Lynn Manning is an award winning poet, playwright, actor, and former Blind Judo Champion of The world.  He accomplished all of this after being shot and blinded in a bar fight at age twenty-three. 

Lynn has written several critically recognized plays, including, WEIGHTS, SHOOT, UP FROM THE DOWNS, PRIVATE BATTLE, THE LAST OUTPOST,  and central ave. chalk circle.  Lynn's original one act play, SHOOT, is included in the ground breaking 2007 TCG anthology, BEYOND VICTIMS AND VILLAINS (CONTEMPORARY PLAYS BY DISABLED PLAYWRIGHTS).  Lynn both wrote and starred in the short film adaptation of SHOOT, by the same title.  It premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, and is currently distributed by HBO.  Lynn is an active member of The Playwrights/Directors Unit of The Actors Studio West Coast. 

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Lynn Manning returns to the EdinBurgh Festival

WEIGHTS
written and
performed by
Lynn Manning

A pistol shot in a crowded L.A. bar.
A life changed forever.

Powerful true story of a man blinded by a loose bullet
to the head, overcoming his disadvantages.

  
Weights is an extraordinary story extraordinarily told. Poetic, lyrical and potent, yet most movingly of all... true... and told by its protagonist, Lynn Manning who, thankfully, lived to tell the tale.

Living a life with little future, the second of nine children of a "lost" family in South Central L.A., Manning found himself in a gritty downtown bar at the age of 27... and received a bullet to the head... which took his sight.

Manning dusted himself down and got on with rebuilding his life, determined to realise his dreams, and overcome the obstacles in his path eventually becoming a successful playwright, a world-class athlete, and a dedicated teacher and volunteer.

His is a passionate, inspiring dramatic story for which he has received much critical acclaim winning 3 NAACP Theatre Awards, (including Best Actor). More importantly it is a performance that makes a difference to everyone that sees it.

Guy Masterson and Richard and Patricia Burbidge of Shrewsbury's Haystack Theatre were so moved when they saw it last year at Theatre Workshop, that they were determined to bring the work back to a wider Fringe audience at Assembly in 2008, hopefully to take it further afield to an international one. It certainly deserves it.

Dates
     •     Preview: July 24 Millfield House - Huxley Room
     •     Preview: July 26 Haystack Theatre - Shrewsbury
     •     Previews: July 31 & Aug 1st Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh 2008
     •     Opens: August 2nd - 25th 2008 12:45 - 13:55 - Drawing Room
     •     directed by Robert Egan
     •     3 NAACP awards including Best Actor