“I’ve been trying since 2019 to get this play,” Director Jeff Church told the preview audience last week.

The New England premiere and winner of the Kennedy Prize for Drama, “Junk” by Ayad Akhtar has finally made it to the stage of Pawtucket’s Burbage Theatre.

If you like tense, intelligent, relevant theatre, this is the one to see.

An ensemble cast of 16 powerful actors, led by equity member Anthony Goes as wheeling/dealing Robert Merkin, will keep you glued to the in-the-round stage in this two-act, two and a half hour production that never lets up.

Set in the 80s, “Junk” deals with mergers, acquisitions, insider trading, takeovers, political influence, principles (or lack of them) and financial wizardry.

At the center is Robert Merkin (Anthony Goes), the brash, unprincipled, relentless Wall Street wizard, who just may be modeled after Michael Milken.

“Debt is an asset,” he proclaims as he uses every trick in the book to take over Emerson Steel through a series of legal and illegal shenanigans that the author believes results in “how we got to where we are today.”

Don’t worry if you don’t get all the Wall Street lingo – the deals come at you fast and furious.

Director Church has set the main action in the Board Room, using a table that spreads the length of the stage area. Different deals are completed by different characters, using lighting to effectively separate one deal from another.

Scenes switch quickly as characters enter and exit in a perfect flow of activity.

These are greedy people on all sides: investors, owners, lawyers, politicians, journalists – they all have “greed” as a middle name. They all get theirs in the end. Some good, some bad.

Don’t worry if you don’t get all the innuendoes and insider language.

The messages are there, given you an insider look as to how things can get terribly out of hand.

“Junk” is at Burbage Theatre through Sept. 11.

Call 484-0355 for reservations and directions to the theatre.