←Recommendations of The Board

A meditation on the morality of leadership. If the game of chess can teach strategic thinking and the necessity of sacrifice for the sake of an ultimate objective, does it fail to teach the responsibility of the strategist for the well-being of those being lead?

Excellent potential both as a character study and an exercise in visually and physically imaginative staging.

I produced an audio play version of this script on the radio theater podcast GATHER BY THE GHOST LIGHT (https://www.podpage.com/gather-by-the-ghost-light/ep-39-the-board/). A tale about the old teaching the new. What I love most about this piece is Mansfield's way with dialogue and how he presented a tough but thoughtful lesson in the story while maintaining a mutual respect between the vets and the young soldier. A fantastic and tidy story!

I have just listened to a wonderful recording of this great play on the Gather by the Ghost Light podcast. THE BOARD is a meeting of old minds and young, neither ate right or wrong, but these old veteran's make their young compatriot see many things in a whole new light. Eric cleverly uses a chess board to prove his point and bring this to life to excellent effect. Great!

What a powerful 10-minute play. THE BOARD may be a play about chess, but its also a life lesson, for the for young character and also for the audience. The fierce urgency of the older men explaining chess leaves a lasting impression. Eric Mansfield asks if we would be willing to sacrifice a pawn, if we knew it had a wife, a family, a life that would be lost. This play is beautiful, raw, poetic, and insightful. It is a STRONG addition to any 10-minute play festival, and I think it would work very well on Zoom as well. BRAVO!

A surprisingly tense 10-minute drama that contrasts knowledge and wisdom, theory and practice.

Eric Mansfield nicely develops the characters in "The Board," especially Clarence -- who seems to know more and say less, and Lance, who is newly graduated from West Point. While they aren't confrontational, these two men clearly have different points of view about objectives. It's only later in the play, after the match ends and Lance leaves, that the audience perhaps understands how Clarence came to his perspective. With that understanding, the entire script changes.

Manfield has written a terrific character piece in "The Board."