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Posted: Monday, October 30, 2017

In Memoriam: Warren Enters

The Buffalo State community is saddened by the death of Warren Enters, professor emeritus of performing arts, who died October 25, 2017. 

Mr. Enters joined the Buffalo State community as an associate professor in the Speech and Theater Arts Department in 1968. He received continuing appointment in 1970. In 1980, he was promoted to professor, and he retired in 1992. 

Mr. Enters earned his bachelor’s degree in theater from the University of Wisconsin-Madison after serving in the United States Naval Reserve from 1943 to 1946. He held faculty positions at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and Goodman Theatre School at the Art Institute of Chicago before joining Buffalo State.

When he accepted the position at Buffalo State, Mr. Enters also accepted the position of associate director at Studio Arena Theater in Buffalo. He had already received the first Tony Award given to an off-Broadway production at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City, one of his many successes in New York. His directing credits included productions at the Boston Arts Festival and the Crest Theatre in Toronto, as well as other regional and national productions. He worked with many well-known actors.

At Buffalo State, he inspired generations of students, including Tom Fontana and Diane English. Mr. Fontana, writer and producer of numerous television dramas, including Homicide: Life on the Street and Borgia, and Ms. English, writer and producer of several television series, including the long-running Murphy Brown, were instrumental in raising the funds necessary to renovate the theater in Upton Hall where they had been introduced to their craft while studying with Mr. Enters. When the Warren Enters Theatre opened in June 2003, Mr. Enters expressed his gratitude to everyone who contributed to the resurrection of the theater space where he had taught for many years. He also thanked his "friends of the future—the faculty and students who will discover themselves and grow in this theater." 

Drew Kahn, professor of theater, was master of ceremonies at the gala opening. “Warren was a giant in so many positive, influential ways,” said Mr. Kahn. “Thankfully, his legacy will be remembered and celebrated regularly by our campus in his favorite place, the theater. We are proud to have an artistic laboratory with his name on it.”

Mr. Enters is survived by his partner, William Lennon. At Mr. Enters’s wish, no services will be held.

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