank, and one of the last of such still connected to the great nineteenth-century European merchant banks.

JACQUELINE BLOUNT—Late 20s. “Jackie.” Lawyer for Lausanne & Co. African-American. Harvard Law. Harvard Business. Appealing, ambitious. With balls and charm to boot.

LEO TRESLER—Mid-50s. A private equity magnate. Passionate, pompous, lovable, and very rich. A lion of a man with something of a Texas swagger, despite being born and raised in Connecticut.

LAW ENFORCEMENT:

GIUSEPPE ADDESSO—Mid-40s. “Joe.” US Attorney of New York, Southern District. Italian-American. Ambitious.

KEVIN WALSH—Early 30s. Assistant US Attorney, Fraud Unit. African-American. Punctilious and indefatigable.

OTHER:

JUDY CHEN—Early 30s. A writer. Third-generation Chinese-American. Thoughtful, penetrating, and undaunted by the titans about whom she is writing.

AMY MERKIN—40s. Robert’s wife, his business school sweetheart. A financial wizard in her own right. Merkin’s deepest collaborator.

MARK O’HARE—40s. An arbitrageur. Irish-American. Born and raised in the heyday of Hell’s Kitchen. A street fighter who r. . .