Theater department shows "Enron"

Tonight, the Buffalo State theater department will unveil its production, "Enron," which takes the serious 2001 corporate collapse and turns it into a comedic thrill.                                            

"Enron" features such elements as light saber fights and velociraptors dressed in business suits. Enron, an American energy company, grew quickly in the 1990s and became the seventh largest company in America. But it had been hiding debts and overestimating earnings.

In 2001, Enron filed for bankruptcy, creating what was later dubbed the "Enron scandal."

Senior theater major Danny Beason plays Jeffrey Skilling, Enron's president and CEO. Ricky Needham, a sophomore theater major, plays Andrew Fastow, Enron's chief financial officer.      

"The play follows Jeffrey Skilling from when he first becomes a part of the company in 1992, brings it to the height of its glory and then instantly watches it crash," Beason said.

The plot also includes elements of the legal matters Enron faced and the corporation's desperate attempt to save itself, Needham said.

As the protagonist, Skilling is determined to bring both himself and Enron to power, by any means necessary.

"Skilling is at the height of power and then you watch him come crashing down," Beason said, "so you really see his every emotion throughout the play: extreme anger, happiness and sadness."

Skilling's sidekick, Fastow, is equally as ambitious, but with a goofy streak.

"My character is the brains behind the whole operation," Needham said. "He looks up to Skilling so much but really he's the guy nobody wants to be around. He doesn't want to let him down."

Although the Enron scandal happened nearly a decade ago, the main concept behind this play is still relevant. 

"You can learn a lot from this play," Beason said. "It relates to what the country is going through now. The accounting system that Enron used is actually still being used by corporations today, and that's why Enron fell."

While the play centers around the corporate theme, it will be anything but a bore, Beason said.

"The play is wildly entertaining and over the top," Beason said. "There isn't a moment where you won't think, ‘Oh! What's going on over there?'"

"Enron" previews tonight at 8 p.m. with half-price tickets and will run through Oct. 22 in the Warren Enters Theater in Upton Hall. 

The show runs Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and also Saturdays at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for general, $10 for faculty and staff, and $6 for students. 

Samantha Murphy can be reached by email at murphy.record@live.com.