Mark Brown

Mark Brown

Mark Brown is a widely produced playwright throughout America and abroad. His plays and musicals include multi-award winning Around the World in 80 Days; Tom Jones the Musical; The Wild Game; The Gentleman Thief; The Quest for Don Quixote; The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge; Tom Jones; China – The Whole Enchilada. He doesn't act anymore, but when he did, he worked at regional theatres across the country, and on...
Mark Brown is a widely produced playwright throughout America and abroad. His plays and musicals include multi-award winning Around the World in 80 Days; Tom Jones the Musical; The Wild Game; The Gentleman Thief; The Quest for Don Quixote; The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge; Tom Jones; China – The Whole Enchilada. He doesn't act anymore, but when he did, he worked at regional theatres across the country, and on the big and small screen with Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Jeff Goldblum, Dick Van Dyke, and the monkey from Friends. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter and dreams of living on the Côte d’Azur.

Plays

  • This Is Tom Jones!
    In this thrilling adventure of the heart, Tom Jones, a charming young man of questionable birth and the ward of Squire Allworthy, is madly in love with Sophie Western and she with him. But when Sophie's father arranges for her to marry Squire Allworthy's loathsome and devious nephew, Blifil, she swears her undying love to Tom and flees for her life. Tom goes in search of Sophie, but hot on his heels...
    In this thrilling adventure of the heart, Tom Jones, a charming young man of questionable birth and the ward of Squire Allworthy, is madly in love with Sophie Western and she with him. But when Sophie's father arranges for her to marry Squire Allworthy's loathsome and devious nephew, Blifil, she swears her undying love to Tom and flees for her life. Tom goes in search of Sophie, but hot on his heels are Sophie's father, Sophie's aunt, Squire Allworthy and Blifil, who are all in search of Sophie as well.

