The play concerns the
financial scandal and collapse of
Enron, the American energy corporation, based in Texas. Enron executive
Jeffrey Skilling and his boss
Kenneth Lay are shown, as well as Skilling's protégé
Andy Fastow, who rises to become the chief financial officer.
Act One A lawyer tells the audience about world-changing. We then see a party to celebrate the introduction of
mark-to-market accounting, where Andy Fastow is made fun of by other employees for wanting to go speak to Skilling, by whom he is promptly ignored. Claudia Roe (a fictional character) accompanies Ken Lay in his rounds of meeting employees. Skilling explains the new accounting system to the employees. Afterwards, Skilling and Roe have sex, before it is revealed Roe is slated to become the new president and Skilling is leaving his wife, for which Roe feels guilty. Their misuse of the company jet is also revealed. Skilling tells Roe about his ideas for the company. Skilling and Roe tell Lay about their plans for the company, before Lay selects Skilling to be the new president. Skilling envisages a modern company that deals only in numbers, while Roe wants to continue with Enron's current path. A trading floor is established, and the traders physically mock and berate Fastow when he tries to get some numbers from them, leading to Fastow messing up Skilling's Electricity plans. We also learn about Skilling congratulating a trader for losing multiple millions of dollars. In a split scene, Roe complains about Skilling's policy of cutting the bottom ten percent of workers, and convinces Lay to open a
power plant in India. Meanwhile, Skilling uses a treadmill to punish Fastow, telling him about the
Darwinian way he is running the company, before moving Fastow to finance. Analysts from major banks rate the stock to be a strong buy, and Skilling realises that he has complete control over the price. They hit a $50 stock price, before Lay talks about playing golf with the
President, to try and get electricity deregulated, while also using the jet to visit family. Skilling talks to his daughter about counting, revealing a motif of counting money. Roe reveals her doubts about the stock price, while affirming her standing behind Skilling. She reveals a
Harvard Business School professor wants to use Enron as a case study, and that her division is made fun of in Skilling's biker weekends. Skilling complains about Roe going over his head for the power plant, but then they see that Enron is rated at $60billion dollars. Andy Fastow names his baby after Skilling. Fastow explains hedging to the audience. He then shows Skilling his "Raptors" – financial models that act as hedges without actual hedges. Skilling explains that while Enron is declaring profits, no actual profits are actually coming through, meaning there is a deficit of money. Fastow suggests he becomes CFO. He shows Skilling a series of shell companies that Enron can offload bad assets into, made up of 97% Enron stock, but still qualify as independent. This would also keep the stock price up, with the heart of the companies being made up of just a few million. Skilling makes Fastow CFO, and suggests they use
Wall Street money to fund the heart of the business, named
LJM after Fastow's family. The
accountants and lawyers argue over its legality, but eventually sign off on the idea. Skilling reveals Video on Demand (with
Blockbuster) and bandwidth trading at a New Year's Eve party at the turn of the millennium, while Roe fights to remain relevant. The raptors take physical shape in Fastow's office, resembling those from
Jurassic Park. ==Premiere casts==