In the News
Coverage, interviews, and reviews of Eric's plays and productions.
Eric Mansfield's "Trial by Fire," a drama that focuses on book banning and student activism, will kick off Kent State University's annual May 4 Commemoration with performances this weekend at the Wright Curtis Theatre on campus.
Read the piece →Donna Shimko reviews "Executing Eve," a new play by Eric Mansfield debuting at convergence-continuum's theater the Liminis: "I chose to attend ... knowing full well that my heart and spirit would be challenged. It made me weep numerous times. You will see why."
Read the piece →Ray Horner of WAKR sits down with Akron greats every month in Horner's Corner. In this premiere episode, Ray talks with Eric Mansfield, known as an award-winning broadcast journalist with WKYC-TV (NBC Cleveland) and WAKC-TV (ABC Akron), and now as an award-winning playwright.
Watch on YouTube →Akron playwright Eric Mansfield's latest drama, "Trial by Fire," follows the immense pressure created for a new high school women's studies teacher in hot water for allowing her students to access books from Ohio's new "banned" list. That is, until her students take matters into their own hands.
Read the piece →Amid news of a Florida school district banning more than 1,600 books, Firestone Community Learning Center freshman Izzy Eastman delivered an impassioned monologue from Eric Mansfield's "Trial by Fire" about the power of reading and access to books.
Read the piece →Akron actor Brian O. Jackson is tackling his biggest dramatic role yet playing Lenny King in the world premiere of Akron playwright Eric Mansfield's "Baron of Brown Street," inspired by the true story of a homeless man set on fire under the Brown Street bridge who later forgave his attackers in court.
Read the piece →Host Stephanie York talks to Akronite Eric Mansfield — military veteran, former broadcast journalist, and public relations professional at Kent State University — about his recent success as a playwright, offering insight into the business and craft of playwriting.
Watch on YouTube →Local public relations professional Eric Mansfield has been on fire as a new playwright, writing eight full-length plays in the last two years — with eight productions of seven original modern dramas, from Akron's Rubber City Theatre to Salem State University in Massachusetts.
Read the piece →Akron playwright Eric Mansfield, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Iraq as part of his 20-year career with the Ohio Army National Guard, knows how "the minutes feel like hours feel like days" for military families waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones after an attack overseas — the premise of his world premiere play "Love in Reserve," set at Fort Bragg in 2003, where Army wife Kate waits to learn if her husband has survived an attack in Iraq.
Read the piece →Have press inquiries or want to feature Eric's work? Reach out via the contact page or email eric@ericmansfieldwrites.com.