    Set against this madcap story is music inspired by that frenzied mop-top-led era of music of the 1960s known as the British Invasion. Think The Beatles, Herman's Hermits, the Dave Clark Five, the Hollies, the Animals, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield and of course—Tom Jones. It was a time of catchy, top-of-the-pop-chart songs that had everyone from London to New York City hitting the dance floor to do the Jerk, the Pony, the Shimmy and the Mashed Potato. Aristocrats, wenches and scalawags abound in this bawdy and rollicking romp through the back roads and bedchambers of England.
  • The Wild Game
    When Leontine, a respectable society lady, discovers her husband, Duchotel, is using his many hunting outings as a cover to chase after other ‘prey’, she vows to take revenge on the philanderer! But while Duchotel is away, his lifelong friend, Moricet, comes calling – and is hunting for Leontine. Traps are set and nearly everyone gets snared in a door-slamming, trouser-dropping, balcony-climbing night of chaos...
    When Leontine, a respectable society lady, discovers her husband, Duchotel, is using his many hunting outings as a cover to chase after other ‘prey’, she vows to take revenge on the philanderer! But while Duchotel is away, his lifelong friend, Moricet, comes calling – and is hunting for Leontine. Traps are set and nearly everyone gets snared in a door-slamming, trouser-dropping, balcony-climbing night of chaos set amidst the stylish apartments of Paris.
  • The Gentleman Thief
    A tale of international intrigue, mystery, romance, and robbery in the roaring 20s. Meet Jimmy Pitts, a wealthy bachelor. He's fallen in love with an elusive beauty who keeps slipping through his fingers, and in the chaos of trying to find her, makes a wager that he can be a cracksman and break into houses like a seasoned pro. Mistaken identities abound in this gentleman thief romantic comedy.
  • The Quest For Don Quixote
    Playwright Ben Eisenberg sits in a Starbucks, just one day before his epic adaptation of Don Quixote begins rehearsal. There’s just one problem — he hasn’t written it. His agent is apoplectic, the advance is long since spent, and adapting a 1000-page Renaissance adventure is beginning to feel a bit like, well, tilting at windmills. But then, whether from a stroke of genius or a near-lethal dosage of caffeine...
    Playwright Ben Eisenberg sits in a Starbucks, just one day before his epic adaptation of Don Quixote begins rehearsal. There’s just one problem — he hasn’t written it. His agent is apoplectic, the advance is long since spent, and adapting a 1000-page Renaissance adventure is beginning to feel a bit like, well, tilting at windmills. But then, whether from a stroke of genius or a near-lethal dosage of caffeine and Xanax, Starbucks itself begins to transform, and the errant knight arises in this retelling of Cervantes’s classic tale. But all is not as it seems. Danger lurks in the shadows, putting both the lives of Quixote and Ben at risk.
  • Around the World in 80 Days
    Stampeding elephants! Raging typhoons! Runaway trains! Unabashedly slapstick! Hold onto your seats for the original amazing race! Join fearless adventurer Phileas Fogg and his faithful manservant as they race to beat the clock! Phileas Fogg has agreed to an outrageous wager that puts his fortune and his life at risk. With his resourceful servant Passepartout, Fogg sets out to circle the globe in an unheard-of...
    Stampeding elephants! Raging typhoons! Runaway trains! Unabashedly slapstick! Hold onto your seats for the original amazing race! Join fearless adventurer Phileas Fogg and his faithful manservant as they race to beat the clock! Phileas Fogg has agreed to an outrageous wager that puts his fortune and his life at risk. With his resourceful servant Passepartout, Fogg sets out to circle the globe in an unheard-of 80 days. But his every step is dogged by a detective who thinks he's a robber on the run. Danger, romance, and comic surprises abound in this whirlwind of a show as five actors portraying 39 characters traverse seven continent
  • The Trial of Ebenezer Scrooge
    The Trial of the Century! A year after his miraculous transformation, Ebenezer Scrooge is back to his old ways and is suing Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future for breaking and entering, kidnapping, slander, pain and suffering, attempted murder and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. The ghosts employ Solomon Rothschild, England's most charismatic, savvy, and...
    The Trial of the Century! A year after his miraculous transformation, Ebenezer Scrooge is back to his old ways and is suing Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future for breaking and entering, kidnapping, slander, pain and suffering, attempted murder and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. The ghosts employ Solomon Rothschild, England's most charismatic, savvy, and clever barrister. Scrooge, that old penny pincher, represents himself. One by one, Bob Cratchit, Scrooge's nephew Fred, solicitor and philanthropist Sara Anne Wainwright, and the ghosts themselves take the witness stand to give their account of the night in question. But the Spirit of Christmas Future breaks down under heavy questioning and confesses that Jacob Marley forced the spirits to break one of the rules of redemption: Do not use a dead body to scare someone into redemption, for the consequences could prove fatal. Judge Stanchfield Pearson gives his verdict: Jacob Marley and the Spirits of Christmas, guilty! Pearson fines the spirits 40,000 pounds apiece and terminates their redemptive duties. Rothschild desperately pleads with the judge not to terminate the spirits of Christmas. It's a death sentence. But in another staggering turn of events, Scrooge makes the spirits an offer: work every day, not just one day a year, and he'll drop the charges. The spirits agree and, to everyone's amazement, Scrooge does drop the charges. But he's keeping the money the ghosts owe him to start a fund to help the poor. Everyone stares at Scrooge. And then … a twinkle in Scrooge's eye, a smile and giddy, joyously delirious laughter. Scrooge confesses that Jacob Marley and the Spirits of Christmas had to go to extraordinary measures to change him, so he had to go to extraordinary measures to change the Spirits of Christmas. The spirit of caring and giving should be every day, not just once a year. Scrooge then leads the stunned crowd to his house for a wondrous party.
  • Tom Jones
    In this thrilling adventure of the heart, Tom Jones, a charming young man of questionable birth, is madly in love with Sophia Western. But when Sophia's father arranges for her to marry a loathsome man, she flees for her life. Aristocrats, wenches and scalawags abound in this bawdy and rollicking romp through the back roads and bedchambers of England.
  • China the Whole Enchilada
    China - The Whole Enchilada - is three men singing, dancing, and irreverently marching their way through five thousand years of Chinese history- in less than two hours with an intermission. One character loves China, one is convinced China is going to overthrow the world at any minute, and the third keeps getting China confused with Japan.


    Songs include “Lotus Shoes,” a waltz about foot-...
    China - The Whole Enchilada - is three men singing, dancing, and irreverently marching their way through five thousand years of Chinese history- in less than two hours with an intermission. One character loves China, one is convinced China is going to overthrow the world at any minute, and the third keeps getting China confused with Japan.


    Songs include “Lotus Shoes,” a waltz about foot-binding; the “Khan-Khan,” the Can-Can with Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, and Ricardo Montalban from the Wrath of Khan; and the gospel revival song “Gate of Heavenly Peace,” about the 1989 protests at Tiananmen Square.

    And what show about the history of China would be complete without a lounge song from the Peking Man, a duet with Ming the Merciless and Fu Manchu, a vaudeville sketch about Yellow Peril, the Opium Wars explained through a sketch called Hu’s on First, the presentation of Chinese inventions by a very bitter Thomas Edison, a Chinese fire drill, an explanation of why French people suck, the birth of the fortune cookie, and a headlong plunge into racism, human rights, and infanticide?

    China – The Whole Enchilada is a fast-paced and hilarious primer on China, but underneath the jokes are many lessons about issues such as racism and bigotry.