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Welcome

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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"As terrified as I'm feeling, I'm beginning to regret my
decision to do this. Have I lost my mind as well as my sight?"

Click below to read Lynn Manning's entertaining essay published to the web by VSA Art.

THE GENTLE WAY

Read some of Lynn Manning's glowing reviews from WEIGHTS in Edinburgh

The List – 4 stars

A see and eye shotgun tale

Poet, playwright, actor and former judo champion Lynn Manning knows all about loss. Raised in penury in California, Manning lost his parents to the bottle and his siblings to the foster care system. Then in 1978, aged 23, Manning lost his sight in a shooting incident in a Hollywood bar full of 'tourists, punks, junkies and juicers'.

Having spent 20-odd years creating Weights, Manning performs catharsis by monologue on these events and those that followed. Alone on a minimally furnished stage, Manning freeform scats his way through what he has called his 'interminable memoir'. Funk and jazz guides him through the memories, from 'days of sour plums and pixie straws', before his parents 'climbed inside a wine bottle' to that fateful night and beyond. Taking his lead from the first person autobiographical narratives of Richard Wright, Maya Angelou, Gil Scott Heron, Ray Shell and Claude Brown Jr among others, this is moving, witty and all too raw, Manning laying out a powerful mandate of self-reliance and hope. It's a captivating journey, one that you will not forget in a hurry.

Edinburgh Guide – 4 stars

Weights Review                 

Written by Chloe Edworthy   

Lynn Manning was shot and blinded in an L.A. bar at the age of 23. This is his story. The monologue is both written and performed by Manning who delivers a meandering tale of abject poverty, abuse and ultimately prevailing optimism. However do not be misled by this grandiose description – this is a one man play without pretension and a narrative of true drama.

The script dives in and out of different stages of Manning’s biography detailing the incident in which he lost his sight and subsequent aftermath and reminiscences of his largely bleak experiences of growing up in 1960s L.A. This could have been an opportunity for sentimentalism or self-pity to creep into the script but Manning avoids both and here even the most appalling of stories are narrated with a remarkably rounded perspective.

Whether it was blindness that spawned Manning’s appreciation of language or if it was a talent given at birth is a question which only really he can answer, but what is undeniable is that this author and performer boasts a fine grasp of poetry. It is not only in his use of poignantly knowable imagery but also in his obvious appreciation of the phonetic resonance of words that one can recognise the potency of this natural lyricist. The script is confident and informed both linguistically and emotionally.

Manning the performer is animated; he successfully manages to incorporate the voices of many different characters and the poetic interjections which occasionally interrupt the flow of the narrative. Although the pace was initially a little hasty it didn’t take long for Manning to settle into his surroundings and relax into a more measured delivery which was flawlessly engaging.

For an education in both poetry and optimism Weights is surely one of the best bets at the Fringe.

One4review.com – 5 stars

Weights

Doing my usual, ok where am I next, I frequently arrive at a venue knowing only the name of the production I am about to see and in this case that it is part of the Theatre Tours International  & Guy Masterson Productions, the show 'Weights'. Not much of a clue in that, ok sit back and enjoy as you know you are about to witness a superb performance.

On stage we meet Lynn Manning a six-foot plus vision of a good-looking man with a superb physique, this Afro Caribbean gentleman proceeds to tell the story of his life but there is something about his face. At first I can't put my finger on what it is but as the show progresses I realise, through his performance it is true he is blind.

This autobiographical play only reaches from childhood to his mid 20's when he was shot in the face and slightly beyond to show his determination to become a writer. The admiration I have developed for this man is not through sympathy but my respect for what he has been through, the goals he has achieved and this performance itself.  He concludes the show by reciting one of his own poems which is absolutely beautiful.

This cleverly written and excellently performed piece is an absolute must for fans of the one person show, those of quality theatre and anyone wanting to get excellent value for money. Lynn portrays the characters in his life extremely well. Robert Egan's directorial job would appear to have been a reasonably easy one.

My only regret is that I did not see 'Weights' during its Fringe debut in 2007!

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To watch Lynn Manning's June 14, 2003 Millinneum Stage performance of Weights at The John Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts, click here
Weights at the Kennedy Center

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Copyright 2010 Lynn Manning
lynnmann@sbcglobal.net

A Proud Supporter of
I AM PWD
Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People with Disabilities

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