Description

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A story about love, art, and the 2008 financial crisis. Towards the end of the 18th century, twenty-four traders would meet under a tree to buy and sell shares. The tree was located at 68 Wall Street, so called because of a wall that used to mark the northern limits of the colony of New Amsterdam, on the Island of Manhattan.On May 17, 1792, the twenty-four brokers signed, beneath the tree, the Buttonwood Agreement. This marked the foundation of the New York Stock Exchange, and the birth of Wall Street.Today, the tree on Wall Street has long since fallen, and the twenty-four traders’ transactions have become complex to the point of being almost intangible and immaterial. Finance has become an abstraction; it pervades every sphere of our lives, including contemporary art. Especially contemporary art. This love story, based on documentary research, follows a struggling artist and an opportunistic hedge fund manager. As Lehman Brothers falls and two worlds collide, we explore the darkest corners of the contemporary art scene, the global economy, and two broken hearts.

About the Author

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Veronique Cote is an actress, director, and author. Jean-Michel Girouard is an actor and has written a number of plays. Jean-Philippe Joubert is a playwright, an actor, and the creator of the Nuages en pantalon theatre company. Danielle Le Saux-Farmer is now artistic director of Theatre la Catapulte. Simon Lepage is an actor and writer based in Quebec City. Marianne Marceau is a writer, actress, and the artistic director of a theatre festival in Quebec City. Olivier Normand has worked with Robert Lepage and performed in French and English around the world. Pascale Renaud-Hebert works as an actress, author, television writer, and director.

Praise For…

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""What makes art valuable? How do we value art? How do we value ourselves? These are the themes that run through The Art of the Fall, a compelling and engaging play that dissects the financial crisis of 2008 through the lens of the contemporary art world. [...] The Art of the Fall left me disturbed, enlightened, and seriously questioning the value of art in a world where a shark in formaldehyde can be worth twelve million dollars."—Alexandria Haber, Montreal Review of Books