Baron of Brown Street

Synopsis
(Inspired by True Events) Lenny King, a homeless man living alone in a tent under an Ohio bridge, becomes an overnight celebrity after a newspaper story details Lenny’s kind heart in forgiving three teens who set him on fire and laughed at his pain as he burned. Enduring the physical and emotional scars of a man abused by life and his own bad decisions, Lenny must now fend off strangers looking to exploit him for their own publicity, including a quick-buck attorney, nosy photographer, local church members, developers and others. With each new visitor to what had been his quiet oasis, Lenny fights to retain what’s left of his privacy and dignity while examining what it truly means to forgive others and ourselves.

Creative Team
Director: Joe Soriano
​​Scenic Designer: TBA
Lighting Designer: TBA
Costume Designer:TBA
Intimacy Director: Julia Fisher
Stage Manager: TBA
Assistant Stage Manager: TBA
​Playwright: Eric Mansfield

Eric Mansfield – Playwright
Eric Mansfield is an Emmy Award-Winning TV Journalist, veteran and retired U.S. Army Officer, current PR professional, and Dramatist Guild member continuing his passion for storytelling as a professional playwright.

His inspiration for BARON OF BROWN STREET came from his conversations with the real Lenny King, who made headlines in Akron in 2007 after he forgave the men who dragged him from his tent and set him on fire.

Eric is overjoyed to continue to work with the talented cast and staff at Rubber City Theatre, where he was most recently seen as General Waverly in “White Christmas.”

Eric’s first full-length play, LOVE IN RESERVE, premiered in 2021 at Rubber City Theatre and was recognized with the “Best New Play by a Local Playwright” Award from the Cleveland Critics Circle and as a national semi-finalist for the Bridge Award from Arts in the Armed Forces. Eric was recently named the recipient of the 2022 Arts Alive Award for the Emerging Artist by Summit Artspace.

Additional playwriting credits include WHITESVILLE (Akron Civic Theatre’s Knight Stage in conjunction with the Millennial Theatre Project), WITNESSES TO THE EXECUTION (SUNY-Brockport), THE BOARD (Salem State University), and HOME MOVIE and THE CONFESSION (Convergence Continuum, Cleveland).

In 2022, Eric contracted with Next Stage Press, a national play publisher that markets and licenses original works for the stage to theaters across the globe.

​Learn more about Eric’s work at www.ericmansfieldwrites.com.