Voysey Inheritance Foreshadows Ponzi, Madoff Schemes

Baylor University faculty and graduate students performed a dramatic reading of "The Voysey Inheritance" Tuesday evening at the Hankamer School of Business. The financial drama, adapted by David Mamet from a 100 year old British play by Harley Granville-Barker, highlighted the second week of the Business Ethics Forum: Where Finance Meets Ethics.

Viewing the unique performance was like watching the production of a radio drama. The twelve cast members sat on stage in a straight row facing the audience. Though there were no costumes or movement on stage, the actors brought the story to life with their passionate and emotional readings. One needed only to close his or her eyes to easily imagine the unfolding drama.

That drama revolved around a wealthy English family living in London in 1905. Edward Voysey, the family's third son, follows his father into the family's financial firm, but soon discovers his father is running a Ponzi scheme. The father's rationalizations for his actions cannot convince the upright Edward to condone what he believes is "theft." Upon his father's death, Edward wrestles with what to do. He could come clean immediately, destroying his family's reputation and likely going to prison; or he could keep it all quiet and try to fix his father's improprieties over time. Edward receives no shortage of advice, as everyone from his brothers and fiancé to a family friend and clergyman loudly proclaim to Edward what they think he should do. Exasperated, Edward muses, "It's strange the number of people who believe you can do right by means which they know to be wrong."

For a play written over 100 years ago, the financial plot is startlingly relevant. The term "Ponzi scheme" did not yet exist in 1905, as Charles Ponzi, the scheme's namesake, had only just emigrated to the United States from Italy and was still working odd jobs. But the theft that Mr. Voysey initiates in the play – and Edward seeks to rectify – is reminiscent of what Ponzi would later make famous. And the elder Voysey himself foreshadows more recent non-fiction swindlers like Bernie Madoff and Robert Allen Stanford.

Though performed in the Business School, most of the actors hailed from Baylor's Theater Arts. DeAnna Toten Beard, a dramaturge and theater historian, narrated the play and Thomas Ward, who teaches acting and stage combat, provided the voice for Edward. But the Business School was represented in the cast, as management and entrepreneurship professor Blaine McCormick portrayed the Rev. Colpus. Baylor's Law School played a part as well. The eldest Voysey son, a lawyer, was aptly voiced by law professor Mark Osler.

The Business Ethics Forum continues next week, Nov. 12, when Lamar Smith, the Director of Torchmark Corp., speaks at 7:00 p.m. on the 5th Floor of Cashion Academic Center. Smith is the author of "There's More to Life Than the Corner Office." The complete schedule for the Business Ethics Forum: Where Finance Meets Ethics is online at www.baylor.edu/businessethics.

CAST

Mr. Voysey – Marion Castleberry

Mrs. Voysey – Sally Odegaard

Peacey – Stan Denman

Honor Voysey – Lisa Denman

Trenchard Voysey – Mark Osler

Major Booth Voysey – David Jortner

Edward Voysey – Thomas Ward

Hugh Voysey – David Reed

Ethel Voysey – Becca Johnson

Alice – Sherry Ward

George Booth – Steven Pounders

Rev. Colpus – Blaine McCormick

Narrator – DeAnna Toten Beard